How to purge or completely remove CUDA from Ubuntu 18.04 and reinstall ver.10.2?

I can't seem to purge NVidia's CUDA packages from my system despite having performed sudo apt-get purge cuda and also sudo apt autoremove

$ sudo apt autoremove
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED: cuda-11-0 cuda-command-line-tools-11-0 cuda-compiler-11-0 cuda-cudart-11-0 cuda-cudart-dev-11-0 cuda-cuobjdump-11-0 cuda-cupti-11-0 cuda-cupti-dev-11-0 cuda-demo-suite-11-0 cuda-documentation-11-0 cuda-driver-dev-11-0 cuda-drivers cuda-drivers-450 cuda-gdb-11-0 cuda-libraries-11-0 cuda-libraries-dev-11-0 cuda-memcheck-11-0 cuda-nsight-11-0 cuda-nsight-compute-11-0 cuda-nsight-systems-11-0 cuda-nvcc-11-0 cuda-nvdisasm-11-0 cuda-nvml-dev-11-0 cuda-nvprof-11-0 cuda-nvprune-11-0 cuda-nvrtc-11-0 cuda-nvrtc-dev-11-0 cuda-nvtx-11-0 cuda-nvvp-11-0 cuda-runtime-11-0 cuda-samples-11-0 cuda-sanitizer-11-0 cuda-toolkit-11-0 cuda-tools-11-0 cuda-visual-tools-11-0 dkms libcublas-11-0 libcublas-dev-11-0 libcufft-11-0 libcufft-dev-11-0 libcurand-11-0 libcurand-dev-11-0 libcusolver-11-0 libcusolver-dev-11-0 libcusparse-11-0 libcusparse-dev-11-0 libnpp-11-0 libnpp-dev-11-0 libnvidia-cfg1-450 libnvidia-common-450 libnvidia-decode-450 libnvidia-encode-450 libnvidia-extra-450 libnvidia-fbc1-450 libnvidia-gl-450 libnvidia-ifr1-450 libnvjpeg-11-0 libnvjpeg-dev-11-0 libxnvctrl0 nsight-compute-2020.1.2 nsight-systems-2020.3.2 nvidia-compute-utils-450 nvidia-dkms-450 nvidia-driver-450 nvidia-kernel-common-450 nvidia-kernel-source-450 nvidia-modprobe nvidia-prime nvidia-settings nvidia-utils-450 screen-resolution-extra xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-450
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 72 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 5,042 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
(Reading database ... 282107 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing cuda-11-0 (11.0.3-1) ...
Removing cuda-toolkit-11-0 (11.0.3-1) ...
Removing cuda-tools-11-0 (11.0.3-1) ...
Removing cuda-command-line-tools-11-0 (11.0.3-1) ...
Removing cuda-compiler-11-0 (11.0.3-1) ...
Removing cuda-visual-tools-11-0 (11.0.3-1) ...
Removing cuda-documentation-11-0 (11.0.228-1) ...
Removing cuda-samples-11-0 (11.0.221-1) ...
Removing cuda-demo-suite-11-0 (11.0.167-1) ...
Removing cuda-runtime-11-0 (11.0.3-1) ...
Removing cuda-libraries-11-0 (11.0.3-1) ...
Removing cuda-gdb-11-0 (11.0.221-1) ...
Removing cuda-cuobjdump-11-0 (11.0.221-1) ...
Removing cuda-cupti-dev-11-0 (11.0.221-1) ...
Removing cuda-cupti-11-0 (11.0.221-1) ...
Removing cuda-libraries-dev-11-0 (11.0.3-1) ...
Removing cuda-drivers (450.51.06-1) ...
Removing cuda-drivers-450 (450.51.06-1) ...
Removing cuda-memcheck-11-0 (11.0.221-1) ...
Removing cuda-nsight-11-0 (11.0.221-1) ...
Removing cuda-nsight-compute-11-0 (11.0.3-1) ...
Removing cuda-nsight-systems-11-0 (11.0.3-1) ...
Removing cuda-nvcc-11-0 (11.0.221-1) ...
Removing cuda-nvdisasm-11-0 (11.0.221-1) ...
Removing cuda-nvml-dev-11-0 (11.0.167-1) ...
Removing cuda-nvprof-11-0 (11.0.221-1) ...
Removing cuda-nvprune-11-0 (11.0.221-1) ...
Removing cuda-nvrtc-dev-11-0 (11.0.221-1) ...
Removing cuda-nvrtc-11-0 (11.0.221-1) ...
Removing cuda-nvtx-11-0 (11.0.167-1) ...
Removing cuda-nvvp-11-0 (11.0.221-1) ...
Removing cuda-sanitizer-11-0 (11.0.221-1) ...
Removing nvidia-driver-450 (450.51.06-0ubuntu1) ...
Removing nvidia-dkms-450 (450.51.06-0ubuntu1) ...
Removing all DKMS Modules
Done.
INFO:Disable nvidia
