HowTo: Fully uninstall the kubuntu-desktop meta-package

[aysiu]

This tutorial is extremely outdated.

For the latest Ubuntu version, go here.

[Xian]

If the goal is as stated to "fully uninstall" the kubuntu-desktop kde affiliated packages then I would go ahead and use the purge prefix in the command.

$ sudo apt-get remove --purge

[aysiu]

Thanks for adding that.

It's really to address people's concerns (which I've seen in numerous threads) that a meta-package's installation dumps a bunch of apps in, but the meta-package's uninstall does not take those bunch of apps out.

Whether people want to fully uninstall each app is up to each user. I'm glad you presented that option as well.

[Hopsonn]

What I would really like to do is to be able to remove some of the other stuff without removing KDE.

[aysiu]

What I would really like to do is to be able to remove some of the other stuff without removing KDE.

I'm not sure what you mean. What other stuff would you like to get rid of?

[lcg]

As you may or may not know, if you install the package called kubuntu-desktop, a lot of other packages will be installed so that you get the full KDE experience in addition to Gnome.

If, however, you uninstall kubuntu-desktop, none of the other "full KDE experience" packages will be uninstalled. You may have installed kubuntu-desktop to get the KDE experience but then found it cluttered things up too much.

For experiments like this, I like to use aptitude on the command line. Aptitude has this feature that it marks packages which are installed as dependencies as automatically installed. If you later remove all packages with a dependency on a package marked as auto, the auto package is removed as well.
So, with aptitude one can simply install and later remove kubuntu-desktop and there are no leftover packages.

HTH,
Lars

[dabear]

****! Just tried

sudo apt-get remove adept akode akregator amarok ark arts dbus gtk2-engines-gtk-qt gwenview ivman k3b kaddressbook kaffeine-gstreamer kamera karm katapult kate kaudiocreator kcontrol kcron kdeadmin-kfile-plugins kdebase-kio-plugins kdebluetooth kdegraphics-kfile-plugins kde-guidance kdemultimedia-kappfinder-data kdemultimedia-kfile-plugins kdemultimedia-kio-plugins kdenetwork-filesharing kdenetwork-kfile-plugins kdepasswd kdepim-kio-plugins kdepim-wizards kdeprint kdesktop kde-systemsettings kdm kfind kghostview khelpcenter kicker kio-apt kio-locate klaptopdaemon klipper kmail kmenuedit kmilo kmix knetworkconf knotes konq-plugins konqueror konqueror-nsplugins konserve konsole kontact konversation kooka kopete korganizer kpdf kpf kppp krdc krfb krita kscd kscreensaver ksmserver ksnapshot ksplash ksvg ksysguard ksystemlog kubuntu-artwork-usplash kubuntu-default-settings kubuntu-docs kubuntu-konqueror-shortcuts kuser kwalletmanager kwifimanager kwin openoffice.org2-kde pmount python-opengl qca-tls speedcrunch ttf-dejavu

without removing kubuntu-desktop. Because of dependencies, it seems like much of the gnome desktop got uninstalled too. I luckily aborted the process before it was too late, but I had to do a «sudo dpkg-reconfigure -a && apt-get install gnome-desktop» afterwards

[aysiu]

****! Just tried

sudo apt-get remove adept akode akregator amarok ark arts dbus gtk2-engines-gtk-qt gwenview ivman k3b kaddressbook kaffeine-gstreamer kamera karm katapult kate kaudiocreator kcontrol kcron kdeadmin-kfile-plugins kdebase-kio-plugins kdebluetooth kdegraphics-kfile-plugins kde-guidance kdemultimedia-kappfinder-data kdemultimedia-kfile-plugins kdemultimedia-kio-plugins kdenetwork-filesharing kdenetwork-kfile-plugins kdepasswd kdepim-kio-plugins kdepim-wizards kdeprint kdesktop kde-systemsettings kdm kfind kghostview khelpcenter kicker kio-apt kio-locate klaptopdaemon klipper kmail kmenuedit kmilo kmix knetworkconf knotes konq-plugins konqueror konqueror-nsplugins konserve konsole kontact konversation kooka kopete korganizer kpdf kpf kppp krdc krfb krita kscd kscreensaver ksmserver ksnapshot ksplash ksvg ksysguard ksystemlog kubuntu-artwork-usplash kubuntu-default-settings kubuntu-docs kubuntu-konqueror-shortcuts kuser kwalletmanager kwifimanager kwin openoffice.org2-kde pmount python-opengl qca-tls speedcrunch ttf-dejavu

without removing kubuntu-desktop.

Without removing kubuntu-desktop? What you're removing is kubuntu-desktop--that's what the whole point of this HowTo is.

Because of dependencies, it seems like much of the gnome desktop got uninstalled too. I luckily aborted the process before it was too late, but I had to do a «sudo dpkg-reconfigure -a && apt-get install gnome-desktop» afterwards

Really? Because I cross-referenced ubuntu-desktop's packages with kubuntu-desktop's packages, and what you copied and pasted is what's left over (i.e., the ones specific to kubuntu-desktop). None of ubuntu-desktop's packages should be affected. Do you remember off the top of your head some packages that were affected?

Could it be that you have some KDE applications running in Gnome? The point of this HowTo is to get KDE out of there.

[no1wantdthisname]

A much easier way would be to use debfoster.
Install debfoster.
Create the basic file list with

sudo debfoster -q

and then

sudo gedit /var/lib/debfoster/keepers

erase entries that are unneeded. In this case, kubuntu-desktop.

sudo debfoster

will ask about whether you want to keep something or not, and will automatically remove and purge those programs and their unneeded dependencies. This is a much cleaner and easier way.

[aysiu]

I'm sure debfoster's a wonderful thing, but how is that easier than copying and pasting one command into a terminal? It may be "cleaner," but it's not easier.