Uninstall firefox without installing other junk? Also menu woes.

MysticLord · 2021-02-18 12:27:09

So I did this with the expectation that I could remove all the stuff it would install.

~$ sudo apt-get remove firefox-esr
[sudo] password for MysticLord: 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libboost-program-options1.67.0 libdirectfb-1.7-7 libenca0 libfl2 libftp4
  libjsoncpp1 liblua5.1-0 liblz1 libopusfile0 librcc0 librcd0 libsidutils0
  libtagc0 libtokyocabinet9
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following additional packages will be installed:
  epiphany-browser epiphany-browser-data evince evince-common
  gnome-desktop3-data libevdocument3-4 libevview3-3 libgnome-desktop-3-17
  libgspell-1-1 libgspell-1-common libnautilus-extension1a libsynctex2
Suggested packages:
  nautilus-sendto unrar
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  firefox-esr
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  epiphany-browser epiphany-browser-data evince evince-common
  gnome-desktop3-data libevdocument3-4 libevview3-3 libgnome-desktop-3-17
  libgspell-1-1 libgspell-1-common libnautilus-extension1a libsynctex2
0 upgraded, 12 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 7,343 kB of archives.
After this operation, 172 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] n

Here's what happens when I try to remove epiphany-browser.

sudo apt-get remove epiphany-browser
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  epiphany-browser-data libboost-program-options1.67.0 libdirectfb-1.7-7 libenca0 libfl2 libftp4 libjsoncpp1 liblua5.1-0 liblz1 libopusfile0 librcc0 librcd0
  libsidutils0 libtagc0 libtokyocabinet9
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following additional packages will be installed:
  firefox-esr
Suggested packages:
  fonts-stix | otf-stix fonts-lmodern
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  epiphany-browser
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  firefox-esr
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 56.0 MB of archives.
After this operation, 198 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]

1. How can I remove software I don't want without installing other software that I also don't want?

2. If this is dummy-proofing, how do I notify the dummy-proofing authority that I have Pale Moon installed so it will leave me alone?

3. How do I remove LibreOffice Base, Draw, Impress, and Math without also removing Calc and Writer? I need Calc and Writer, but I don't need those others cluttering up my menu. As for why this matters, once I have everything sorted out here I need to install about 30 different programs and I don't like scrolling through things I never use to get to those I do.

Semi-related, but menulibre doesn't allow you to delete menu entries. Attempting to do so via su/sudo fails because (according to the github issue report for it) the devs for that program for some reason believe that this means someone wants to edit the root menu entries. Note that they don't allow any way to edit root menu entries, so why they would not allow either is a mystery.

It doesn't appear that you can hide non-folder menu entries either, so I can't hide the Gnome web browser or unwanted LibreOffice programs.

4. Is there another program which allows you to edit and delete menu entries?

5. Where are all the menu-related files located, since it looks like I'll need to edit them manually?

Last edited by MysticLord (2021-02-18 12:27:51)

dice · 2021-02-18 12:44:30

there is always going to be hard dependencies on certain programs, but that is odd behavior for apt to want to install firefox because epiphany is being uninstalled, never seen that before.

when you install a package, use --no-install-recommends like so if you do not want programs recommended by apt that are not hard dependencies...

# apt install <package> --no-install-recommends

libreoffice is a suite program so you cant just have calc and writer. I vaguely remember being able to just install writer and nothing else, for libreoffice, im not sure if that is doable anymore, atleast i dont know enough about it.

cant help with menulibre.

Last edited by dice (2021-02-18 12:49:00)

fsmithred · 2021-02-18 14:51:19

You're running into the metapackage problem. Metapackages are single packages that are there just to pull in other packages. If you remove the metapackage, the system wants to remove all the dependencies it pulled in. The most common way to avoid this is to un-check tasks at the tasksel screen in the installer, and then install what you want after you reboot into the new (minimal) system. That takes longer, but you get exactly what you want.

If you installed a desktop environment from the installer isos (or desktop-live iso) you got task-desktop and task-<your chosen desktop environment>-desktop which pull in all the other desktop apps.

Menus are populated by the .desktop files in /usr/share/applications. Add a line like

NotShowIn=GNOME;KDE;XFCE;

to the .desktop file for any apps you want to disappear from the menu.

Yes, you can install just libreoffice-writer or other parts, but removing the whole suite might be difficult if it came in with a task- package.

aptitude why firefox-esr

Might tell you what pulls it in.

MysticLord · 2021-02-18 15:12:43

Thanks for the desktop info, I'll get on that when I next get a few days free.

