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Installing Cinnamon -- What have I done wrong?
Posted: 2017-05-23 19:28
by MrScoville
Because of bad experiences I'd made with other distros, I'd decided to install a Console Only Debian Jessie. So far, so good. Worked fine. Then, because I do want to have a graphical desktop, in aptitude, I've selected "Cinnamon" and let the installation run. Now I have... Firefox-ESR, Iceweasle, Thunderbird, a full-blown LibreOffice installation, Chess (at least two, I fear), perhaps Mahjongg 4D, whatnot... Pulseaudio, tons of unsolicited other software, like more games, tools, gadgets, not to mention MiBs and MiBs of libraries, like accessibility stuff, speech libraries, audio and video codecs... Did I mention icons, fonts, background images already? It's like ordering a salad and getting a 5 course menu and you cannot stop them.
Maître D': 'And finally, monsieur, a wafer-thin mint!' (Monty Python, The Autumn Years)
Is there an easy way to install Cinnamon from aptitude without all this... mint? Actually, I'm writing this with my favorite browser, Pale Moon. Exactly neither need for ESR, Iceweasle... Mahjongg, suspicious speech recognition libraries written in Python (mind the punchline...), caves full of Cheddar, sparkling jelly bean seas, caviar mountains... Nor mint.
So I went back to aptitude and selected ESR and Iceweasle for de-installation. Aptitude told me that the Cinnamon installation depends on Iceweasle. I tried the resolver and gave up at option #44 which still insisted in uninstalling the Cinnamon desktop environment. Option #45 is this very posting.
Help?
Re: Installing Cinnamon -- What have I done wrong?
Posted: 2017-05-23 19:44
by arochester
Install cimmamon-core instead ?
These are the core components of Cinnamon, a desktop environment which
provides advanced innovative features and a traditional user experience.
This metapackage depends on basic components needed to use the desktop
environment. Install this if you want a minimal cinnamon desktop.
Re: Installing Cinnamon -- What have I done wrong?
Posted: 2017-05-23 20:01
by MrScoville
arochester wrote:Install cimmamon-core instead ?
These are the core components of Cinnamon, a desktop environment which
provides advanced innovative features and a traditional user experience.
This metapackage depends on basic components needed to use the desktop
environment. Install this if you want a minimal cinnamon desktop.
Without ESR, Iceweasle, and... mint? I mean... I rather ask before killing my laptop again ^^
Re: Installing Cinnamon -- What have I done wrong?
Posted: 2017-05-23 20:23
by stevepusser
Code: Select all
apt show cinnamon-core
...
Depends: cinnamon (>= 2.2), cinnamon-control-center (>= 2.2), cinnamon-screensaver (>= 2.2), cinnamon-session (>= 2.2), cinnamon-settings-daemon (>= 2.2), muffin (>= 2.2), nemo (>= 2.2), desktop-base, dconf-gsettings-backend | gsettings-backend
Recommends: cinnamon-l10n (>= 2.2), gnome-keyring, gnome-themes-standard, libpam-gnome-keyring, lightdm | gdm3 | x-display-manager
Install it with the
--no-recommends argument to keep those off your system, or pick and chose from the list for a even more spartan customized install.
Re: Installing Cinnamon -- What have I done wrong?
Posted: 2017-05-24 01:21
by mor
MrScoville wrote:Is there an easy way to install Cinnamon from aptitude without all this...
As a supplement to the above suggestions, you might want to
read about metapackages to understand how they work and how to deal with lots of packages being installed (or removed) along with them.
Bye
Re: Installing Cinnamon -- What have I done wrong?
Posted: 2017-05-24 05:52
by edbarx
Since the Debian package management system works by looking at what dependencies packages have to make sure no dependency is left out, some 'empty' packages make use of this feature to pull in a set of dependencies to make installation of complex systems, like say, a desktop, a one step process. These, so called virtual packages are simply empty packages that pull in a set of dependencies. Therefore, removing a virtual package may tell the system to also remove its dependencies, as these often are automatically installed as opposed to manually installed.
The solution can be:
a) remove top virtual package refusing to remove the suggested list of packages for removal
b) browse to debian.org to view the dependencies of the removed virtual package.
c) manually install those dependencies
This should solve your issue.
Re: Installing Cinnamon -- What have I done wrong?
Posted: 2017-05-24 16:00
by phenest
MrScoville wrote:arochester wrote:Install cimmamon-core instead ?
These are the core components of Cinnamon, a desktop environment which
provides advanced innovative features and a traditional user experience.
This metapackage depends on basic components needed to use the desktop
environment. Install this if you want a minimal cinnamon desktop.
Without ESR, Iceweasle, and... mint? I mean... I rather ask before killing my laptop again ^^
Those programs will only be installed with cinnamon-core if you install cinnamon-desktop-environment as well. But that's only a suggested package of cinnamon-core, therefore it won't be installed.
You can work this out for yourself by using:
... and looking at want it wants to install first before actually installing.
MrScoville wrote:and you cannot stop them.
Code: Select all
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] n
Abort.
Re: Installing Cinnamon -- What have I done wrong?
Posted: 2017-06-04 18:35
by Magnusmaster
stevepusser wrote:Code: Select all
apt show cinnamon-core
...
Depends: cinnamon (>= 2.2), cinnamon-control-center (>= 2.2), cinnamon-screensaver (>= 2.2), cinnamon-session (>= 2.2), cinnamon-settings-daemon (>= 2.2), muffin (>= 2.2), nemo (>= 2.2), desktop-base, dconf-gsettings-backend | gsettings-backend
Recommends: cinnamon-l10n (>= 2.2), gnome-keyring, gnome-themes-standard, libpam-gnome-keyring, lightdm | gdm3 | x-display-manager
Install it with the
--no-recommends argument to keep those off your system, or pick and chose from the list for a even more spartan customized install.
The first thing I did when I installed debian was to disable recommends. That is a sure way to bloat your system with stuff that you probably will never use.