APT Is Nagging Me To Remove Things I Don't Want To Remove

[Dave Vincenty]

Here's something I've wanted to ask for a while.

Okay, I've been  getting a message when I run "apt-get":
> The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer 
> required:
>   knetwalk kpat libdb4.4++ libstrigiqtdbusclient0 liblash2 ksokoban 
> kolf blinken krec kscd kshisen kmoon kmahjongg klaptopdaemon ksig ksim 
> kwifimanager libqimageblitz4 kcharselect guile-1.8 kjumpingcube  
> kdeartwork-style sooperlooper kregexpeditor kdeartwork-misc kcoloredit 
> artsbuilder kdessh kanagram freebirth-data knode kmrml katomic 
> libcvsservice0 kleopatra kdegames-card-data kruler qamix lilypond-data 
> ktux klettres libportaudio2 kdebase-data-kde4 tapiir kgoldrunner 
> kbackgammon kpoker terminatorx dirmngr kdepim-kfile-plugins librdf0 
> libkiten1 kgeography libsoundtouch1c2 kpackage liblockdev1 kenolaba 
> zynaddsubfx freqtweak kblackbox gtick atlantikdesigner konsolekalendar 
> klatin kfloppy muse csound audacity kstars ttf-dustin ksame kbruch 
> shaketracker libkdegames1 freebirth libqt4-qt3support kcalc denemo 
> libmimelib1c2a keduca kandy kdeedu-data kdemultimedia-kappfinder-data 
> libsqlite0 bitscope kdeartwork-theme-icon kweather kmplot kalzium 
> ksirc kde-icons-oxygen puredata librss1 klinkstatus klickety 
> kpovmodeler ksayit librasqal0 kmouth kalarm noatun-plugins kworldclock 
> mpeglib kalzium-data kdewebdev bristol kdegames kicker-applets
>   amor kdict guile-1.8-libs ktouch kgeography-data ktnef khexedit 
> kdeaccessibility kedit kbounce kvoctrain jackeq libgtkmm1.2-0c2a 
> libsoprano4 kdetoys kimagemapeditor atlantik jdelay tidy 
> libtidy-0.99-0 kwordquiz kview ktron ttf-sjfonts kdelibs5-data cvs 
> kdenetwork libtiff-tools kttsd libgnomecanvasmm-2.6-1c2a 
> kdeartwork-emoticons dcoprss ksysv mixxx kwin4 kdewallpapers 
> libksieve0 kuser klettres-data kreversi kdf libcaptury0 qsampler 
> kspaceduel libgle3 kig vkeybd juk noatun klines jack-rack 
> fifteenapplet libmxml1 kdemultimedia mixxx-data kfaxview kstars-data 
> libsigc++-1.2-5c2 qsynth edict lskat libarts1-mpeglib 
> kaddressbook-plugins kgamma kviewshell kfilereplace libqt4-sql 
> kommander timemachine kdeutils lilypond kdegraphics kaboodle 
> libphonon4 khangman jack-tools fluidsynth aconnectgui libindex0 
> kanjidic kdeartwork-theme-window xscreensaver-gl-extra beast 
> ksmiletris tk707 libarts1-audiofile kxsldbg quanta kbattleship 
> kiconedit kdeadmin kpilot libsigc++0c2 kasteroids seq24 kfouleggs 
> libkdeedu3 rosegarden-data libcapseo0 libkgantt0 knewsticker ksnake 
> patchage kiten eyesapplet swami kdat indi kdeedu kdelirc kpercentage 
> superkaramba kjots kfax ksirtet xserver-xorg-input-synaptics kmines 
> kdvi kget meterbridge kdebase-runtime-data kgpg jackbeat 
> alsa-tools-gui konquest kate-plugins kolourpaint kdepimlibs-data 
> kdeaddons-kfile-plugins xscreensaver-data-extra libarts1-xine 
> ktuberling kturtle kaudiocreator ktimer liblscp quanta-data kmid 
> texinfo kteatime kverbos jamin kodo
> Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
Now, this is a long list, and it tells me this EVERY time I use APT for 
anything.  I know a few of these are things that were left over after I 
purged KDE 4.0.0 from my system, and I'm sure a lot of what's on this 
list could be removed without me even noticing the difference, but 
"alsa-tools-gui"?  Don't I need that to, like, change volume when I'm 
not in KDE?  And I certainly don't want to get rid of 
"xscreensaver-gl-extra" and lose my beautiful bouncing cow.  Plus, I've 
always wanted to start up SuperKaramba and see if I actually need it for 
anything.

So my question is ... is there a way to make it stop telling me to 
remove packages?  And if I really do need to remove packages, can I pull 
up a list to autoremove, but pick which ones I want to keep?

Alternatively, maybe there is something I installed (an optional add-on 
to APT?) that's meant to remove unused packages to maximize my hard 
drive space.  I don't think I want to remove such a function ... simply 
to make it shut up and have it only offer polite suggestions when I 
decide to see them.

Thanks in advance.


~~~ dave ~~~

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