Safe to Remove?

[Xplorer4x4]

Then just include the simulate option:

sudo apt-get remove --simulate <package>

Thanks thats very useful! Like I said, I can't recall if it prompts me every time when doing remove --purge or not but I know for a fact that when doing sudo apt-get install <package> it sometimes prompts me to answer yes or no and sometimes it doesn't. Is there a reason for this? Is there a way to make apt-get install to always prompt me when doing installs?

[Snowhog]

'A' reason for the "sometimes it prompts; sometime it doesn't" would be timing. If you have used a sudo'd command within the last x time, and then use another sudo command, the prompting is offered.

[dibl]

For Debian, if the package named in the apt-get command has no dependencies, and there are no other complications or conflicts, then it will be installed without a request for confirmation. If packages other than the one named in the apt-get command have to be pulled in, then that triggers the request for confirmation. I believe the *buntus follow this protocol for apt-get.

[SteveRiley]

Even with oodles of hard drive space, I prefer to remove packages that I know I won't use. My reasoning for this comes purely from my background as an infosec practitioner. Every program installed on a machine also has to be kept up-to-date, even if it's a program you never use. Vulnerabilities can creep in anywhere. So to keep a machine's potential attack surface as low as possible, I purge packages that are unnecesssary for me.

I used to install just the base Ubuntu CLI mode, and then construct a hand-built KDE distribution. However, I'm not following that approach anymore, since joining the Kubuntu membership. I feel it's important to install the distribution as envisioned by the maintainers. After installation, then, I add extra packages that I use and remove packages that I don't need. Admittedly, the distinction between the two approaches is probably slight. But it's what I do now.

In Xplorer4x4's "Top 10" post, I mentioned a few packages that I purge, and Xplorer4x4 wanted to know more:

Hey Steve, few question if you don't mind. How can I purge the foreign language fonts and such? How come you disable the update notifiers?

First, the fonts and other unused items. Here is the list of packages I purge after installing Kubuntu. These packages are all part of the "recommends" set of various metapackages, and can thus be purged without removing the corresponding metapackage. Note: this is taken from my Quantal alpha 3 installation on my X1.

From kubuntu-desktop
* akonadi-facebook
* avahi-autoipd
* avahi-daemon
* bluedevil
* bluez
* bluez-alsa
* bluez-cups
* brltty
* dragonplayer
* fonts-kacst-one
* fonts-khmeros-core
* fonts-lao
* fonts-lklug-sinhala
* fonts-nanum
* fonts-sil-abyssinica
* fonts-sil-padauk
* fonts-takao-pgothic
* fonts-thai-tlwg
* fonts-tibetian-machine
* ibus-qt4
* im-switch
* jockey-kde
* kaccessible
* kmag
* kmousetool
* kpat
* kppp
* kubuntu-firefox-installer
* kvkbd
* libnss-mdns
* muon-notifier
* plasma-widget-facebook
* plasma-widget-kimpanel
* quassel
* ttf-indic-fonts-core
* ttf-punjabi-fonts
* ttf-wqy-microhei
* xcursor-themes

From ubuntu-standard
* apparmor
* ppp
* pppconfig
* pppoeconf
* ufw

(I replace Quassel with Quassel-client, because I run a Quassel Core on my home server.)

Next, I run sudo apt-get --purge autoremove to clean up remaining depends. This won't, however, clean up any recommends, so I install and run deborphan to list left-over recommends from the packages that I purged (there are several). I feed the output of that into sudo apt-get purge.

Finally, the update notifiers... both my computers are laptops, which I power down at the end of each day. Cold-booting each morning takes very little time, since both laptops are equipped with SSDs. Each morning, part of my daily routine is

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

I prefer to manage updates manually rather than let a background daemon continually poll for updates.

----

Oh, and one other thing... while I know it isn't too popular around here, I find Aptitude to be a useful maintenance tool for parts of this exercise. It is so much faster to navigate the package lists with Aptitude when removing all those recommends.

[oshunluvr]

* kpat

What? No Solitaire? Oh, what ever so you do with those laptops?

I also remove all the unneeded xserver-xorg-video- and xserver-xorg-input- files I don't need.

[Snowhog]

I also remove all the unneeded xserver-xorg-video- and xserver-xorg-input- files I don't need.

Ditto here. Especially on a laptop with an embedded GPU -- no way to change out video.

I only have the following xserver* packages installed:

xserver-xorg-video-vesa
xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
xserver-xorg-video-vmware
xserver-xorg-video-intel

xserver-xorg-input-all
xserver-xorg-input-wacom
xserver-xorg-input-mouse
xserver-xorg-input-evdev
xserver-xorg-input-vmmouse
xserver-xorg-input-synaptics

[SteveRiley]

What? No Solitaire? Oh, what ever so you do with those laptops?

Why, I linger on this here fine forum

Ditto here. Especially on a laptop with an embedded GPU -- no way to change out video.

I only have the following xserver* packages installed:

xserver-xorg-video-vesa
xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
xserver-xorg-video-vmware
xserver-xorg-video-intel

xserver-xorg-input-all
xserver-xorg-input-wacom
xserver-xorg-input-mouse
xserver-xorg-input-evdev
xserver-xorg-input-vmmouse
xserver-xorg-input-synaptics

You can purge -video-vmware and -input-vmmouse, as they're used only for VM guest (not host) installs. And -wacom, too, unless you actually have a digitizing tablet.

Like you guys, I also remove all the unneeded Xorg stuff. I'd also just as soon get rid of the plethora of printer drivers, but I occasionally find myself needing to print in unpredictable locations so I let the drivers to remain installed.