Another one from nixCraft:
Method # 1
(the classic usual)
Use command make uninstall or equivalent supported command, Read INSTALL or README file in source code file to find out more about this method.
# make uninstall
Sure, this method sounds very easy but not supported by all tar balls.
Method # 2
(a) Make a list of all files on the system before installing software i.e. a pre-installation list of all files on your system.
find /* > packgetlist.b4
(b) Now install the software (use configure & make to compile it)
make
make install
(c) Now make a list of all files on the system after installing software i.e. postinstall list
find /* > packagelist.after
(d) Next, compare both lists using the diff utility to find out what files are placing where. This list can be use to uninstall all files installed using source tar ball.
diff packagelist.b4 packagelist.after > package.uninstall.list
(e) After some time if you wish to uninstall files then you need to get list of files from package.uninstall.list file. Use following small for loop at shell prompt to remove all files:
for i in $(grep “>” package.uninstall.list | awk ‘{ print $2 }’)
do
rm -i $i
done