~$ aptitude why firefox-esr
i   task-desktop Recommends firefox | firefox-esr

Since I don't want to make yet another thread, can anyone figure out how to change the time format for the mate panel clock applet (mateweather)? I installed dconf editor but there is nothing there, and I added an entry to all the overrides but nothing happens.

Did they ever fix that decade old bug in the XFCE panel clock applet where changing the time (or preferences concerning it) would crash it, making it impossible to change the time? Does XFCE let you change the string format for it's clock applet?

After spending 99.999% of my time and effort on 0.001% of the problem, I remember now why I left Linux last time. Seems it's gotten worse; now you get more of the "benefits" and less of the customization.

dice · 2021-02-18 15:32:49

i decided to do a tasksel xfce4 install and got the same metapackage issue. Waste of bandwidth this but if you want to do away with task-desktop you can uninstall it, just be aware of what it wants to uninstall and heed fsmithreds advice on minimal installation.

# apt remove task-desktop

Head_on_a_Stick · 2021-02-18 16:11:04

See http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=104157 for an overview of the metapackage problem and some ways to deal with it.

And for the menu entries it might be better to copy the relevant .desktop files from /usr/share/applications/ to ~/.local/share/applications/ and edit the file in $HOME instead so that any changes are not lost if the package is updated. That method also doesn't require root privileges.

PedroReina · 2021-02-19 12:33:47

fsmithred wrote:

Add a line like
NotShowIn=GNOME;KDE;XFCE;
to the .desktop file for any apps you want to disappear from the menu.

Alternatively, you can use the line

NoDisplay=true

It should work on any DE that honor the specification.

MysticLord · 2021-02-19 16:25:38

Welp.
1. VLC keeps freezing the OS when maximized, probably due to overheating despite installing the things here that don't require a PPA and rebooting. I literally can't watch videos full screen.
2. I can't adjust the size of the arrows in the upper right hand side of each window, so my automatic behavior when closing a window can't be adjusted.
3. I can't adjust the width of all scrollbars in the themes, nor can I find a theme that has this information without downloading them and trying them myself. Very convenient to not store information about each theme in the theme. There's no information I can find on making themes myself, it's some sort of esoteric Unix wizardry I need to suffer for 20 years to learn apparently. It takes actual attention to grab the scrollbar and do fine navigation while working, which irritates me.
4. I can't disable the behavior in panel applets where mousing over them gives them focus, and turning the scroll wheel turns brightness/sound/etc up or down. Being very aggressive with the scroll wheel on my mouse as I normally do I routinely turn my screen completely black on accident while navigating through something I'm working on.
5. In the same token, using the mouse scroll wheel when you're over the application switching applet of the panel switches applications. I literally need to press Ctrl to locate the mouse and remove it from all the danger no-no areas if I don't want to lose my concentration on whatever I'm working on.
6. Having done nothing but remove task-desktop via apt, it now wants to auto-remove my entire fucking desktop.

