uninstalling nmap from Macbook 10.13.6

You haven't stated how you installed nmap. You can only use the package manager that you used to install it — to remove it. If you just downloaded the nmap-7.70.dmg, double-clicked that to mount on your Desktop, and then ran the meta package (.mpkg) installer from there, then you cannot use a third-party package manager to uninstall it, nor do the developers provide an uninstaller, or uninstall instructions.

The nmap installer sprays binaries and man pages into the /usr/local/bin, /usr/local/share/man folder locations, in addition to the obvious in /Applications.

On the outside chance that the installation created a package history, run the following in the Terminal.

pkgutil --pkgs | grep -i nmap

If this shows a package from nnmap.org, you can see all of the files that it installed. Omit the angle brackets below, and use the name that you found in the preceding command output:

pkgutil --files <full name of the nmap package from the previous command> | more -r



If you downloaded it from the site you linked, there is nothing in that package that would make you Ma slow. It doesn't install anything that runs in the background. Even running a scan on a network would not really slow your Mac.

Anyway, here is how to remove it: https://nmap.org/book/inst-removing-nmap.html

How did you Install it, Fink, or Macports? Or how else?

To uninstall use the command fink remove nmap.

MacPorts... To uninstall, run sudo port uninstall nmap.

The following assumes you have complete and current backups.

There’s no provided removal tool for that and many other package installers, of that’s what you used here of the three options shown on the cited web page.

If you used the package installer and not fink or macports (nmap is also in homebrew, though thst cited web page doesn’t list that option), then you’re left to manually remove nmap.

Have an external backup or two, as this sequence may fail.

You’ll almost certainly need to adjust the embedded version number shown in the linked article to match the version you installed.

Or since nmap is small and harmless and only really relevant when it’s being run with admin access, you could choose to ignore it.

Start with the Apple Command Line Primer in the appendix of the shell scripting manual, and then work your way through the rest of the document. There's also a reasonable book around for what I think you're up to here—inferring from your username—which is learning C on a Unix system. That's the 21st Century C book by Klemens.

As for your question...

Those files are what was installed here.

Those files are what would be manually removed when removing nmap.

This after having used of the "package" installer.

There's no nmap removal tool for the package installer.

Which means manual removal.

Or you can choose to ignore the installed nmap, which is what I'd encourage doing here.

Why ignore nmap?

nmap uses negligible storage, and is only active when invoked.

Clobbering an incorrect file or directory somewhere under /usr/local might clobber something else.

if you do decide to (manually) delete the nmap files, have complete and current backups.

Once you know a little more about Unix and the command line and—again, inferring from your username—C programming on Unix systems such as macOS—then this nmap discussion and this removal might be worth revisiting, and the files and folders can then be deleted.

I searched in Finder under nmap and found nothing.

The only part of it that is readily findable is the GUI Zenmap. But, that would not slow down your Mac. It's just an app that sits there doing nothing until you open it.

Just one or the other, do you know which you used to install it?

You could try one at a time, won't harm if not the right one.

Oh yes, many files & folders are hidden from a Finder search, especially any locations nmap would be found in. :)

So to confirm, entering...

pkgutil --files org.insecure.nmap | more -r

gave a pipe (|) error?