If you "uninstall" an app from your Mac using the standard "uninstall" methodologies, does macOS ever run an uninstaller in the background to clean up files and/or folders outside the app's .app
folder?
The standard "uninstall" methodologies that I know about are:
- trashing an application's
.app
folder, then emptying the trash - long-clicking on an app in Launchpad, then clicking on its X while it jiggles
Are there any other standard methodologies to "uninstall" a macOS app?
Does any of the methodologies run any uninstall routine other than just deleting the .app
folder from the file system (like maybe removing a folder under ~/Library/Caches
)?
Are there any problems with running rm -rf <path-to-.app-folder>
instead of trashing the app folder/Lauchpad jiggling to death the app?
Are there any differences between uninstall routines for apps installed from the Mac App Store versus apps installed by other means?
macOS has a subsystem, Launch Services, that tries to keep track of which apps are installed and where. When you delete an app using standard user techniques, Launch Services updates its database, and that triggers a variety of actions. For example, it will unregister any app extensions contained within the app.
Additionally, the Finder understand whether an app has an active system extensions and will prompt to uninstall the system extension when you delete the app.
Are there any problems with running rm -rf <path-to-.app-folder> … ?
Yes. At a minimum, it can leave orphaned system extensions.
If you want to get rid of an app quickly, command-option-Delete is your friend.
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Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"