Impact of removing ubuntu-server metapackage

[Michael Hudson-Doyle]

On Fri, 20 Aug 2021 at 10:55, Matthew Smith <mgsmith at netgate.com> wrote:

>
> Hello,
>
> I have a handful of applications that will run on a ubuntu 20.04 server
> install. I want to be able to manage core files that could be generated if
> any of those applications crash using systemd-coredump. I noticed that when
> I install systemd-coredump, it removes apport and ubuntu-server. Both
> systemd-coredump and apport provide "core-dump-handler" so systemd-coredump
> and apport have a conflict which results in apport being removed. Since
> ubuntu-server has a dependency on apport it's removed when apport is
> removed.
>
> The description of ubuntu-server says:
>
>  This package depends on all of the packages in the Ubuntu Server system
> .
>  It is also used to help ensure proper upgrades, so it is recommended
> that it not be removed.
>
>
> I am wondering exactly how ubuntu-server is related to ensuring proper
> upgrades. If I choose to use systemd-coredump and ubuntu-server gets
> removed as a side effect, will that cause trouble if I want to upgrade or
> dist-upgrade at some point in the future?
>

The main thing is that you won't get any packages that have been added to
Ubuntu server in the new version. For example multipath-tools got added to
the default install between 18.04 and 20.04 -- if ubuntu-server is still
present on the system, upgrading will cause multipath-tools to be
installed, if the metapackage has been removed then it won't.

Cheers,
mwh
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