[Solved] how to remove / uninstall xfce desktop

[fari101]

[sorry for potential duplication]
I recently installed LXDE and XFCE to test them and now i only want to keep LXDE ( limited storage ). i couldn't find the most reliable way to do it, for example i know i can use tasksel and easily uncheck XFCE but some people say it might remove other non-xfce packages too. it seems i have to manually remove every packages relating to xfce. can i just do this:

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apt --purge remove *xfce*

or is there any better way?
these are the packages installed :

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$ apt list -i *xfce*
Listing... Done
libxfce4panel-2.0-4/stable,now 4.18.2-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libxfce4ui-2-0/stable,now 4.18.2-2 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libxfce4ui-common/stable,now 4.18.2-2 all [installed,automatic]
libxfce4ui-utils/stable,now 4.18.2-2 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libxfce4util-bin/stable,now 4.18.1-2 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libxfce4util-common/stable,now 4.18.1-2 all [installed,automatic]
libxfce4util7/stable,now 4.18.1-2 amd64 [installed,automatic]
task-xfce-desktop/stable,now 3.73 all [installed]
xfce4-appfinder/stable,now 4.18.0-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-battery-plugin/stable,now 1.1.4-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-clipman-plugin/stable,now 2:1.6.2-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-clipman/stable,now 2:1.6.2-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-cpufreq-plugin/stable,now 1.2.8-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-cpugraph-plugin/stable,now 1.2.7-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-dict/stable,now 0.8.4-1+b1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-diskperf-plugin/stable,now 2.7.0-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-fsguard-plugin/stable,now 1.1.2-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-genmon-plugin/stable,now 4.1.1-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-goodies/stable,now 4.18.0 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-helpers/stable,now 4.18.2-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-mailwatch-plugin/stable,now 1.3.0-1+b1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-netload-plugin/stable,now 1.4.0-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-notifyd/stable,now 0.7.3-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-panel/stable,now 4.18.2-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-places-plugin/stable,now 1.8.3-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-power-manager-data/stable,now 4.18.1-1 all [installed,automatic]
xfce4-power-manager-plugins/stable,now 4.18.1-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-power-manager/stable,now 4.18.1-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin/stable,now 0.4.5-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-screenshooter/stable,now 1.10.3-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-sensors-plugin/stable,now 1.4.4-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-session/stable,now 4.18.1-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-settings/stable,now 4.18.2-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-smartbookmark-plugin/stable,now 0.5.2-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-systemload-plugin/stable,now 1.3.2-2 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-taskmanager/stable,now 1.5.5-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-terminal/stable,now 1.0.4-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-timer-plugin/stable,now 1.7.1-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-verve-plugin/stable,now 2.0.1-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-wavelan-plugin/stable,now 0.6.3-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-weather-plugin/stable,now 0.11.0-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin/stable,now 2.7.2-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4-xkb-plugin/stable,now 1:0.8.3-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
xfce4/stable,now 4.18 all [installed,automatic]

[ruwolf]

In aptitude, you can select to purge whole section (Xfce) of packages by 1 key pressing.
(Not all packages contain xfce in the name.)

[fari101]

In aptitude, you can select to purge whole section (Xfce) of packages by 1 key pressing.
(Not all packages contain xfce in the name.)

thank you very much. i found the xfce task in aptitude :

but i'm a little worried about the Recommends section packages. some of them are shared between other tasks. will those packages get deleted too if i remove xfce task?

[ruwolf]

No, if they were explicitly installed, they will not be removed.

