How do I COMPLETELY erase/delete/remove a rpm-ostree layered package in mage (rpm-ostree) based system?

I need to remove a package that I installed using

sudo rpm-ostree install waydroid

Could someone well versed in mage (rpm-ostree) based systems help me to completely remove this package?

Background:

I failed to initialize it with GAPPS and apparently I need to COMPLETELY remove it and reinstall it in order to initialize GAPPS.

I tried to remove it using

sudo rpm-ostree uninstall waydroid

but running

sudo rpm-ostree status -v | grep waydroid

Seems to indicate that waydroid is still there

sudo rpm-ostree status -v | grep waydroid
          LayeredPackages: waydroid
~ 

Using the application launcher search I can see Waydroid as a “blank page icon”

Reinstalling waydroid through rpm-ostree starts the application with the settings and all previously installed apps, which indicates that there are remnants of the package still lingering in my system.
I need to purge waydroid completely and reinstall it anew so that the app prompts initialise as new install so I can load the GAPPS package.

I searched and tried for several hours to accomplish this but have failed to find any solution

Also, before anyone advises on using Distrobox, I’ve tried it. I wrestled with it for 3 solid days.
Didn’t work.
Waydroid apparently needs to be installed in a rootful and unshared container, and this opens an entirely unmanageable (at least for me) can of worms.
The Google authentication is straight out impossible in this scenario.

So, simply put:

How do I COMPLETELY erase/delete/remove a rpm-ostree layered package?

Thank you in advance

Did you reboot after the uninstall command? Also rpm-ostree reset and a reboot will bring you back to a clean slate and remove all layered packages.

@j0rge, thanks for your fast reply!

Yes, I did

sudo systemctl reboot

after each install/uninstall
I will try reset right away and see what it does

EDIT:

after a

rpm-ostree reset
systemctl reboot

I ran

sudo rpm-ostree status

and got

State: idle
AutomaticUpdates: stage; rpm-ostreed-automatic.timer: no runs since boot
Deployments:
● ostree-image-signed:docker://ghcr.io/ublue-os/aurora-surface:latest
Digest: sha256:77e72c848ce20b2f273f7b981e6b3754b45bb7ce6a7d9540a0334b167d52ec5b
Version: latest-41.20250112.2 (2025-01-12T11:43:29Z)

ostree-image-signed:docker://ghcr.io/ublue-os/aurora-surface:latest
Digest: sha256:77e72c848ce20b2f273f7b981e6b3754b45bb7ce6a7d9540a0334b167d52ec5b
Version: latest-41.20250112.2 (2025-01-12T11:43:29Z)
LayeredPackages: waydroid

It also still shows in the Application launcher search
Seems waydoid is still there

That’s weird, the .desktop file should have been blown away also. The status shows the package is missing, I’d check in ~/.local/share/applications maybe? (I doubt it’ll be in there though)

Yepp, waydroid is in
.local/share/applications

There is also a folder waydroid in ~/.local/share, with what looks like settings and all kinds of data in it.

Should I just delete these?

I’m not familiar with waydroid but if you’re not using them blowing that away should sort the issue.

Remove the waydroid layer, reboot, and run

sudo rm -rf /var/lib/waydroid /home/.waydroid ~/waydroid ~/.share/waydroid ~/.local/share/applications/*aydroid* ~/.local/share/waydroid

https://docs.waydro.id/usage/install-on-desktops#reinstalling-waydroid

In that output, there are two deployments, and only the bottom one shows the waydroid package layered (installed). It looks like the top deployment is the active one, without waydroid. You can test by running rpm -qa | grep waydroid to see if it’s installed. (The files in your home directory will remain after you uninstall the package; you need to remove those separately.)

Guys,thank you for your assistance.
As @mel226 and @redshift pointed out, one needs to do manual clean-up after uninstall.
@mel226, thanks for the link, it was very helpful

Basically, I needed to follow the instructions in

, but on immutable ostree based system one needs to run

sudo rpm-ostree uninstall waydroid

instead of

sudo apt remove waydroid

In hope that this might be helpful to other noobs, here’s recap of the solution how to uninstall Waydroid (and a noob LX command recap):


  • To see layered packages run
sudo rpm-ostree status
  • To search a specific package run
sudo rpm-ostree status | grep PACKAGENAME
  • Remove the package by running
sudo rpm-ostree uninstall waydroid
  • Manually remove left over fifles (shortcuts, settings, etc)
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/waydroid /home/.waydroid ~/waydroid ~/.share/waydroid ~/.local/share/applications/*aydroid* ~/.local/share/waydroid

(Optional) Check layered packages

sudo rpm-ostree status

or

sudo rpm-ostree status | grep PACKAGENAME