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Installing package + dependancies and removing them all

rated 0 times [ 0] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 905 / 1 Year ago, sun, march 5, 2023, 9:42:23

I currently use Xubuntu and was considering installing/trying GNOME Shell or Cinnamon by installing their respective metapackage. However, doing so would result in a massive number of dependencies being installed which would be almost impossible to remove individually at a later date if I decided I didn't like it. I wonder, therefore, if there is a way that I can track which packages Synaptic automatically downloads as part of the process and create a script of some sort to remove them all as well. I could then rest assured that if I don't like any of my new desktop environments, I can remove them in full without leaving a load of other applications and libraries lying around.

Thankyou for any help! :)

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ledeball

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3 Years ago

answered 1 Year ago laiuct · Accepted Answer

I found my own solution to this, and I'm kicking myself because it should have been obvious all along.

Install your program from the terminal, and simply copy/paste the list of dependencies it suggests into a text file. They're already in the perfect format for re-entry/pasting into the terminal at a later date (if you want to remove them).

For example:

sudo apt-get install unity

presents me with:

Reading package lists... Done

Building dependency tree       

Reading state information... Done

The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:

  lib32stdc++6 libdmx1

Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.

The following extra packages will be installed:

  account-plugin-flickr appmenu-gtk appmenu-gtk3 appmenu-qt bamfdaemon compiz

  compiz-gnome geoclue geoclue-ubuntu-geoip gir1.2-accounts-1.0

  gir1.2-gdata-0.0 gir1.2-goa-1.0 gir1.2-signon-1.0 gir1.2-ubuntuoneui-3.0

  indicator-appmenu indicator-datetime indicator-printers libbamf3-0

  libdbusmenu-qt2 libglewmx1.8 libgnome-menu2 libnux-3.0-0 libnux-3.0-common

  libpackagekit-glib2-14 libsyncdaemon-1.0-1 libtimezonemap1

  libubuntuoneui-3.0-1 libunity-core-6.0-5 libunity-misc4 libunity-webapps0

  nux-tools python3-crypto python3-httplib2 python3-oauthlib

  rhythmbox-ubuntuone unity-asset-pool unity-common unity-lens-applications

  unity-lens-files unity-lens-music unity-lens-photos unity-lens-shopping

  unity-lens-video unity-scope-gdocs unity-scope-musicstores

  unity-scope-video-remote unity-services unity-webapps-service

Suggested packages:

  python3-crypto-dbg python-crypto-doc

The following NEW packages will be installed

  account-plugin-flickr appmenu-gtk appmenu-gtk3 appmenu-qt bamfdaemon compiz

  compiz-gnome geoclue geoclue-ubuntu-geoip gir1.2-accounts-1.0

  gir1.2-gdata-0.0 gir1.2-goa-1.0 gir1.2-signon-1.0 gir1.2-ubuntuoneui-3.0

  indicator-appmenu indicator-datetime indicator-printers libbamf3-0

  libdbusmenu-qt2 libglewmx1.8 libgnome-menu2 libnux-3.0-0 libnux-3.0-common

  libpackagekit-glib2-14 libsyncdaemon-1.0-1 libtimezonemap1

  libubuntuoneui-3.0-1 libunity-core-6.0-5 libunity-misc4 libunity-webapps0

  nux-tools python3-crypto python3-httplib2 python3-oauthlib

  rhythmbox-ubuntuone unity unity-asset-pool unity-common

  unity-lens-applications unity-lens-files unity-lens-music unity-lens-photos

  unity-lens-shopping unity-lens-video unity-scope-gdocs

  unity-scope-musicstores unity-scope-video-remote unity-services

  unity-webapps-service

0 upgraded, 49 newly installed, 0 to remove and 6 not upgraded.

Need to get 6,194 kB of archives.

After this operation, 23.8 MB of additional disk space will be used.

Do you want to continue [Y/n]?

I simply copy and paste the list underneath The following NEW packages will be installed into a text file. Then I just replace the 'new line's with a space and it's all ready to paste back into sudo apt-get remove when I need it.

So to remove Unity (for me), the command is:

sudo apt-get remove account-plugin-flickr appmenu-gtk appmenu-gtk3 appmenu-qt bamfdaemon compiz compiz-gnome geoclue geoclue-ubuntu-geoip gir1.2-accounts-1.0 gir1.2-gdata-0.0 gir1.2-goa-1.0 gir1.2-signon-1.0 gir1.2-ubuntuoneui-3.0 indicator-appmenu indicator-datetime indicator-printers libbamf3-0 libdbusmenu-qt2 libglewmx1.8 libgnome-menu2 libnux-3.0-0 libnux-3.0-common libpackagekit-glib2-14 libsyncdaemon-1.0-1 libtimezonemap1 libubuntuoneui-3.0-1 libunity-core-6.0-5 libunity-misc4 libunity-webapps0 nux-tools python3-crypto python3-httplib2 python3-oauthlib rhythmbox-ubuntuone unity unity-asset-pool unity-common unity-lens-applications unity-lens-files unity-lens-music unity-lens-photos unity-lens-shopping unity-lens-video unity-scope-gdocs unity-scope-musicstores unity-scope-video-remote unity-services unity-webapps-service

Easy! And works for any program.