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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.
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.
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?
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.
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. --__--
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.
$ 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.
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.)