Installing the full desktop

[Keith]

On 1/12/22 6:42 AM, Oliver Grawert wrote:
> hi,
> Am Dienstag, dem 11.01.2022 um 11:26 -0600 schrieb Keith:
>>
>> Just install the appropriate metapackage
>
> if you want the exact setup the installer would give you, you need to
> use the task, not the metapackage (they resolve dependencies slightly
> different) so either use tasksel to install ubuntu-desktop or use aps
> and append a caret to the package name like:
>
>      sudo apt install ubuntu-desktop^
>
> note that there are no other official desktop metapackages that are
> supported
>
> (there are obsolete things like "ubuntu-gnome-desktop" or "vanilla-
> gnome-desktop" from ancient times in universe though, don't get tricked
> by them, they are mostly unmaintained and bit-rotting ... there is also
> a "gnome" package in universe synced from debian that will likely give
> you the most minimally possible gnome setup debian has i guess)
>
> ciao
> 	oli
>
>

the issue with installing by task over a metapackage is that packages in
the task list are all marked as manually installed. This includes
packages already on the system that were previously installed by being a
resolved dependency and therefore marked as  automatically installed.
This isn't much of a problem unless you change your mind about
installing, say, the kubuntu-desktop by task and want to uninstall it.
However, since all the packages in the task are marked manually
installed in the apt database, simply removing the package
kubuntu-desktop will leave all the packages installed by the task on
your system unable to be uninstalled by the "apt autoremove" command.
You'd have to remove each package you don't want manually.

"But I can uninstall by task as well!", you say.  "Apt remove
kubuntu-desktop^ will work just fine."

Well, let's see what happens when try the above command: (Note: I do not
have kubuntu-desktop installed. I'm using the standard ubuntu-desktop.
Technically, I would expect little to be removed except maybe some QT
libraries for the few QT-based applications I've installed. I have no
KDE apps installed at all)

$ apt remove kubuntu-desktop^

<alarmingly long list of packages including linux-image>

WARNING: The following essential packages will be removed.
This should NOT be done unless you know exactly what you are doing!
   fdisk libfdisk1 (due to fdisk)
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, *1632* to remove and 0 not upgraded.

the point here is if you are wanting to try out a new desktop and
install it along side the your current desktop, you're better off
installing a metapackage that pulls in the necessary dependencies rather
than installing the packages by task because its a lot easier and safer
to remove it if you change your mind later.

--
Keith