DEBUG:Parsing /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/quirks/put_your_quirks_here
DEBUG:Parsing /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/quirks/lenovo_thinkpad
DEBUG:Parsing /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/quirks/dell_latitude
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Removing dkms (2.3-3ubuntu9.7) ...
Removing libcublas-dev-11-0 (11.2.0.252-1) ...
Removing libcublas-11-0 (11.2.0.252-1) ...
Removing libcufft-dev-11-0 (10.2.1.245-1) ...
Removing libcufft-11-0 (10.2.1.245-1) ...
Removing libcurand-dev-11-0 (10.2.1.245-1) ...
Removing libcurand-11-0 (10.2.1.245-1) ...
Removing libcusolver-dev-11-0 (10.6.0.245-1) ...
Removing libcusolver-11-0 (10.6.0.245-1) ...
Removing libcusparse-dev-11-0 (11.1.1.245-1) ...
Removing libcusparse-11-0 (11.1.1.245-1) ...
Removing libnpp-dev-11-0 (11.1.0.245-1) ...
Removing libnpp-11-0 (11.1.0.245-1) ...
Removing xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-450 (450.51.06-0ubuntu1) ...
Removing libnvidia-cfg1-450:amd64 (450.51.06-0ubuntu1) ...
Removing libnvidia-ifr1-450:amd64 (450.51.06-0ubuntu1) ...
Removing libnvidia-gl-450:amd64 (450.51.06-0ubuntu1) ...
dpkg: warning: while removing libnvidia-gl-450:amd64, directory '/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d' not empty so not removed
Removing libnvidia-common-450 (450.51.06-0ubuntu1) ...
Removing libnvidia-encode-450:amd64 (450.51.06-0ubuntu1) ...
Removing libnvidia-decode-450:amd64 (450.51.06-0ubuntu1) ...
Removing libnvidia-extra-450:amd64 (450.51.06-0ubuntu1) ...
Removing libnvidia-fbc1-450:amd64 (450.51.06-0ubuntu1) ...
Removing libnvjpeg-dev-11-0 (11.1.1.245-1) ...
Removing libnvjpeg-11-0 (11.1.1.245-1) ...
Removing nvidia-settings (450.51.06-0ubuntu1) ...
Removing libxnvctrl0:amd64 (450.51.06-0ubuntu1) ...
Removing nsight-compute-2020.1.2 (2020.1.2.4-1) ...
Removing nsight-systems-2020.3.2 (2020.3.2.6-87e152c) ...
update-alternatives: removing manually selected alternative - switching nsys to auto mode
update-alternatives: removing manually selected alternative - switching nsight-sys to auto mode
update-alternatives: removing manually selected alternative - switching nsys-ui to auto mode
Removing nvidia-compute-utils-450 (450.51.06-0ubuntu1) ...
Removing nvidia-kernel-common-450 (450.51.06-0ubuntu1) ...
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Removing nvidia-kernel-source-450 (450.51.06-0ubuntu1) ...
Removing nvidia-modprobe (450.51.06-0ubuntu1) ...
Removing nvidia-prime (0.8.8.2) ...
Removing nvidia-utils-450 (450.51.06-0ubuntu1) ...
Removing screen-resolution-extra (0.17.3) ...
Removing cuda-cudart-dev-11-0 (11.0.221-1) ...
Removing cuda-cudart-11-0 (11.0.221-1) ...
Removing cuda-driver-dev-11-0 (11.0.221-1) ...
dpkg: warning: while removing cuda-driver-dev-11-0, directory '/usr/local' not empty so not removed
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.23-1ubuntu3.18.04.2) ...
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.130ubuntu3.9) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-5.4.0-42-generic
I: The initramfs will attempt to resume from /dev/sda2
I: (UUID=xxxxx)
I: Set the RESUME variable to override this.
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.27-3ubuntu1.2) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.8.3-2ubuntu0.1) ...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.13.3-11ubuntu1.1) ...
Processing triggers for dbus (1.12.2-1ubuntu1.2) ...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.60ubuntu1) ...

