[SOLVED] apt autoremove wants to remove 243 packages

OzarkPatriot · 2022-02-09 04:24:24

I installed Chimaera earlier today and everything has been great so far except for one little issue.
I'm on a bone stock xfce fresh install.
All I've done is uninstalled firefox and thunar and replaced them with brave and nautilus.
Updated via apt update and apt upgrade and all went according to plan. Rebooted after updates installed because kernel was updated as well.
Logged back in after rebooting with new kernel (probably unrelated, but may be worth mentioning), opened terminal and typed sudo apt autoremove and was met with what you see in screenshot. I didn't confirm because some of those things seem important. I'm not exactly inexperienced in the Linux world but I'm far from an expert. Anything I can do to remedy this? And what could cause something like this?

Devuan issue

Head_on_a_Stick · 2022-02-09 06:28:49

Read https://forums.debian.net//viewtopic.php?f=16&t=104157

Your desktop task has a dependency on the www-browser virtual package, which is provided by firefox-esr but not Brave. Installing something like w3m or elinks will supply the dependency.

OzarkPatriot · 2022-02-09 21:48:56

Thank you for your reply. I already had w3m installed and after installing elinks I still had the issue. I reinstalled firefox-esr and still had the issue. Rebooted after installing both and issue still persisted. Not sure what I deleted when removing firefox but it sure caused a problem. Fresh install solved the issue.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2022-02-10 15:53:33

OzarkPatriot wrote:

Fresh install solved the issue.

That's not a solution, it's a (poor) workaround. A number of possible solutions are listed in my provided link which you clearly couldn't be bothered reading.

For the benefit of anybody else who encounters this problem the actual solution would be to reinstall the desktop task so if you're using Xfce the command would be

# apt reinstall task-xfce-desktop

OzarkPatriot · 2022-02-11 15:22:27

As stated, I had w3m installed and installed elinks. I had the www-browser virtual package. Short of spending more time skimming through the dependencies of firefox-esr and seeing which ones I had vs which ones I didn't or reading through pages of documentation, I spent 10 mins reinstalling the OS. It solved my problem as (poor) of a workaround it might have been. Marked as solved because it solved my problem. But again, thank you for replying and trying to help solve the problem. It really is appreciated.

andyprough · 2022-02-11 16:01:54

a) I've removed Firefox-esr many times from Devuan Beowulf installs and never had this problem. Haven't tried it with Chimaera yet, but - lesson learned!!! Don't mess with the big Foxxy, or you'll get burned!

2) How many old, obscure, book-length forum posts does a person have to read to have a sane experience with Debian? Four years into this Debian-based distro experiment, and I'm still stunned by the jaw-dropping randomity of the various bits of important information. It's like giving all your money in $1 bills to a 3-year-old and watching him hide it from you in every part of the house and yard and neighborhood.

D) I didn't need a part D, but I like the aesthetic. The post seems more balanced this way.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2022-02-11 18:00:53

OzarkPatriot wrote:

As stated, I had w3m installed and installed elinks. I had the www-browser virtual package.

So the problem must have been caused by a different missing dependency for the desktop task. Reinstalling the entire task would have pulled it back in and been quicker and more convenient than reinstalling. Remember the trick next time this happens, as it probably will because you didn't get to the root cause and instead papered over the problem by reinstalling.

andyprough wrote:

I've removed Firefox-esr many times from Devuan Beowulf installs and never had this problem

Maybe I'm just plain wrong about the www-browser dependency then but I do seem to remember this cropping up before. Perhaps it only happens if the full desktop environment is installed with tasksel (which is used in the netinstall ISO).

andyprough wrote:

How many old, obscure, book-length forum posts does a person have to read to have a sane experience with Debian?

Lots. Debian has *many* obscure abstractions which complicate the experience massively compared to (for example) Arch.

andyprough wrote:

I didn't need a part D, but I like the aesthetic. The post seems more balanced this way.

I agree but I think it should be part d...

xinomilo · 2022-02-12 07:38:47

maybe it was thunar removal that triggered this, not firefox.. (?)

MLEvD · 2022-02-13 18:17:08

You can fix this easily in synaptic.
Just select all listed as auto-removable and mark them as 'manual' via the menu.

Uninstalling thunar removed your metapackage

amaro · 2022-02-26 18:10:38

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

Read https://forums.debian.net//viewtopic.php?f=16&t=104157

the post this links goes to should be included in the 'iso file' as a 'pdf file' and appear on the desktop of both 'live madia' and freshly installed OS in order to be read either prior installation or after installation.
a title like 'Read carefully before removing packages' could be very helpful.
and it will save many new users such issues.

Last edited by amaro (2022-02-26 18:14:19)

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#1 2022-02-09 04:24:24

[SOLVED] apt autoremove wants to remove 243 packages

#2 2022-02-09 06:28:49

Re: [SOLVED] apt autoremove wants to remove 243 packages

#3 2022-02-09 21:48:56

Re: [SOLVED] apt autoremove wants to remove 243 packages

#4 2022-02-10 15:53:33

Re: [SOLVED] apt autoremove wants to remove 243 packages

#5 2022-02-11 15:22:27

Re: [SOLVED] apt autoremove wants to remove 243 packages

#6 2022-02-11 16:01:54

Re: [SOLVED] apt autoremove wants to remove 243 packages

#7 2022-02-11 18:00:53

Re: [SOLVED] apt autoremove wants to remove 243 packages

#8 2022-02-12 07:38:47

Re: [SOLVED] apt autoremove wants to remove 243 packages

#9 2022-02-13 18:17:08

Re: [SOLVED] apt autoremove wants to remove 243 packages

#10 2022-02-26 18:10:38

Re: [SOLVED] apt autoremove wants to remove 243 packages

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