Ubuntu PPA (Personal Package Archive) is a software repository that allow anyone to publish software fro Ubuntu. Many software publishers make latest versions of their software available via PPA, so Ubuntu users who want to try latest version can install them via PPA. Some software that is not available in official Ubuntu repository is available from PPA.
If you have installed any software from Ubuntu PPA and want to remove it, you can use command ppa-purge to do it. This will remove the packages and its dependency, if any of the official packages are updated, ppa-purge will install original version of the software so your system keep running after removing these updated packages.
ppa-purge ppa:PPAOWNER/PPANAME
Example
root@hon-pc-01:~# ppa-purge ppa:neovim-ppa/stable Updating packages lists PPA to be removed: neovim-ppa stable Package revert list generated: libmsgpackc2:amd64/xenial libtermkey1:amd64/xenial libuv1:amd64/xenial libuv1-dev:amd64/xenial libvterm0:amd64- neovim- neovim-runtime- Disabling neovim-ppa PPA from /etc/apt/sources.list.d/neovim-ppa-ubuntu-stable-xenial.list Updating packages lists Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done libuv1 is already the newest version (1.8.0-1). libuv1 set to manually installed. libuv1-dev is already the newest version (1.8.0-1). libuv1-dev set to manually installed. Selected version '0.5.7-3ubuntu1' (Ubuntu:16.04/xenial [amd64]) for 'libmsgpackc2' Selected version '0.18-1' (Ubuntu:16.04/xenial [amd64]) for 'libtermkey1' Selected version '1.8.0-1' (Ubuntu:16.04/xenial [amd64]) for 'libuv1' Selected version '1.8.0-1' (Ubuntu:16.04/xenial [amd64]) for 'libuv1-dev' The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required: libjemalloc1 linux-headers-4.4.0-59 linux-headers-4.4.0-59-generic linux-headers-4.4.0-62 linux-headers-4.4.0-62-generic linux-image-4.4.0-59-generic linux-image-4.4.0-62-generic linux-image-extra-4.4.0-59-generic linux-image-extra-4.4.0-62-generic ubuntu-core-launcher xsel Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them. The following packages will be REMOVED: libvterm0 neovim neovim-runtime The following packages will be DOWNGRADED: libmsgpackc2 libtermkey1 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 2 downgraded, 3 to remove and 1 not upgraded. Need to get 28.9 kB of archives. After this operation, 19.0 MB disk space will be freed. Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/universe amd64 libmsgpackc2 amd64 0.5.7-3ubuntu1 [11.8 kB] Get:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/universe amd64 libtermkey1 amd64 0.18-1 [17.2 kB] Fetched 28.9 kB in 1s (25.4 kB/s) (Reading database ... 324794 files and directories currently installed.) Removing neovim (0.1.7-3~ubuntu16.04.1~ppa3) ... update-alternatives: removing manually selected alternative - switching editor to auto mode update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.gnome to provide /usr/bin/editor (editor) in auto mode update-alternatives: removing manually selected alternative - switching vi to auto mode update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.gnome to provide /usr/bin/vi (vi) in auto mode update-alternatives: removing manually selected alternative - switching vim to auto mode update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.gnome to provide /usr/bin/vim (vim) in auto mode Removing libvterm0:amd64 (0~bzr684-1~ubuntu16.04.1~ppa1) ... Removing neovim-runtime (0.1.7-3~ubuntu16.04.1~ppa3) ... Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.23-0ubuntu5) ... Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.5-1) ... dpkg: warning: downgrading libmsgpackc2:amd64 from 1.4.2-4~ubuntu16.04.1~ppa1 to 0.5.7-3ubuntu1 (Reading database ... 323401 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack .../libmsgpackc2_0.5.7-3ubuntu1_amd64.deb ... Unpacking libmsgpackc2 (0.5.7-3ubuntu1) over (1.4.2-4~ubuntu16.04.1~ppa1) ... dpkg: warning: downgrading libtermkey1:amd64 from 0.19-1~ubuntu16.04.1~ppa1 to 0.18-1 Preparing to unpack .../libtermkey1_0.18-1_amd64.deb ... Unpacking libtermkey1:amd64 (0.18-1) over (0.19-1~ubuntu16.04.1~ppa1) ... Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.23-0ubuntu5) ... Setting up libmsgpackc2 (0.5.7-3ubuntu1) ... Setting up libtermkey1:amd64 (0.18-1) ... Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.23-0ubuntu5) ... PPA purged successfully root@hon-pc-01:~#
