Gaze

Uninstallation ​

This guide covers completely removing Gaze and all its components from your system.

Quickest path: gaze uninstall ​

bash
gaze uninstall

This runs the full cleanup sequence: reset GNOME/GDM lock and login settings, remove system and per-user copies of the GNOME extension, revert PAM, stop the daemon, remove packages (including AUR -debug split packages) and the repo, delete gazed core dumps, and wipe /etc/gaze, /var/cache/gaze, and /var/lib/gaze. It prints the plan and asks for confirmation first. Useful flags:

  • --keep-data: preserve /var/lib/gaze (enrolled faces)
  • --dry-run: print the plan without running anything
  • --yes: skip the confirmation prompt

If you'd rather run the steps yourself, follow the manual procedure below.

Step 1: Disable integrations ​

Before removing packages, disable any active integrations to avoid leaving your system in a broken state.

Reset GNOME lock screen settings ​

bash
gnome-extensions disable gaze@gundulabs.com 2>/dev/null || true
gnome-extensions uninstall gaze@gundulabs.com 2>/dev/null || true
gsettings reset-recursively org.gnome.shell.extensions.gaze
rm -rf ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/gaze@gundulabs.com

Repeat this for each desktop user who enabled lock screen face unlock. The last command removes any per-user copy of the extension (left by gnome-extensions install or a development checkout); without it GNOME keeps listing the extension as disabled.

Revert KDE face unlock ​

Removing gaze-kde strips Gaze from /etc/pam.d/kde-fingerprint and, if you enabled it, from the login greeter stacks. To undo it without removing the package:

bash
sudo gaze-kde-pam disable
sudo gaze-kde-pam disable-login

A pam_gaze line you added to those files by hand, outside Gaze's marked block, is left in place, so remove it yourself.

Revert hyprlock face unlock ​

If you enabled Gaze for hyprlock, remove the module = hyprlock-gaze line from the auth { pam { ... } } block in ~/.config/hypr/hyprlock.conf (or restore ~/.config/hypr/hyprlock.conf.gaze-backup if the installer created one). Repeat for every user that enabled it.

bash
sed -i.bak '/^\s*module\s*=\s*hyprlock-gaze/d' "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/hypr/hyprlock.conf"

Remove GDM login defaults and overrides ​

bash
sudo rm -f /etc/dconf/db/gdm.d/00-gaze-defaults* /etc/dconf/db/gdm.d/99-gaze*
sudo dconf update

Revert PAM configuration ​

bash
sudo pam-auth-update --package --remove gaze
bash
if [ -f /etc/gaze/authselect.previous ]; then
  profile=$(sudo sed -n 's/^Profile ID:[[:space:]]*//p' /etc/gaze/authselect.previous)
  features=$(sudo sed -n 's/^- //p' /etc/gaze/authselect.previous | tr '\n' ' ')
  sudo authselect select "$profile" $features --force
else
  sudo authselect select sssd --force
fi
bash
sudo sed -i '/pam_gaze/d' /etc/pam.d/sudo
bash
# Remove any pam_gaze.so or pam_gaze_grosshack.so lines
# from /etc/pam.d/system-auth or wherever you added them.
sudo nano /etc/pam.d/system-auth

Stop and disable the daemon ​

bash
sudo systemctl stop gazed
sudo systemctl disable gazed

Step 2: Remove packages ​

bash
sudo apt remove --purge gaze gaze-gui gaze-gnome-extension gaze-hyprlock gaze-kde
sudo apt autoremove
bash
sudo dnf remove gaze gaze-gui gaze-gnome-extension gaze-hyprlock gaze-kde
bash
sudo pacman -Rns gaze-bin gaze-gui-bin gaze-gnome-extension-bin gaze-hyprlock-bin gaze-kde-bin
# AUR builds may also have installed -debug split packages:
pacman -Q | awk '/^gaze.*-debug /{print $1}' | xargs -r sudo pacman -Rns --noconfirm
bash
flatpak uninstall com.gundulabs.Gaze

Step 3: Remove the package repository ​

bash
sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/gundulabs.list
sudo rm /usr/share/keyrings/gundulabs-archive-keyring.gpg
sudo apt update
bash
sudo rm /etc/yum.repos.d/gundulabs.repo
sudo rpm -e gpg-pubkey-$(rpm -qa gpg-pubkey --qf '%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE}\t%{SUMMARY}\n' | grep -i gundulabs | awk '{print $1}' | sed 's/gpg-pubkey-//')
sudo dnf makecache
bash
sudo dnf copr disable @gundulabs/gaze
sudo dnf makecache
bash
# AUR installs do not add a Gundu Labs pacman repo.
# Only run this if you previously configured the old pacman repo.
sudo sed -i '/^\[gaze\]/,/^$/d' /etc/pacman.conf
sudo rm -f /etc/pacman.d/gaze-mirrorlist
sudo pacman -Sy
bash
flatpak remote-delete gundulabs

Step 4: Remove leftover data ​

Package removal does not delete user data, downloaded models, or configuration files that were modified. Remove these manually if you want a clean slate.

Refresh compiled GNOME settings after package removal if your package manager did not run the hook:

bash
sudo dconf update
sudo glib-compile-schemas /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas

Face enrollment data ​

bash
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/gaze

Downloaded ML models and cache ​

bash
sudo rm -rf /var/cache/gaze

Configuration ​

bash
sudo rm -rf /etc/gaze

Systemd drop-ins ​

Local overrides for the daemon (debug logging, development checkouts) live in a gazed-specific directory:

bash
sudo rm -rf /etc/systemd/system/gazed.service.d

Core dumps ​

If gazed ever crashed, systemd may have saved core dumps. These can contain decrypted face templates from the daemon's memory, so remove them:

bash
sudo find /var/lib/systemd/coredump \( -name 'core.gazed.*' -o -name 'core.gaze.*' -o -name 'core.gaze-gui.*' \) -delete

SELinux policy (Fedora/RPM systems only) ​

bash
sudo semodule -r gaze-gdm-camera

Step 5: Reload system services ​

bash
sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Verify removal ​

bash
# All of these should fail with "command not found"
gaze --version
gazed --version
gaze-gui --help

# Should show "inactive" or "not found"
systemctl status gazed