Safe to Remove?

[Xplorer4x4]

Another thread not just for my own education, but for other newcomers as well. There are some programs and widgets I would like to remove because I have no use for them, and most likely never will. So I wanted to start a thread where myself and others can ask if it is safe to remove certain widgets and programs. I will then try to keep my OP up to date with all the programs and widgets in question and try to list any programs that may break as a result of removing said program(s).

I am a bit tired so sorry if my extended goal is not clear atm, but I just want to ask if it is safe to remove the following:
Panorama(I don't recall this being included in KDE by default but wanted to be sure)
KDE IM Log Viewer
KPPP(I have a cable Internet connection/DOCSIS3 and have no DSL/Dial Up Connection available)
KRandRTray
Nepomuk
KMag
Kvkbd(virtual keyboard)

[james147]

The only one there that I don't think you can simply remove is nepomuk, but why not try each of them?

sudo apt-get remove <package>

will show you what it is going to remove and ask you if you really want to, just check to see if nothing else important will be removed with it.

If anything does go wrong you should be able to install kubuntu-desktop to gain back all the required applications.

[Xplorer4x4]

The only one there that I don't think you can simply remove is nepomuk, but why not try each of them?

I am not exactly anxious to screw up my system, backups or not.

sudo apt-get remove <package>

will show you what it is going to remove and ask you if you really want to, just check to see if nothing else important will be removed with it.

I am aware but I notice some times apt prompts me for a yes or no when installing and sometimes it doesn't even though I did not imply -y. I can't recall if it happens every time when doing remove --purge but again, not anxious to put my system in that kind of jeopardy. I don't mind some risk, but this seems like a big risk.

If anything does go wrong you should be able to install kubuntu-desktop to gain back all the required applications.

Well that makes me feel more comfortable but like I said, I don't want to remove something and spend a bunch of time fixing it.

[Rob_H]

If you want to exercise very fine-grained control over what gets installed, you might want to consider a distribution like Arch or Gentoo. That way you can opt-in to the packages you want rather than removing.

[Xplorer4x4]

If you want to exercise very fine-grained control over what gets installed, you might want to consider a distribution like Arch or Gentoo. That way you can opt-in to the packages you want rather than removing.

Thanks but being new to linux I feel Kubuntu is the right choice for me. Besides, this is just a handful of packages so not a major problem. I just thought I could start a thread that benefits myself and others who want to use Kubuntu by getting feedback if these packages are going to impact the system in a major way if I remove them.

[dibl]

I just noticed, you have 6TB of hard drive capacity, in that very nice system. Have you noticed how little space your Linux OS takes and all your installed packages use -- what is it, 5 or 6GB? That's 0.1 percent of your available space for all of kubuntu. The kppp executable is 530K -- I can't even do the math to figure out what percent of your capacity you are sacrificing to kppp -- are you sure you care? If you really do want to spend your time that way, I would say pop open your terminal and check the reverse depends, to see if anything important depends on the package that you are considering removing. For example:

dibl@imerabox:/home/dibl$ sudo apt-cache rdepends kppp
kppp
Reverse Depends:
  kdenetwork
  education-desktop-other

Since I need kdenetwork, it appears I'd be causing a problem if I removed kppp. However, rdepends "counts" recommended packages as dependencies. When I confirm by checking the kdenetwork dependencies, I see this:

dibl@imerabox:/home/dibl$ sudo apt-cache depends kdenetwork
kdenetwork
  Depends: kget
  Depends: kopete
  Depends: krdc
  Depends: krfb
  Recommends: kdenetwork-filesharing
  Recommends: kppp

So, since kppp is only a recommended additional package for kdenetwork, I could remove it and cause no damage.

But again -- for such a trivial saving of disk space that costs $0.09 per GB, or in my case of an SSD, about $1.00 per GB. You'll spend a lot of time trying to save a dime's worth of space, and probably not succeed.

[james147]

dibl, harddisk space is not the only consideration you want to take when removing packages, network bandwidth is also important as those packages need updating as well and the more unneeded packages you have the longer updates will take. Although some packages takes up very little space, it adds up after a while and can actually be a problem when you have a monthly bandwidth cap.

Also, it can tidy up the menu so you can find things you actually use faster (although you can also do this by removing the offending application from the menu rather then the system or just the the search feature ).

That said, it should considered if it is worth removing these apps if you do have plenty of resources to manage them.

[Xplorer4x4]

Sure I have 6TB, but I think you missed the obvious "1x80GB Intel X25-M G2 SSD." I only have 80GB for my OS drive. Yes Kubuntu takes up amazingly less space in this state compared to a fresh install of Win 7 Ultimate. Yes, even with Windows 7 I had sufficient space left on my SSD. However, james147 makes some great points. Most of which sums up what I was going to say. I will expand and say in my case bandwidth is not a concern, but then again faster updates is a plus even on a 10Mbit connection. It also helps clean out the menu. Sure this can be accomplished kia KDE Menu Editor but I why hide it when I can possibly remove the package and forget about it.

