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Help with installing package and dependencies

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Jondarry
Posts: 2
Joined: 2018-08-06 17:20

Help with installing package and dependencies

#1 Post by Jondarry »

I want to install gnome-session but that depends on gnome-shell. Gnome-shell has install recommends that I don't want (I do want gnome-shell). So If I install as "apt-get install gnome-session gnome-shell-" then "apt-get install gnome-shell --no-install-recommends" what happens when I upgrade? If I "apt-get upgrade" will gnome-session install all its dependencies including the one I originally omitted?

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stevepusser
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Re: Help with installing package and dependencies

#2 Post by stevepusser »

You could disable Recommends for all packages by having this line in /etc/apt/apt.conf

Code: Select all

APT::Install-Recommends "0";
but then you will have to remember to --install-recommends for those packages where you want it. I couldn't find a setting that applied it for just one package, but maybe someone else knows one.
MX Linux packager and developer

Jondarry
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Joined: 2018-08-06 17:20

Re: Help with installing package and dependencies

#3 Post by Jondarry »

That wouldn't be a big deal, because I can just install the recommends individually, then upgrading wouldn't matter. Does setting apt-get to not install recommends apply to dependencies as well? Since gnome-shell is a dependency of gnome-session and I want gnome-shell but not its recommends.

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bw123
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Re: Help with installing package and dependencies

#4 Post by bw123 »

Jondarry wrote:I want to install gnome-session but that depends on gnome-shell. Gnome-shell has install recommends that I don't want (I do want gnome-shell). So If I install as "apt-get install gnome-session gnome-shell-" then "apt-get install gnome-shell --no-install-recommends" what happens when I upgrade? If I "apt-get upgrade" will gnome-session install all its dependencies including the one I originally omitted?

Code: Select all

$ apt-get -s install gnome-session gnome-shell-
NOTE: This is only a simulation!
      apt-get needs root privileges for real execution.
      Keep also in mind that locking is deactivated,
      so don't depend on the relevance to the real current situation!
<snip>
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 gnome-session : Depends: gnome-shell (>= 3.19) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
Look up "stop worrying love metapackages" on the forum here. I don;t use gnome but a lot of people have spent a lot of time trying to fool it or pare it down. Not easy to do from what I have read. You can save time by not repeating the same things they tried before.
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emariz
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Re: Help with installing package and dependencies

#5 Post by emariz »

Jondarry wrote:That wouldn't be a big deal, because I can just install the recommends individually, then upgrading wouldn't matter. Does setting apt-get to not install recommends apply to dependencies as well? Since gnome-shell is a dependency of gnome-session and I want gnome-shell but not its recommends.
Then build the dependency chain backwards: install gnome-shell without recommendations first, then install gnome-session, and then mark gnome-shell as 'Automatically installed.'

The thing about skipping recommendations is that it is not simple to tell whether a package will behave 'normally' without them. And this is further accentuated on desktop applications, which rely on recommendations to perform numerous common tasks expected by the end-user.

Building a Gnome system manually from a minimal installation without recommendations requires a lot of auditing. I do it every time, but I had to learn to take detailed notes of system builds, to know which packages enabled certain desired functions.

Aptitude's graphical interface will be your best friend for this.

greymin
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Joined: 2018-08-12 18:37

Re: Help with installing package and dependencies

#6 Post by greymin »

emariz wrote:
Jondarry wrote:That wouldn't be a big deal, because I can just install the recommends individually, then upgrading wouldn't matter. Does setting apt-get to not install recommends apply to dependencies as well? Since gnome-shell is a dependency of gnome-session and I want gnome-shell but not its recommends.
Then build the dependency chain backwards: install gnome-shell without recommendations first, then install gnome-session, and then mark gnome-shell as 'Automatically installed.'

The thing about skipping recommendations is that it is not simple to tell whether a package will behave 'normally' without them. And this is further accentuated on desktop applications, which rely on recommendations to perform numerous common tasks expected by the end-user.

Building a Gnome system manually from a minimal installation without recommendations requires a lot of auditing. I do it every time, but I had to learn to take detailed notes of system builds, to know which packages enabled certain desired functions.

Aptitude's graphical interface will be your best friend for this.

Thanks! I will remember this steps.

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