~$ sudo apt autoremove -s
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  ant ant-contrib ant-optional ca-certificates-java coinor-libcbc3 coinor-libcgl1 coinor-libclp1 coinor-libcoinmp1v5 coinor-libcoinutils3v5
  coinor-libosi1v5 debian-pulseaudio-config-override default-jre default-jre-headless firebird3.0-common firebird3.0-common-doc
  firebird3.0-server-core firebird3.0-utils fonts-crosextra-caladea fonts-crosextra-carlito fonts-liberation2 fonts-noto-core fonts-noto-ui-core
  fonts-opensymbol fonts-sil-gentium fonts-sil-gentium-basic fonts-symbola gir1.2-atspi-2.0 gir1.2-gst-plugins-base-1.0 gir1.2-gstreamer-1.0
  gir1.2-wnck-3.0 gnome-accessibility-themes gnome-themes-extra gnome-themes-extra-data gstreamer1.0-gtk3 gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad hyphen-en-us
  java-common javascript-common libabw-0.1-1 libactivation-java libao-common libao4 libaopalliance-java libapache-poi-java libapache-pom-java
  libargs4j-java libasm-java libatinject-jsr330-api-java libatk-adaptor libatk-wrapper-java libatk-wrapper-java-jni libaudio2 libbase-java
  libbcmail-java libbcpkix-java libbcprov-java libboost-atomic1.67.0 libboost-chrono1.67.0 libboost-date-time1.67.0 libboost-filesystem1.67.0
  libboost-locale1.67.0 libboost-thread1.67.0 libbsh-java libcdi-api-java libcdr-0.1-1 libcglib-java libclucene-contribs1v5 libclucene-core1v5
  libcmis-0.5-5v5 libcodemodel-java libcommons-cli-java libcommons-codec-java libcommons-collections3-java libcommons-collections4-java
  libcommons-compress-java libcommons-io-java libcommons-lang3-java libcommons-logging-java libcommons-math3-java libcommons-parent-java
  libcurvesapi-java libdom4j-java libdotconf0 libdtd-parser-java libe-book-0.1-1 libegl1-mesa libehcache-java libel-api-java libeot0
  libepubgen-0.1-1 libetonyek-0.1-1 libexttextcat-2.0-0 libexttextcat-data libfastinfoset-java libfbclient2 libfluidsynth1 libflute-java
  libfonts-java libformula-java libfreehand-0.1-1 libgeronimo-annotation-1.3-spec-java libgeronimo-interceptor-3.0-spec-java libglade2-0
  libglu1-mesa libgpgmepp6 libgssdp-1.0-3 libgstreamer-plugins-bad1.0-0 libguava-java libguice-java libgupnp-1.0-4 libgupnp-igd-1.0-4
  libhawtjni-runtime-java libhsqldb1.8.0-java libhttpclient-java libhttpcore-java libib-util libicu4j-java libindicator3-7
  libintellij-annotations-java libistack-commons-java libitext-java libjansi-java libjansi-native-java libjaxb-api-java libjaxb-java libjaxen-java
  libjcommon-java libjdom1-java libjetbrains-annotations-java libjsoup-java libjsp-api-java libjsr305-java liblangtag-common liblangtag1
  liblayout-java liblightdm-gobject-1-0 libloader-java liblog4j1.2-java libmail-java libmaven-file-management-java libmaven-parent-java
  libmaven-resolver-java libmaven-shared-io-java libmaven-shared-utils-java libmaven3-core-java libmhash2 libmjpegutils-2.1-0 libmms0 libmodplug1
  libmpeg2encpp-2.1-0 libmplex2-2.1-0 libmspub-0.1-1 libmwaw-0.3-3 libmythes-1.2-0 libneon27-gnutls libnice10 libnumbertext-1.0-0 libnumbertext-data
  libodfgen-0.1-1 libofa0 libopenal-data libopenal1 liborcus-0.14-0 libpagemaker-0.0-0 libpentaho-reporting-flow-engine-java libpixie-java
  libplexus-archiver-java libplexus-cipher-java libplexus-classworlds-java libplexus-component-annotations-java libplexus-interpolation-java
  libplexus-io-java libplexus-sec-dispatcher-java libplexus-utils2-java libpq5 libqxp-0.0-0 libraptor2-0 librasqal3 librdf0 librelaxng-datatype-java
  libreoffice libreoffice-avmedia-backend-gstreamer libreoffice-base libreoffice-base-core libreoffice-base-drivers libreoffice-calc
  libreoffice-common libreoffice-core libreoffice-draw libreoffice-gtk3 libreoffice-help-common libreoffice-impress libreoffice-java-common
  libreoffice-librelogo libreoffice-math libreoffice-nlpsolver libreoffice-report-builder libreoffice-report-builder-bin
  libreoffice-script-provider-bsh libreoffice-script-provider-js libreoffice-script-provider-python libreoffice-sdbc-firebird
  libreoffice-sdbc-hsqldb libreoffice-sdbc-postgresql libreoffice-style-colibre libreoffice-style-tango libreoffice-wiki-publisher
  libreoffice-writer librepository-java librevenge-0.0-0 librngom-java libsac-java libsaxonhe-java libsbc1 libserializer-java libservlet-api-java
  libservlet3.1-java libsisu-guice-java libsisu-inject-java libsisu-ioc-java libsisu-plexus-java libslf4j-java libsnappy-java libsnappy-jni
  libsoundtouch1 libspandsp2 libspeechd2 libsrtp2-1 libstaroffice-0.0-0 libstax-ex-java libstreambuffer-java libtommath1 libtxw2-java libu2f-udev
  libunwind8 libvisio-0.1-1 libvo-aacenc0 libvo-amrwbenc0 libwagon-http-java libwagon-provider-api-java libwebsocket-api-java libwildmidi2
  libwpd-0.10-10 libwpg-0.3-3 libwps-0.4-4 libxatracker2 libxerces2-java libxfont2 libxml-commons-external-java libxml-commons-resolver1.1-java
  libxml-java libxmlbeans-java libxmlsec1 libxmlsec1-nss libxom-java libxsom-java libxvmc1 libxz-java libyajl2 libzbar0 libzmf-0.0-0 lightdm
  lightdm-gtk-greeter lp-solve mythes-en-us node-normalize.css openjdk-11-jre openjdk-11-jre-headless orca python-dbus python-glade2 python-wicd
  python3-brlapi python3-cairo python3-gst-1.0 python3-louis python3-pyatspi python3-speechd python3-uno rfkill sound-icons speech-dispatcher
  speech-dispatcher-audio-plugins speech-dispatcher-espeak-ng uno-libs3 ure wicd wicd-daemon wicd-gtk x11-apps x11-session-utils xbitmaps xbrlapi
  xfonts-100dpi xfonts-75dpi xfonts-base xfonts-encodings xfonts-scalable xfonts-utils xinit xorg xserver-common xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-core
  xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-input-libinput xserver-xorg-input-wacom xserver-xorg-legacy xserver-xorg-video-all xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu
  xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-fbdev xserver-xorg-video-intel xserver-xorg-video-nouveau xserver-xorg-video-qxl
  xserver-xorg-video-radeon xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vmware