Still, dpkg says they exist.

$ dpkg -l | grep cuda
rc cuda-cudart-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA Runtime native Libraries
rc cuda-cudart-11-0 11.0.221-1 amd64 CUDA Runtime native Libraries
rc cuda-cudart-dev-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA Runtime native dev links, headers
rc cuda-cufft-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUFFT native runtime libraries
rc cuda-cupti-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA profiling tools runtime libs.
rc cuda-curand-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CURAND native runtime libraries
rc cuda-cusolver-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA solver native runtime libraries
rc cuda-cusparse-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUSPARSE native runtime libraries
rc cuda-npp-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 NPP native runtime libraries
rc cuda-nvcc-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA nvcc
rc cuda-nvgraph-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 NVGRAPH native runtime libraries
rc cuda-nvjpeg-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 NVJPEG native runtime libraries
rc cuda-nvprof-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA Profiler tools
rc cuda-nvrtc-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 NVRTC native runtime libraries
rc cuda-nvtx-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 NVIDIA Tools Extension
ii cuda-repo-ubuntu1804-10-2-local-10.2.89-440.33.01 1.0-1 amd64 cuda repository configuration files
ii cuda-repo-ubuntu1804-11-0-local 11.0.3-450.51.06-1 amd64 cuda repository configuration files
rc cuda-sanitizer-api-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA Sanitizer API
rc cuda-toolkit-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA Toolkit 10.2 meta-package
rc cuda-toolkit-11-0 11.0.3-1 amd64 CUDA Toolkit 11.0 meta-package
rc cuda-visual-tools-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA visual tools
rc cuda-visual-tools-11-0 11.0.3-1 amd64 CUDA visual tools

I tried purging cuda again. Although apt-get reported that cuda is not installed, running dpkg still reports that cuda packages are installed.

$ sudo apt-get autoremove --purge cuda
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package 'cuda' is not installed, so not removed
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

My situation appears similar to this question but the answer there does not work.

$ sudo apt-get purge libnccl-dev libnccl2
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package libnccl-dev
E: Unable to locate package libnccl2

Update:

I tried to reinstall cuda 10.2 using the deb(local) approach. However, it failed. How do I overcome this issue?

$ sudo apt-key add /var/cuda-repo-10-2-local-10.2.89-440.33.01/7fa2af80.pub
[sudo] password for xxxx:
OK
$ sudo apt update
Hit:1 stable InRelease
Hit:2 bionic InRelease
Hit:3 ./ InRelease
Hit:4 bionic InRelease
Hit:5 bionic InRelease
Hit:6 bionic InRelease
Get:7 bionic-updates InRelease [88.7 kB]
Hit:8 bionic InRelease
Hit:9 bionic InRelease
Hit:10 bionic InRelease
Hit:11 bionic InRelease
Get:12 bionic-backports InRelease [74.6 kB]
Get:13 bionic-security InRelease [88.7 kB]
Get:14 ./ InRelease [2,473 B]
Fetched 254 kB in 2s (128 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
All packages are up to date.
$ sudo apt-get -y install cuda
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package cuda
$ apt-key list | grep cuda
Warning: apt-key output should not be parsed (stdout is not a terminal)
uid [ unknown] cudatools <>

6

1 Answer

I managed to resolve my issue by doing the following:

1. Use sudo dpkg -r to remove cuda-repo-ubuntu1804-10-2-local-10.2.89-440.33.01 1.0-1 and cuda-repo-ubuntu1804-11-0-local.
2. Use sudo dpkg -P to purge all the cuda deb packages individually. These deb packages were listed by dpkg -l | grep cuda. E.g. sudo dpkg -P cuda-cudart-10-2, sudo dpkg -P cuda-cudart-11-0, ....

