Uninstalling

Linux

How to completely remove rclone from your Linux system

Uninstall rclone from Linux

Here's how to completely remove rclone from any Linux distribution, regardless of how it was installed.

By installation method

Ubuntu/Debian (apt)

# Remove rclone
sudo apt remove rclone

# Remove with config files
sudo apt purge rclone

# Clean up unused dependencies
sudo apt autoremove

# If installed from PPA, remove the repo too
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:rclone/rclone
sudo apt update

Fedora/RHEL (dnf/yum)

# Remove rclone
sudo dnf remove rclone
# or
sudo yum remove rclone

Arch Linux (pacman/aur)

# Remove rclone
sudo pacman -R rclone

# Remove with dependencies
sudo pacman -Rs rclone
# If installed from AUR
yay -R rclone-git
# or
paru -R rclone-git

openSUSE (zypper)

# Remove rclone
sudo zypper remove rclone

Snap

# Remove snap package
sudo snap remove rclone

# Check if removed
snap list | grep rclone

Docker

# Stop and remove container
docker stop rclone-container
docker rm rclone-container

# Remove image
docker rmi rclone/rclone

Other methods

If installed with install script

# The install script places rclone in /usr/bin
sudo rm /usr/bin/rclone

# Remove man page
sudo rm /usr/local/man/man1/rclone.1

If installed manually

# Find where rclone is installed
which rclone

# Remove it (adjust path as needed)
sudo rm /usr/local/bin/rclone
# or
sudo rm $(which rclone)

Config file

Backup

# Backup before removal
tar czf ~/rclone-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz ~/.config/rclone/

# Just backup the config file
cp ~/.config/rclone/rclone.conf ~/rclone.conf.backup

# Encrypt backup for security
gpg -c ~/rclone.conf.backup

Remove

# Remove config directory
rm -rf ~/.config/rclone/

# Remove just the config file
rm ~/.config/rclone/rclone.conf

Troubleshooting

Permission denied

# Use sudo for system files
sudo rm /usr/bin/rclone

# Check file permissions
ls -la $(which rclone)

Mount won't unmount

# Force unmount
fusermount -uz /path/to/mount

# Find and kill process using mount
fuser -k /path/to/mount

# Last resort
sudo umount -l /path/to/mount

Service won't stop

# Force stop
sudo systemctl kill rclone-mount.service

# Check status
systemctl status rclone-mount.service

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