7. I'm so fucking frustrated that I can't get the smallest details to work that I can't muster the willpower to chase down the menu bullshit.

I mean what kind of OS do you have when you can't even remove a completely mundane program that you just don't use? Like, a web browser? This is Windows tier behavior, where you can't remove Internet Explorer or whatever. I can never, ever use autoremove ever again; or I need to spend weeks researching all these programs to decide which I should flag as "never remove".

Why do I need a bachelors in Computer Science to install Linux and configure it? Why, if Linux is a real OS, do I apparently need to write my own panel clock applet?

I'm going back to Windows. It's not like I have a fucking choice, I have work to do. At least with Windows it just fucking works, and you know it's a shitshow going in. I'll be back when Linux decides to build a functioning operating system for people who have jobs (never).

I should quit web design and become a homeless alcoholic. Everything is focused exclusively on making everything maximally unusable.

Ogis1975 · 2021-02-19 17:33:54

MysticLord wrote:

I'm going back to Windows.

Good luck with that

PedroReina · 2021-02-19 17:59:29

MysticLord wrote:

I'm so fucking frustrated

I would like to maintain a positive tone on my comments. I understand that you are upset. Sometimes we think that the world is against us. But there are nothing personal, Earth keeps spinning anyway.

Devuan and this very forum can be very helpful. I get my shit done using Devuan (and before that, Debian) for more than 20 years. GNU/linux is my OS of choice. Get used to it helps, sure. I'm not so confident using other OS, so I get angry when other systems don't work the way I want.

If you were so picky with any other OS as you are today whith Devuan, no OS would be fine for you, so you would need to write your own OS from scratch. Not an easy task.

If you are willing to do, my piece of advice is you to relax, count to 10 (or 100) and ask for ideas. If you are in a hurry for work, there are a lot of distros and OS to choose from.

Good luck.

Last edited by PedroReina (2021-02-20 17:03:03)

fsmithred · 2021-02-19 18:21:52

1. VLC: Maybe cpulimit would help. I didn't see it on that page. Maybe say something about your hardware. I would expect full-screen video to work on most modern laptops.

2 & 3: These things are controlled by the theme. If you can't find one you like, you would need to mess with the theme files in /usr/share/themes/whatever.

4 & 5: I'm not familiar with this mouse behavior. I don't use mate.

6: Before you run autoremove, install those items in the list that you want. Don't worry about all the libraries. They get installed automatically with whatever apps use them. Install a few things and then run the simulated autoremove again to check the list. Maybe start with

apt install debian-pulseaudio-config-override libreoffice lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter rfkill wicd-gtk xorg

That will trim down the autoremove list significantly. And you could skip debian-pulseaudio-config-override if you are removing pulseaudio.

7. Take a walk around the block before you do anything else with the computer.

The officially official Devuan Forum!

#1 2021-02-18 12:27:09

Uninstall firefox without installing other junk? Also menu woes.

#2 2021-02-18 12:44:30

Re: Uninstall firefox without installing other junk? Also menu woes.

#3 2021-02-18 14:51:19

Re: Uninstall firefox without installing other junk? Also menu woes.

#4 2021-02-18 15:12:43

Re: Uninstall firefox without installing other junk? Also menu woes.

#5 2021-02-18 15:32:49

Re: Uninstall firefox without installing other junk? Also menu woes.

#6 2021-02-18 16:11:04

Re: Uninstall firefox without installing other junk? Also menu woes.

#7 2021-02-19 12:33:47

Re: Uninstall firefox without installing other junk? Also menu woes.

#8 2021-02-19 16:25:38

Re: Uninstall firefox without installing other junk? Also menu woes.

#9 2021-02-19 17:33:54

Re: Uninstall firefox without installing other junk? Also menu woes.

#10 2021-02-19 17:59:29

Re: Uninstall firefox without installing other junk? Also menu woes.

#11 2021-02-19 18:21:52

Re: Uninstall firefox without installing other junk? Also menu woes.

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