How to remove unused packages/applications?

Swarfendor437

Wed Oct 30, 2019 1:18:35 am

OK, before we elucidate as to the safest procedure, there are two items you should never remove from ZorinOS or other forks of Ubuntu.

1. Never remove Nautilus - this is the Desktop Explorer application - it will break your installation.
2. Similarly, PulseAudio - removing this will also break your installation.
3. Rhythmbox - removing this will also break your installation.
4. Evolution - I have not tried to remove this in Zorin 15 but in earlier versions, elements of Evolution were present because Ubuntu was built around or rather had the Evolution Calendar element present in order for the time and date to be shown correctly within the system - if you removed any element of Evolution whilst the main package itself was not installed, would also lead to a broken system.

Now the safest way to remove a package is via Synaptic Package Manager. This is not installed by default in either Zorin 12 or 15 but is available in the Software 'channel'. Once installed, use the search function for the application/packages you want to remove. Do this one at a time and when you 'mark for removal', you should get a window that opens that indicates a heading, 'To be removed' - expand it to see what packages are going to be removed - if you see anything that is likely to remove a system application as the ones listed in the 'never remove' list above then cancel the removal. It is without doubt one of the negatives of Ubuntu and other distributions that too many applications are becoming 'embedded' with the OS and thereby restricting the GNU/Linux users' 'freedom of choice'. :roll:

Aravisian

Wed Oct 30, 2019 2:03:23 am

Swarfendor437 wrote:OK, before we elucidate as to the safest procedure, there are two items you should never remove from ZorinOS or other forks of Ubuntu.

1. Never remove Nautilus - this is the Desktop Explorer application - it will break your installation.
2. Similarly, PulseAudio - removing this will also break your installation.
3. Rhythmbox - removing this will also break your installation.
4. Evolution - I have not tried to remove this in Zorin 15 but...

This is two more than two.

Swarfendor437

Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:08:50 am

Aravisian wrote:
Swarfendor437 wrote:OK, before we elucidate as to the safest procedure, there are two items you should never remove from ZorinOS or other forks of Ubuntu.

1. Never remove Nautilus - this is the Desktop Explorer application - it will break your installation.
2. Similarly, PulseAudio - removing this will also break your installation.
3. Rhythmbox - removing this will also break your installation.
4. Evolution - I have not tried to remove this in Zorin 15 but...

This is two more than two.

I'll use the same joke as my Dad - I can't reckon up in the day time - I went to night school! :lol:

sftzorin1337

Wed Oct 30, 2019 4:32:34 pm

Swarfendor437 wrote:OK, before we elucidate as to the safest procedure, there are two items you should never remove from ZorinOS or other forks of Ubuntu.

1. Never remove Nautilus - this is the Desktop Explorer application - it will break your installation.
2. Similarly, PulseAudio - removing this will also break your installation.
3. Rhythmbox - removing this will also break your installation.
4. Evolution - I have not tried to remove this in Zorin 15 but in earlier versions, elements of Evolution were present because Ubuntu was built around or rather had the Evolution Calendar element present in order for the time and date to be shown correctly within the system - if you removed any element of Evolution whilst the main package itself was not installed, would also lead to a broken system.

Now the safest way to remove a package is via Synaptic Package Manager. This is not installed by default in either Zorin 12 or 15 but is available in the Software 'channel'. Once installed, use the search function for the application/packages you want to remove. Do this one at a time and when you 'mark for removal', you should get a window that opens that indicates a heading, 'To be removed' - expand it to see what packages are going to be removed - if you see anything that is likely to remove a system application as the ones listed in the 'never remove' list above then cancel the removal. It is without doubt one of the negatives of Ubuntu and other distributions that too many applications are becoming 'embedded' with the OS and thereby restricting the GNU/Linux users' 'freedom of choice'.

Hmm yes my only problem currently with ZorinOS is because of the package insanity

It's such a mess <.<

So my question is, I cannot remove the package by their "priority" right?
- aptitude search '?priority(required)' --> KEEP ALL
- aptitude search '?priority(optional)' --> DELETE

or

dpkg-query -Wf '${Package;-40}${Priority}\n' | sort -b -k2,2 -k1,1

and keep only standard and important?!

What's about Xserver complete remove?

Look all this stuff <.<
https://pastebin.com/raw/pzdLHDzz

Edit:

Remove useless language stuff:
https://pastebin.com/raw/ergqvg3v

Aravisian

Wed Oct 30, 2019 7:26:47 pm

Swarfendor437 wrote:I'll use the same joke as my Dad - I can't reckon up in the day time - I went to night school!

I do the same thing often: Start out thinking a "couple of reasons" then think of more as I go.

sftzorin1337 wrote:Hmm yes my only problem currently with ZorinOS is because of the package insanity
It's such a mess <.<

So my question is, I cannot remove the package by their "priority" right?
- aptitude search '?priority(required)' --> KEEP ALL
- aptitude search '?priority(optional)' --> DELETE

or

dpkg-query -Wf '${Package;-40}${Priority}\n' | sort -b -k2,2 -k1,1

and keep only standard and important?!

What's about Xserver complete remove?

Look all this stuff <.<
https://pastebin.com/raw/pzdLHDzz

Edit:

Remove useless language stuff:
https://pastebin.com/raw/ergqvg3v

On what it looks like you want to do:
It becomes counter-productive. It would be better to begin with Linux From Scratch, Arch Linux or another minimal barebones Linux distro, then build upward from there.

Yes, there is quite a bit that you can remove and some of it seems useless -until you find that you need it months down the road- I have done that. Part of the trouble of taking a distro that is suited for a certain audience and then removing material is that the distro of choice has been tested and researched to ensure the programs mesh well together. Well, at least Zorin is, rather thoroughly.
When you take away parts you considered unnecessary, other parts that remain but that have been tweaked to work cooperatively with parts now removed can start showing errors.
Starting with a barebones system as suggested above and building up prevents these problems.

This is a static archive of the old Zorin Forum.

How to remove unused packages/applications?