Scheduled Maintenance: We are aware of an issue with Google, AOL, and Yahoo services as email providers which are blocking new registrations. We are trying to fix the issue and we have several internal and external support tickets in process to resolve the issue. Please see: viewtopic.php?t=158230

 

 

 

Why --no-install-recommends may not be good

Here you can discuss every aspect of Debian. Note: not for support requests!
Message
Author
User avatar
nadir
Posts: 5961
Joined: 2009-10-05 22:06
Location: away

Re: Why --no-install-recommends may not be good

#16 Post by nadir »

Mr James wrote:Unless one is on a PC from the dark ages with a tiny HDD, I see no reason to use --without-recommends
You mean like installing gdm if i install lxde, even if i don't want to use it? The recommends for avant-window-navigator? ...
Sure, makes perfect sense to install software you will never use only cause the space is there.
"I am not fine with it, so there is nothing for me to do but stand aside." M.D.

ArconsII
Posts: 78
Joined: 2010-09-25 22:18

Re: Why --no-install-recommends may not be good

#17 Post by ArconsII »

In my opinion, using aptitude precisely and knowing when to install and not install recommends far more effective than asserting its "always" or "never" a good idea to install recommends.

User avatar
Mr James
Posts: 1258
Joined: 2010-09-10 13:02

Re: Why --no-install-recommends may not be good

#18 Post by Mr James »

nadir wrote:
Mr James wrote:Unless one is on a PC from the dark ages with a tiny HDD, I see no reason to use --without-recommends
You mean like installing gdm if i install lxde, even if i don't want to use it? The recommends for avant-window-navigator? ...
Sure, makes perfect sense to install software you will never use only cause the space is there.
Remind me again why someone wanting to install lxde would go for gdm and not slim for example?
asus S551L laptop :: debian stable :: dwm

arcfxn
Posts: 1
Joined: 2013-05-27 18:44

Re: Why --no-install-recommends may not be good

#19 Post by arcfxn »

I know I'm necroposting here, but you guys are all wrong about this. There are plenty of valid reasons to use --no-install-recommends that have nothing to do with hard drive space.

Here's a great example that I'm currently experiencing, which is how I stumbled onto this page:

I'm currently setting up selinux on my debian web server. If I let it install recommended packages for selinux-basics and auditd, it will install a GUI that depends on an X server. Again, this is a web server - everything is CLI. Not only do I have no need of an X environment and no means of using it, but X is also the single biggest security threat to a linux box. I don't want to install an entire graphical environment I have no use for, so I use --no-install-recommends. That's why it exists, because sometimes recommended packages will really mess things up for you.

User avatar
thanatos_incarnate
Posts: 717
Joined: 2012-11-04 20:36

Re: Why --no-install-recommends may not be good

#20 Post by thanatos_incarnate »

It really depends on the package.
For instance, I wanted to install Cheese on an Xfce machine the other day - the recommend pulls in nautilus-sendto, which pulls in nautilus. --__--

woodscroller
Posts: 21
Joined: 2013-06-14 07:20

Re: Why --no-install-recommends may not be good

#21 Post by woodscroller »

I registered simply to give my appreciation to secipolla and, craigevil for their contributions to this thread.

Thanks folks!
secipolla wrote:I use no-install-recommends with specific packages.
Like for instance I have installed gdm3 like that because I have Xfce and don't want some extra apps that it brings as recommends and that aint fundamental.
It's useful if you know what's going on.

So two reasons among others could be uncluttering the menu or for old rigs prevent installation and activation of uneeded services.
Also what's convenience for some (regarding extra features) in inconvenience for others.
secipolla wrote:Also one can choose which recommended package to (not) install.
Suppose package foo has, among others, bar as a dependency and we don't want it to be installed. Just append a minus sign after bar.

Code: Select all

apt-get install foo bar-

craigevil wrote:bahhumbug.

The first thing I do after a base install is edit my apt.conf or I should say create a new apt.conf

Code: Select all

$ cat /etc/apt/apt.conf

// auto-remove breaks on meta packages
APT::Get::AutomaticRemove "0";
APT::Get::HideAutoRemove "1";

// Recommends are as of now still abused in many packages
APT::Install-Recommends "0";
APT::Install-Suggests "0";
Debug::pkgAutoRemove "0";

// PDiffs reduce the required download for apt-get update, but increase the
// CPU requirements and quite often fail.
// Acquire::PDiffs "0";

// Remove apt unauthenticated warnings
APT::Get::AllowUnauthenticated "0";
Seven years of running sid and never had any issues caused by packages not being installed. I do however take a look at the Recommended or Suggested packages when doing an install and sometimes install them.

Not everyone has the money for tons of drive space. I am currently using a THinkpad R40 that only has a 16gb HD, once I copy a few of my books to the drive and install all of the things I need I only have 5GB free.

Code: Select all

$ df -h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/debian-root
                       16G  9.2G  5.1G  65% /
tmpfs                 632M  8.0K  632M   1% /lib/init/rw
udev                  627M  216K  627M   1% /dev
tmpfs                 632M  572K  632M   1% /dev/shm
/dev/sda1             228M   35M  181M  17% /boot
~Steve

Jessie - xfce4

miklcct
Posts: 15
Joined: 2009-11-24 12:48
Location: Hong Kong

Re: Why --no-install-recommends may not be good

#22 Post by miklcct »

I simply bans the installation of certain packages e.g. network-manager (a normal KDE installation will pull this via recommends but I am running a network with manual config so I don't want it.)

Post Reply