Question

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rated 0 times [ 11] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 7840 / 3 Years ago, mon, october 25, 2021, 6:24:26

I just installed Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and was very surprised (and amused :)) about the install-window showing the status information:

"Zusatzpakete werden entfernt"

_{(means something like "removing additional packages")}

Seems very weird to me that in an installation, additional packages are removed...why have they been installed in first place?

Well, not that bad, i used Windows for decades now, i just had the small hope that the linux world would be a little bit saner ;D

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2 Years ago

answered 3 Years ago onomicsiberated · Accepted Answer

TLDR; It's basically just a apt-get autoremove performed after installation.

Here's what happens on installation time using a desktop installer (this answer is not valid for server or alternate installers):

A sort of preinstalled Ubuntu image (/casper/filesystem.squashfs on the CD) is extracted onto your hard drive. It's like taking a shortcut, because it's all in a predefined state and does not require all packages to be installed one by one (opposed to the debootstrap process in the server/alternate installers).

After extraction of the image, the installer chroots into the target and will apply all changes you entered during installation: user account, language, timezone, etc. It will then also apply updates.

The state of the target filesystem (almost finished installation) after all this will probably result in some packages not needed for your system. E.g. older kernel that is not applicable anymore due to updates, or you didn't choose to use LVM so all packages related to that can be removed. (this is just hypothetical - I did not check if this actually performs the removal of LVM.) It's not much different from applying a large stack of package updates that result in some packages removed using apt-get autoremove.