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How to identify the method by which a Linux application was installed

How to identify the method by which a Linux application was installed 08132025

Option A: Check and see if it was installed via APT

dpkg \-l | grep \-i phoenix

If you see something like:

`ii  phoenix-code  1.2.3  all  Some description here`  
```` 
…then it was installed via APT, and you can uninstall it with:

```sh
`sudo apt remove --purge phoenix-code`

Option B: Check if it was installed as a Flatpak

flatpak list | grep \-i phoenix

If it appears here, uninstall with:

`flatpak uninstall <app-id>`

To list all details, you can run:

`flatpak list --app`

Option C: Check if it was installed as a Snap (unlikely on Mint unless Snap was re-enabled) 

snap list | grep \-i phoenix

If it shows up:

sudo snap remove \<package-name\>

Option D: Check if it’s just an AppImage or a manually extracted binary

ls \~/Downloads  
ls \~/Applications  
ls \~/.local/share/applications/

Example output: I was looking for Phoenix code

PhoenixCode.desktop

Then a FIND command like this: 

find \~ \-type d \-iname "\*phoenix\*" 2\>/dev/null

Output: 

/home/mark/Documents/Phoenix Code  
/home/mark/.phoenix-code  
/home/mark/.phoenix-code/src-node/www/phoenix-splash  
/home/mark/.local/share/phoenix-code.app

Step 1: Remove the Menu Entry (if you haven’t yet)

You already found the shortcut file:

`~/.local/share/applications/PhoenixCode.desktop`

To delete it:

`rm ~/.local/share/applications/PhoenixCode.desktop`

That removes it from your app menu.
OR JUST GO TO THE MENU AND RIGHT CLICK - UNINSTALL

✅ Step 2: Delete the App Itself

Now, delete the actual app and its files.

You can do this in three separate commands (each one deletes one folder):

`rm -rf ~/Documents/Phoenix\ Code`  
`rm -rf ~/.phoenix-code`  
`rm -rf ~/.local/share/phoenix-code.app`

Note: The \ in Phoenix\ Code escapes the space in the folder name

Step 3 (Optional): Double-check It's Gone

You can check again if anything related is still hanging around:

`find ~ -iname "*phoenix*" 2>/dev/null`

Delete anything you find - and be careful it IS for the app you want to remove.