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outboundctl uninstall and version

outboundctl uninstall --dry-run, version and --help: what the dry run lists for you or for every user, and what it never removes.

Outbound 1.3.0 · Updated

Use these commands to preview removal, read the tool’s version or print command help.

uninstall –dry-run

Section titled “uninstall –dry-run”
Terminal window
outboundctl uninstall --dry-run

uninstall --dry-run removes nothing. It is the one form the command accepts, with --all-users as the only addition, and it prints, without changing a single file, exactly what a removal involves:

  1. Asking macOS to deactivate the filter extension (com.outboundfirewall.outbound.filter), stopping if macOS requires approval or a restart.
  2. Removing Outbound’s NEFilterManager configuration.
  3. Unregistering the background agent’s launchd job.
  4. Offering to purge the user data paths, listed in full.

It then prints two things the list of paths does not cover: the system-owned filter data under /var/root/Library/Application Support/com.outboundfirewall.outbound.filter, which macOS keeps and an administrator cleans up after deactivation, and the fact that the application bundle itself is retained, so you move Outbound.app to the Trash once removal is done.

The listed user data paths are the app group container with its analytics folder, the Application Support folder, and the Caches, Preferences and Saved Application State files of both the app and the agent. When OUTBOUND_STORE_PATH points somewhere else, the relocated store files are listed too: the rules file with its .bak and .lock companions, settings.json with its lock, review.json, the audit, Locations and Snapshots folders and the analytics folder.

For every user

Section titled “For every user”
Terminal window
outboundctl uninstall --dry-run --all-users

Lists what removing Outbound for every local user would delete: each folder, with the accounts or the system it belongs to, including the system’s sealed audit log. It starts with a fingerprint of the plan (Plan SHA-256). In the app, you check the same kind of list under Review every cleanup path before removing. See Removing Outbound for every user.

The full walkthrough, including what macOS asks of you, is on the uninstall page.

version

Section titled “version”
Terminal window
outboundctl version

Prints one line with the version and build of the Outbound app the tool belongs to, such as outboundctl 1.4.2 (89). --version is accepted as a spelling of the same thing, and --json prints app_version and app_build as JSON. See the release history for how the app is numbered.

–help

Section titled “–help”
Terminal window
outboundctl --help

Prints the full command list with each subcommand’s syntax and the store-path, edit-policy and exit-code notes, and exits 0. -h and help are the same. Running outboundctl with no command at all prints the same text as an error and exits 64.

A successful dry run exits 0. Any other uninstall syntax exits 64 and directs you to Outbound Settings for removal; outboundctl never removes Outbound itself. Failure to resolve the store path exits 1. version and --version exit 0.