Instructions to fully uninstall IDL 7.0 and any Workbench updates and user settings

Minimal uninstallation of IDL 7.0 can leave behind IDL 7.0 Workbench post-installation updates and user configuration and customization files.

In some cases it may be useful to be able to also remove these remnant Workbench updates and user settings such that a subsequent reinstallation of the IDL will allow default Workbench settings to be in effect.

The following are steps to fully uninstall IDL 7.0, along with any post-installation updates and user configuration/customization files that may affect settings of a subsequent reinstallation of the IDL 7.0.
Discussion:
Steps to fully uninstall IDL 7.0 along with a user's Workbench settings and updates.

1. Uninstall the core IDL 7.0 software installation files on your system.
   
   Windows
   
   • On Microsoft Windows, run the Windows Add/Remove Software control panel utility as a user with administrative privileges and remove "IDL 7.0".
   • After uninstalling IDL 7.0, manually delete the remnant 'idl70' directory and any files and subdirectories stored therein, if the uninstaller itself did not already remove them.
   • If you are using a 64-bit Windows installation, manually delete the IDL 7.0 Start menu items that remain after you have uninstalled IDL 7.0.

   Solaris, Linux, Mac OS X

   • On Solaris, Linux and Mac OS X, manually delete the "idl70" directory tree of the IDL 7.0 installation. The default location of the main IDL 7.0 directory on Solaris and Linux is "/usr/local/itt/idl70". For Mac OS X, the default location is "/Applications/itt/idl70". From a terminal shell prompt issue a recursive remove command to delete the idl70 directory tree and its contents (sudo or root privileges may be necessary). For example, for the default installation location on Solaris and Linux:
     
     
     rm -R /usr/local/itt/idl70

     For default location on Mac OS X:
     
     

     rm -R /Applications/itt/idl70
2. Delete the '.idl/itt/idlworkbench-config-idl70' directory, which is stored in your home directory.
   
   
   • On Microsoft Windows systems, the '.idl' directory is found in the "C:\Documents and Settings\<user_name>\" directory (assuming C: is the main drive). For example:
     
     
     C:\Documents and Settings\joe\.idl\itt\idlworkbench-config-idl70
   • On Mac OS X, Solaris and Linux systems, the '.idl' directory is found in the directory specified by the user's $HOME environment variable. (Type "echo $HOME" at your UNIX terminal command prompt, if you are not sure where this is.) Remove the "idlworkbench-config-idl70" directory and its contents recursively. For example:
     
     
     rm -R /home/joe/.idl/itt/idlworkbench-config-idl70

     On Mac OS X a user's home directory is normally located under the /Users directory:
     
     

     rm -R /Users/joe/.idl/itt/idlworkbench-config-idl70

     Another way to designate your home directory is with the tilde (~) character. For example:
     
     

     rm -R ~/.idl/itt/idlworkbench-config-idl70

   Removing the configuration directory will remove any customizations you may have made to the layout of the IDL Workbench, but will not remove any IDL source files.

3. Rename your IDL Workspace directory and create a new workspace directory when you install the IDL 7.0 release version. The default name and location of the IDL Workspace directory is "IDLWorkspace" located in your home directory. For Solaris, Linux and Mac OS X, you can rename the IDL Workspace directory with a command like:
   
   
   mv ~/IDLWorkspace ~/IDLWorkspace.bak

   If there are IDL source code or other files in the old workspace directory, you can import them into the new workspace directory using the File->Import menu item. Once you have imported your files into the new workspace directory, delete the old workspace directory.
   
   

4. Delete your "idl.pref" file that is located under the ".idl" directory tree, that can be found in your home directory.
   
   On Windows your IDL 7.0 "idl.pref" file is located at:
   
   
   C:\Documents and Settings\<user_name>\.idl\itt\pref-10-idl_7_0-windows\idl.pref

   On Solaris, Linux and Mac OS X, delete your IDL 7.0 "idl.pref" file by issuing the following command at a terminal shell prompt:
   
   

   rm ~/.idl/itt/pref-10-idl_7_0-unix/idl.pref
5. Undefine IDL related system environment variables that can affect IDL behavior. Environment variables defined in a user's session environment such as IDL_PATH, IDL_DLM_PATH and IDL_STARTUP (and others) can affect the behavior on IDL sessions.
   
   If your user environment has definitions for IDL-related environment variables variables, you may wish to remove the definition for these variables.
   
   On Windows, you can delete the variables through the Windows System control panel utility under the Advanced tab and then clicking the Environment Variables button. Environment variables may be defined as User and/or System variables.
   
   On Solaris, Linux and Mac OS X, definitions for IDL_PATH, IDL_DLM_PATH, IDL_STARTUP and other IDL-related variables may exist as lines in your shell resource file in your home directory. For example, C shell uses .cshrc, TC shell can use .tcshrc or .cshrc, Bash shell uses .bashrc.