This is top of main window of aptitude:

 Actions  Undo  Package  Resolver  Search  Options  Views  Help
C-T: Menu  ?: Help  q: Quit  u: Update  g: Preview/Download/Install/Remove Pkgs
aptitude 0.8.13 @ ubudeb
--- Upgradable Packages (1)
--- Installed Packages (1768)                                                   
--- Not Installed Packages (89061)
--- Virtual Packages (51989)
--- Tasks (36953)

When you move to line Installed Packages and press [Enter] key when it is selected (reversed colours of font and background), it will be expanded:

--\ Installed Packages (1768)
  --- Tasks          Packages which set up your computer to perform a particular
  --- admin          Administrative utilities (install software, manage users, e
  --- comm           Programs for faxmodems and other communication devices (1)
  --- debug          Debugging symbols (2)
  --- devel          Utilities and programs for software development (84)
  --- doc            Documentation and specialized programs for viewing document
  --- editors        Text editors and word processors (14)
  --- fonts          Fonts and font utilities (20)
  --- games          Games, toys, and fun programs (2)
  --- gnome          The GNOME Desktop Environment (29)
  --- graphics       Utilities to create, view, and edit graphics files (29)
  --- interpreters   Interpreters for interpreted languages (5)
  --- introspection  Introspection support for programming languages (20)
  --- java           Java programming language and libraries (11)
  --- kernel         Kernel and kernel modules (7)
  --- libdevel       Development files for libraries (33)
  --- libs           Collections of software routines (881)
  --- localization   Language packs (10)
  --- math           Numeric analysis and other mathematics-related software (5)
  --- metapackages   Packages which solely depend on other packages (1)
  --- misc           Miscellaneous software (34)
  --- net            Programs to connect to and provide various services (26)
  --- oldlibs        Obsolete libraries (3)
  --- otherosfs      Emulators and software to read foreign filesystems (3)
  --- perl           Perl programming language and libraries (57)
  --- python         Python programming language and libraries (90)             
  --- science        Software for scientific work (2)
  --- shells         Command shells and alternative console environments (4)
  --- sound          Utilities to play and record sound (16)
  --- text           Text processing utilities (20)
  --- utils          Various system utilities (125)
  --- video          Utilities to record, view, edit, and stream video files (21
  --- web            Web browsers, servers, proxies, and other tools (13)
  --- x11            The X window system and related software (70)
  --- xfce           The Xfce Desktop Environment (24)

And when you move cursor (selected line) to xfce and pres underscore key "_", whole section will be marked for purging.

[fari101]

And when you move cursor (selected line) to xfce and pres underscore key "_", whole section will be selected for purging.

ah i see, thank you very much for your help. i'm curious why LXDE can't be found there?

[ruwolf]

I do not know, maintainers of Debian have not created such group of packages.

[ BTW, I use aptitude for purging of removed packages, too. Because if you purge some packages and another ones will by automatically removed, they (automatically removed ones) will not be purged. Those packages have been automatically installed for dependencies and when all packages (whose have dependent on them) are removed, they are usually removed, too, but without purging. I hope, that would not confuse you. ]

[fari101]

i can not appreciate enough. thank you.
for the record packages below got removed and there is nothing left of xfce
(by the way i have to find a way to set lxterminal back as default for i3wm again)

