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apt autoremove trying to remove essential packages

rated 0 times [ 1] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 5300 / 3 Years ago, sun, august 1, 2021, 3:25:16

I recently ran

apt install build-essential libncurses5-dev libpcap-dev libgtkmm-3.0-dev autoconf autopoint intltool libxml2-utils

as an application dependencies because it was mentioned in the website. But after I'm done with application I ran

sudo apt purge build-essential libncurses5-dev libpcap-dev libgtkmm-3.0-dev autoconf autopoint intltool libxml2-utils

But after that apt gives a large autoremove list

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

  fonts-dejavu icoutils kate-data katepart kde-runtime-data kde-style-breeze

  kde-style-breeze-qt4 kdelibs-bin krita-data libatk-bridge2.0-dev

  libatk1.0-dev libatkmm-1.6-dev libatspi2.0-dev libdbus-1-dev libepoxy-dev

  libgdk-pixbuf2.0-dev libgmp-dev libgmpxx4ldbl libgtk-3-dev

  libkatepartinterfaces4 libkdcraw-data libkdcraw23 libkde3support4

  libkdeclarative5 libkdesu5 libkemoticons4 libkf5style5 libkjsembed4

  libkmediaplayer4 libknotifyconfig4 libkntlm4 libkpty4 libkxmlrpcclient4

  libllvm4.0 libnl-route-3-200 libntrack-qt4-1 libntrack0 libopencolorio1v5

  libpolkit-qt-1-1 libpoppler-qt4-4 libqt4-designer libqt4-qt3support

  libtinfo-dev libtinyxml2.6.2v5 libxcomposite-dev libxcursor-dev libxi-dev

  libxinerama-dev libxrandr-dev libxtst-dev libyaml-cpp0.3v5

  linux-headers-4.10.0-40 linux-headers-4.10.0-40-generic

  linux-headers-4.4.0-104 linux-headers-4.4.0-104-generic

  linux-image-4.10.0-40-generic linux-image-4.4.0-104-generic

  linux-image-extra-4.10.0-40-generic linux-image-extra-4.4.0-104-generic

  linux-signed-image-4.10.0-40-generic nettle-dev ntrack-module-libnl-0

  oxygen-icon-theme oxygen5-icon-theme plasma-scriptengine-javascript

  x11proto-composite-dev x11proto-randr-dev x11proto-record-dev

  x11proto-xinerama-dev xsltproc

But I know these packages are important. I again installed previously removed packages. But still showing large list of packages to be removed.How to resolve this?

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ugeeport

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3 Years ago

answered 3 Years ago howesale · Accepted Answer

When a package is installed dependencies and sometimes recommends also get installed. Removing the package doesn't always remove all the packages that were installed with it. For example, I can see from the list that you had krita installed at one time. It is a KDE package. But when it was removed, pieces of KDE software were left behind.

Anything starting with "libk" is a KDE desktop package, and unneeded for gnome. Anything ending ins "-dev" is a develpoment package, most are unneeded unless you are developing software. The normal packages are sufficient.

I normally keep the current kernel and the one previous. All others can be deleted.

Since all the listed packages fall under this category and apt list them as unused by other packages, it is safe to remove them.

apt-get autoremove #this will remove packages that were autoinstalled that are no longer used by another package.