You removed the package nginx with apt-get remove, but /etc/nginx still contains the old edited configuration and a fresh install picks it up again. Which command discards those configuration files as well?
LPIC-1 Exam 101-500, objective 102. Linux installation and package management medium
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Treat it as a good draft rather than as settled fact, and read the source below before you rely on it. It is not used in mock exams here — only questions a person has signed for are.
How these questions are written — where each question comes from, what the verification ledger records, and what happens when one is found wrong.
The options
Correct apt-get purge nginx
Correct. purge removes the package and its conffiles, leaving the package in the not-installed rather than config-files state.
Not correct apt-get autoremove
Wrong. autoremove deletes packages that were pulled in as dependencies and are no longer needed; it does not touch conffiles of a package you already removed.
Not correct apt-get clean
Wrong. clean empties the downloaded .deb cache under /var/cache/apt/archives and has no effect on installed or removed packages.
Not correct dpkg -r nginx
Wrong. -r is the low-level equivalent of remove and deliberately keeps conffiles; the purge counterpart is dpkg -P.
Why
Debian distinguishes removing from purging so that a package can be taken away and reinstated with its settings intact. remove (dpkg -r) deletes the program files but preserves files marked as conffiles, leaving the package in state rc, which dpkg -l shows. purge (dpkg -P) deletes those too and runs the package's postrm purge script.
Where this comes from
- Cited
- manual page apt-get(8)
Practise this
Reading one question is not practice. The trainer will draw a short set from objective 102 and space the ones you get wrong.
More questions on this objective
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