Removing pre-installed apps

[Derek Broughton]

Derek Broughton wrote:

> Steve wrote:
> 
>> Hi,
>> 
>> Is there a way to remove an app (such as Evolution, etc.) WITHOUT
>> removing "Ubuntu Desktop"?
> 
> No (well, "yes", but it's complicated, and apt will have a heck of a time
> installing anything until you let it correct things).
> 
>> In Synaptic, when I select anything that was installed
>> from the CD, it automatically selects to remove the Ubuntu desktop (which
>> I tried once, which causes it not to boot into X... you have to log in at
>> command prompt and then do a startx).
>  
> That _can't_ be what happened.  ubuntu-desktop (or kubuntu-desktop) is a
> virtual package.  There is nothing in it that _needs_ to be present to
> have a working X.
> 
> Since ubuntu-desktop has no "recommends" packages, only hard dependencies,
> it shouldn't matter what method you use to remove it, it isn't going to
> automatically remove any other apps.

Come to think of it, that last is wrong.  If you used aptitude, it probably
_would_ automatically remove all the dependencies (of course, then you
wouldn't have been able to get into X at all).  So in this case, "sudo
apt-get remove ubuntu-desktop" should do the job.

-- 
derek