After the purge, I re-did the installation commands and the sudo apt-get -y install cuda command finally worked. Also managed to install Patch 1 (Released Aug 26, 2020)

$ dpkg -l | grep cuda
ii cuda 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA meta-package
ii cuda-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA 10.2 meta-package
ii cuda-command-line-tools-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA command-line tools
ii cuda-compiler-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA compiler
ii cuda-cudart-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA Runtime native Libraries
ii cuda-cudart-dev-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA Runtime native dev links, headers
ii cuda-cufft-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUFFT native runtime libraries
ii cuda-cufft-dev-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUFFT native dev links, headers
ii cuda-cuobjdump-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA cuobjdump
ii cuda-cupti-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA profiling tools runtime libs.
ii cuda-cupti-dev-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA profiling tools interface.
ii cuda-curand-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CURAND native runtime libraries
ii cuda-curand-dev-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CURAND native dev links, headers
ii cuda-cusolver-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA solver native runtime libraries
ii cuda-cusolver-dev-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA solver native dev links, headers
ii cuda-cusparse-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUSPARSE native runtime libraries
ii cuda-cusparse-dev-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUSPARSE native dev links, headers
ii cuda-demo-suite-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 Demo suite for CUDA
ii cuda-documentation-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA documentation
ii cuda-driver-dev-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA Driver native dev stub library
ii cuda-drivers 440.33.01-1 amd64 CUDA Driver meta-package
ii cuda-gdb-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA-GDB
ii cuda-libraries-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA Libraries 10.2 meta-package
ii cuda-libraries-dev-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA Libraries 10.2 development meta-package
ii cuda-license-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA licenses
ii cuda-memcheck-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA-MEMCHECK
ii cuda-misc-headers-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA miscellaneous headers
ii cuda-npp-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 NPP native runtime libraries
ii cuda-npp-dev-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 NPP native dev links, headers
ii cuda-nsight-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA nsight
ii cuda-nsight-compute-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 NVIDIA Nsight Compute
ii cuda-nsight-systems-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 NVIDIA Nsight Systems
ii cuda-nvcc-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA nvcc
ii cuda-nvdisasm-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA disassembler
ii cuda-nvgraph-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 NVGRAPH native runtime libraries
ii cuda-nvgraph-dev-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 NVGRAPH native dev links, headers
ii cuda-nvjpeg-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 NVJPEG native runtime libraries
ii cuda-nvjpeg-dev-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 NVJPEG native dev links, headers
ii cuda-nvml-dev-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 NVML native dev links, headers
ii cuda-nvprof-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA Profiler tools
ii cuda-nvprune-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA nvprune
ii cuda-nvrtc-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 NVRTC native runtime libraries
ii cuda-nvrtc-dev-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 NVRTC native dev links, headers
ii cuda-nvtx-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 NVIDIA Tools Extension
ii cuda-nvvp-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA nvvp
ii cuda-repo-ubuntu1804-10-2-local 10.2.1-1 amd64 cuda repository configuration files
ii cuda-repo-ubuntu1804-10-2-local-10.2.89-440.33.01 1.0-1 amd64 cuda repository configuration files
ii cuda-runtime-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA Runtime 10.2 meta-package
ii cuda-samples-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA example applications
ii cuda-sanitizer-api-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA Sanitizer API
ii cuda-toolkit-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA Toolkit 10.2 meta-package
ii cuda-tools-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA Tools meta-package
ii cuda-visual-tools-10-2 10.2.89-1 amd64 CUDA visual tools

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