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Performing actions...
(Reading database ... 147299 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing atril (1.26.0-2+deb12u2) ...
Removing atril-common (1.26.0-2+deb12u2) ...
Removing quodlibet (4.5.0-2) ...
Removing exfalso (4.5.0-2) ...
Removing xfce4-goodies:amd64 (4.18.0) ...
Removing thunar-archive-plugin:amd64 (0.5.0-1) ...
Removing xfce4-places-plugin:amd64 (1.8.3-1) ...
Removing task-xfce-desktop (3.73) ...
Removing xfce4 (4.18) ...
Removing xfdesktop4 (4.18.1-1) ...
Removing sphinx-rtd-theme-common (1.2.0+dfsg-1) ...
Removing fonts-font-awesome (5.0.10+really4.7.0~dfsg-4.1) ...
Removing fonts-lato (2.0-2.1) ...
Removing libatrilview3 (1.26.0-2+deb12u2) ...
Removing libatrildocument3 (1.26.0-2+deb12u2) ...
Removing libjs-mathjax (2.7.9+dfsg-1) ...
Removing fonts-mathjax (2.7.9+dfsg-1) ...
Removing gir1.2-gst-plugins-base-1.0:amd64 (1.22.0-3+deb12u1) ...
Removing gir1.2-gtksource-3.0:amd64 (3.24.11-2+b1) ...
Removing gir1.2-webkit2-4.0:amd64 (2.42.5-1~deb12u1) ...
Removing gir1.2-javascriptcoregtk-4.0:amd64 (2.42.5-1~deb12u1) ...
Removing gir1.2-keybinder-3.0 (0.3.2-1.1) ...
Removing gir1.2-soup-2.4:amd64 (2.74.3-1) ...
Removing xfburn (0.6.2-1+b1) ...
Removing libburn4:amd64 (1.5.4-1) ...
Removing libcaja-extension1:amd64 (1.26.1-1+deb12u1) ...
Removing thunar-media-tags-plugin (0.3.0-2+b1) ...
Removing xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin:amd64 (2.7.2-1) ...
Removing xfce4-panel (4.18.2-1) ...
Removing xfce4-xkb-plugin:amd64 (1:0.8.3-1) ...
Removing xfce4-session (4.18.1-1) ...
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/startlxde to provide /usr/bin/x-session-manager (x-session-manager) in auto mode
Removing xfce4-settings (4.18.2-1) ...
Removing libgarcon-gtk3-1-0:amd64 (4.18.0-1) ...
Removing libgtksourceview-3.0-1:amd64 (3.24.11-2+b1) ...
Removing libgtksourceview-3.0-common (3.24.11-2) ...
Removing xfce4-systemload-plugin:amd64 (1.3.2-2) ...
Removing libxfce4ui-utils (4.18.2-2) ...
Removing libgtop-2.0-11:amd64 (2.40.0-2) ...
Removing libgtop2-common (2.40.0-2) ...
Removing libisofs6:amd64 (1.5.4-1) ...
Removing libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37:amd64 (2.42.5-1~deb12u1) ...
Removing libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0-18:amd64 (2.42.5-1~deb12u1) ...
Removing libjs-sphinxdoc (5.3.0-4) ...
Removing libjs-jquery (3.6.1+dfsg+~3.5.14-1) ...
Removing libjs-underscore (1.13.4~dfsg+~1.11.4-3) ...
Removing libjte2:amd64 (1.22-3) ...
Removing xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin:amd64 (0.4.5-1) ...
Removing libkeybinder-3.0-0:amd64 (0.3.2-1.1) ...
Removing xfce4-verve-plugin:amd64 (2.0.1-1) ...
Removing libpcre3:amd64 (2:8.39-15) ...
Removing libsoup-gnome2.4-1:amd64 (2.74.3-1) ...
Removing parole (4.16.0-3) ...
Removing libtagc0:amd64 (1.13-2) ...
Removing tumbler:amd64 (4.18.0-1) ...
Removing libtumbler-1-0:amd64 (4.18.0-1) ...
Removing xfce4-weather-plugin:amd64 (0.11.0-1) ...
Removing xfce4-screenshooter (1.10.3-1) ...
Removing xfwm4 (4.18.0-1) ...
Removing libxfce4util-bin (4.18.1-2) ...
Removing xfce4-terminal (1.0.4-1) ...
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/lxterm to provide /usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator (x-terminal-emulator) in auto mode
Removing xfce4-wavelan-plugin:amd64 (0.6.3-1) ...
Removing xfce4-sensors-plugin (1.4.4-1) ...
Removing libxnvctrl0:amd64 (525.85.05-3~deb12u1) ...
Removing python3-feedparser (6.0.10-1) ...
Removing python3-musicbrainzngs (0.7.1-4) ...
