Re: [tlug] Removing CUPS from ubuntu

[Philipp Wollermann <philipp@example.com>]

Hi,

On Sep 26, 2010, at 11:32 , Jean-Christian Imbeault wrote:

> 1. Why the dependency?

ubuntu-desktop is a "meta-package" which doesn't fulfill any purpose (it probably hasn't got any files), but just depends on all necessary things to get a running desktop.
If you install the ubuntu-desktop package you're sure to get everything needed for a working desktop environment.

AFAIR Debian doesn't have these kind of meta-packages, which is why you're much more flexible in removing stuff, however it's also much more difficult to get a "known good" set of packages installed, considering how complex todays desktop environments are.

> 2. How do I remove CUPS without removing ubuntu-desktop

You can't, IMHO. However, you can remove the ubuntu-desktop package with apt-get and it shouldn't remove any other packages. aptitude and package-manager try to be more smart and remove things you "probably don't want anymore", ie. packages which were only installed because ubuntu-desktop depends on them .. so it results in a broken desktop if you let these tools do their work as intended ^^

> 3. Is #2 a safe thing to do?

No. :) You're going to break distro upgrades at least, probably other stuff too.

If you need more flexibility in changing your system, I'd suggest to try another distro.
The advantage of Ubuntu being a nicely integrated systems gets lost when removing base packages, anyway..
If you like the Debian/Ubuntu-approach but don't like the old versions of Debian stable, you could try Sidux.

Best regards,
Philipp