You say you would not remove kppp because you need kdenetwork? Well a little bit of googling tells me pretty much nothing of value about this package. Atleast not that was at my level of understanding because,like I said, I am still pretty new to the linux world. This is the type of scenario that made me create this thread in hopes of helping myself and others. So far it has really failed to do so. I do appreciate the tip on "apt-cache rdepends." Oh and I could try the manual, but I typically find they are not the most n00b frindly explanation. Rather then going around in circles criticizing my request for help, why not utilize your time to truly help?

[dibl]

network bandwidth is also important as those packages need updating as well and the more unneeded packages you have the longer updates will take.

OK, yes that's true, to the extent that you are using a distribution that does lots of updating, which I suppose Kubuntu is. Less true for Debian stable and other distros of that type.

@Xplorer4x4, maybe you missed my edit where I used apt-cache depends and learned that there's no damage done by removing kppp for my situation (not that I'll bother).

To learn a bit more about a package, probably the first place to look is ubuntu packages.

[Xplorer4x4]

Yes I did miss the edit, and as for ubuntu packages, that is my first stop every time. I actually use Add to Search Var in Firefox and created a search based on both name and description. Usually it is pretty helpful, just not in that case, atleast not to me.

[dibl]

Kdenetwork and kdenetwork-filesharing are needed if you want to use dolphin and ssh between machines, which I do on my home LAN.

In thinking about your original question, I'll offer one additional unsolicited observation. KDE (the whole kubuntu-desktop suite) is, by design, a full "environment" -- the developers deliberatedly packed in many utilities as well as productivity packages, trying to offer a fully functional system for broad application. For the person who is interested in a somewhat minimal OS, starting with KDE and then finding all the things you don't require is probably not the most direct path to happiness. As Rob_H pointed out, there are distributions that are designed to let you only install what you need. And even something like lubuntu would be a far less "full" place to start, and then you could add what you need to that. Just trying to give you some ideas.

[sumski]

Kdenetwork and kde-filesharing are needed if you want to use dolphin and ssh between machines, which I do on my home LAN.

In thinking about your original question, I'll offer one additional unsolicited observation. KDE (the whole kubuntu-desktop suite) is, by design, a full "environment" -- the developers deliberatedly packed in many utilities as well as productivity packages, trying to offer a fully functional system for broad application. For the person who is interested in a somewhat minimal OS, starting with KDE and then finding all the things you don't require is probably not the most direct path to happiness. As Rob_H pointed out, there are distributions that are designed to let you only install what you need. And even something like lubuntu would be a far less "full" place to start, and then you could add what you need to that. Just trying to give you some ideas.

Kdenetwork package itself, is hardly needed:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/precise/a...twork/filelist

[dibl]

Kdenetwork package itself, is hardly needed:

Right, even rdepends on kdenetwork leads to not much.

This system is almost 2 years old -- I think there was a reason I had kdenetwork installed on it, but it doesn't look very necessary today.

[Xplorer4x4]

Kdenetwork and kdenetwork-filesharing are needed if you want to use dolphin and ssh between machines, which I do on my home LAN.

In thinking about your original question, I'll offer one additional unsolicited observation. KDE (the whole kubuntu-desktop suite) is, by design, a full "environment" -- the developers deliberatedly packed in many utilities as well as productivity packages, trying to offer a fully functional system for broad application. For the person who is interested in a somewhat minimal OS, starting with KDE and then finding all the things you don't require is probably not the most direct path to happiness. As Rob_H pointed out, there are distributions that are designed to let you only install what you need. And even something like lubuntu would be a far less "full" place to start, and then you could add what you need to that. Just trying to give you some ideas.

I thought I made it clear I am not interested in a different distro can we stop beating a dead horse? I don't really care that they might let me select only what I want, but I have only listed 7 programs so far. Thats 7 out of how many packages that make up the Kubuntu distro? Hundreds? Thousands? Even if I throw in 10-15 widgets we are talking minimal amount of packages here in the grand scheme of things. I suspect the other distros may not require selecting each and every package but I suspect it would still require more research then what it will require to strip a few packages out of Kubuntu.

Kdenetwork package itself, is hardly needed:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/precise/a...twork/filelist

lol thanks sumski, always helpful. Precise(no pun intended) and to the point.

[Snowhog]

The only one there that I don't think you can simply remove is nepomuk, but why not try each of them?

sudo apt-get remove <package>

will show you what it is going to remove and ask you if you really want to, just check to see if nothing else important will be removed with it.

If anything does go wrong you should be able to install kubuntu-desktop to gain back all the required applications.

Then just include the simulate option:

sudo apt-get remove --simulate <package>