sudo apt-get remove does not remove config files

Question

I'm new to Linux/Ubuntu - and I'm wondering if the behaviour I'm seeing is as designed. I have installed vsftpd:

 sudo apt-get install vsftpd

Then I remove:

 sudo apt-get remove vsftpd

However, looking in /etc I can see that vsftpd.conf is still present. Can someone explain why this is happening (I am assuming the remove would remove all files relating to vsftpd) ?

Solution 1

Use sudo apt-get purge <program> instead, to remove config files as well.

Solution 2

You're looking for purge:

sudo apt-get purge vsftpd

will also delete the config files. You can do this even after you've already removed the package.

Comments

[Dr_Bunsen]

I thought you had to purge it

[Gabriel Staples]

Ah! So that's how you remove something without removing config files! That's what I want to do...just in case I decide to reinstall later.

[codeling]

I believe there is even some option of dpkg to list all the packages that were once installed but removed...? Ah yes, see here: ascending.wordpress.com/2007/04/10/…

[sal]

@asymptotically Yes. Quoting the apt-get man page: "remove --purge is equivalent to the purge command". If you want to know everything about the apt-get command, run man apt-get.

[Oliver Williams]

I did notice that a file /etc/vsftpd.conf.save is created and remains after the purge. This should be the accepted answer.