Removing python3-pyinotify (0.9.6-2) ...
Removing python3-sgmllib3k (1.0.0-4) ...
Removing ristretto (0.12.4-1) ...
Removing thunar-volman (4.18.0-1) ...
Removing tumbler-common (4.18.0-1) ...
Removing xfce4-appfinder (4.18.0-1) ...
Removing xfce4-battery-plugin:amd64 (1.1.4-1) ...
Removing xfce4-clipman-plugin:amd64 (2:1.6.2-1) ...
Removing xfce4-clipman (2:1.6.2-1) ...
Removing xfce4-cpufreq-plugin:amd64 (1.2.8-1) ...
Removing xfce4-cpugraph-plugin:amd64 (1.2.7-1) ...
Removing xfce4-dict (0.8.4-1+b1) ...
Removing xfce4-diskperf-plugin:amd64 (2.7.0-1) ...
Removing xfce4-fsguard-plugin:amd64 (1.1.2-1) ...
Removing xfce4-genmon-plugin:amd64 (4.1.1-1) ...
Removing xfce4-helpers (4.18.2-1) ...
Removing xfce4-mailwatch-plugin (1.3.0-1+b1) ...
Removing xfce4-netload-plugin:amd64 (1.4.0-1) ...
Removing xfce4-notifyd (0.7.3-1) ...
Removing xfce4-power-manager-plugins (4.18.1-1) ...
Removing xfce4-power-manager (4.18.1-1) ...
Removing xfce4-power-manager-data (4.18.1-1) ...
Removing xfce4-smartbookmark-plugin:amd64 (0.5.2-1) ...
Removing xfce4-taskmanager (1.5.5-1) ...
Removing xfce4-timer-plugin:amd64 (1.7.1-1) ...
Removing xfdesktop4-data (4.18.1-1) ...
Removing xiccd (0.3.0-2) ...
Removing thunar (4.18.4-1) ...
Removing exo-utils (4.18.0-1) ...
Removing libthunarx-3-0:amd64 (4.18.4-1) ...
Removing libexo-2-0:amd64 (4.18.0-1) ...
Removing libexo-common (4.18.0-1) ...
Removing libgarcon-1-0:amd64 (4.18.0-1) ...
Removing libgarcon-common (4.18.0-1) ...
Removing libxfce4panel-2.0-4 (4.18.2-1) ...
Removing libxfce4ui-2-0:amd64 (4.18.2-2) ...
Removing libxfce4ui-common (4.18.2-2) ...
Removing libxfconf-0-3:amd64 (4.18.0-2) ...
Removing xfconf (4.18.0-2) ...
Removing libxfce4util7:amd64 (4.18.1-2) ...
Removing libxfce4util-common (4.18.1-2) ...
Removing thunar-data (4.18.4-1) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.26-1) ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.17-2) ...
Processing triggers for libglib2.0-0:amd64 (2.74.6-2) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.36-9+deb12u4) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.11.2-2) ...
Processing triggers for mailcap (3.70+nmu1) ...
Processing triggers for fontconfig (2.14.1-4) ...
(Reading database ... 130068 files and directories currently installed.)
Purging configuration files for tumbler-common (4.18.0-1) ...
Purging configuration files for xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin:amd64 (2.7.2-1) ...
Purging configuration files for xfce4-power-manager (4.18.1-1) ...
Purging configuration files for thunar-volman (4.18.0-1) ...
Purging configuration files for thunar (4.18.4-1) ...
Purging configuration files for xfce4-session (4.18.1-1) ...
Purging configuration files for xfce4-panel (4.18.2-1) ...
Purging configuration files for xfce4-notifyd (0.7.3-1) ...
Purging configuration files for xfce4-settings (4.18.2-1) ...
Purging configuration files for libxfce4ui-common (4.18.2-2) ...
Purging configuration files for thunar-data (4.18.4-1) ...
Purging configuration files for xfce4-clipman (2:1.6.2-1) ...
Purging configuration files for xfce4-helpers (4.18.2-1) ...
Press Return to continue, 'q' followed by Return to quit.

[fari101]

[ BTW, I use aptitude for purging of removed packages, too...

so i assume i have to do some purging myself, right? for automatically deleted packages which their configuration files may still be there? and... how should i exactly do it?

[ruwolf]

It is simple. You go to top level on line Not Installed Packages and will mark it for purging by the underscore key "_".