How to Remove PPAs in Ubuntu & Debian-Based Systems

PPA stands for Personal Package Archive and is specific to Debian-based Linux distributions. It is a collection of non-standard program packages hosted on Launchpad, allowing developers to distribute software updates more frequently than the official repositories. Other Linux distributions have their own methods for handling third-party repositories.
PPAs are integrated into the APT (Advanced Package Tool) package management system. This system uses .deb packages and the sources.list file to manage repositories and software installations.

Sometimes it may be necessary to remove a PPA, either because it is no longer needed or is causing issues. This knowledge base provides detailed steps for removing PPAs with explanations.

Removing PPA via Terminal

Listing all the PPAs in the system…

ls /etc/apt/sources.list.d/

View all added PPAs to identify the one you want to remove.

Removing a PPA…

To remove a specific PPA, you can use the add-apt-repository command with the -r option followed by the PPA name.

sudo add-apt-repository -r ppa:example/ppa

This command removes the PPA repository.

Updating the package list…

After removing the PPA, make sure to update the system. To do it, execute:

sudo apt update

With the above steps, you have successfully removed the PPA from your system via the terminal!

Alternatively, You can manually remove the PPA file…

When you encounter any issue where add-apt-repository -r is not available or if you prefer a more direct approach and are comfortable handling potential leftover configurations manually, you can remove the PPA by navigating to the sources directory followed by deleting the PPA and updating the system:

cd /etc/apt/sources.list.d/
sudo rm example-ppa
sudo apt update

Replace example-ppa in the above example command with the exact PPA name after checking /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ directory.

Both methods will effectively remove the PPA from your system, but the add-apt-repository -r command provides a more thorough and automated approach.

Removing PPA Using the Software & Updates GUI

Removing a PPA through the graphical interface is easy and straightforward, requiring just 5 to 6 clicks. To remove a PPA via the GUI, follow these steps:

1. Go to the “Activities” overview (or press the “Super” key).
2. Search for “Software & Updates” and open it.

3. In the Software & Updates window, click on the “Other Software” tab.
4. This tab lists all the PPAs added to your system.
5. Find the PPA you want to remove and click the “Remove” button to remove it.
6. As a final step, click the “Reload” button in the next prompt to finalize the changes.

Removing unneeded or problematic PPAs is crucial for system maintenance. Using either the terminal or a GUI, this straightforward process keeps your system stable and up-to-date. 😎