Re: apt

[Clive Menzies <clive@clivemenzies.co.uk>]

On (05/07/05 11:07), Adam Hardy wrote:
> Carl Fink on 05/07/05 03:40, wrote:
> >
> >	dpkg --get-selections > myselections.txt
> >
> 
> Actually, is that a list of all available packages? It shows that some 
> are set 'deinstall':
> 
> mysql-common                                    deinstall
> mysql-common-4.1                                install
> 
> 
> If I want to reduce the number of packages on my Debian installation to 
> the minimum that I actually use, I need to go through them all in 
> aptitude (where I can see the descriptions) and remove them?
> 
> I tried setting the ones I didn't think were necessary to Automatic, 
> since it looked like a safe option, apparently they will be removed if 
> they aren't being depended on. However when I hit g, I found aptitude 
> downloaded 20 megs more packages!
> 
> What's the best way to do it?

I don't know whether this is the 'best' way but I use deborphan:

$ deborphan  /* on its own shows redundant lib files */

$ deborphan -ap5 /* shows all packages - the '5' means those that are
least important to the system */

Having removed any libs and non-essential packages I then run:

$ deborphan -ap4 /* to see what else may be removed .... and then -ap3
etc.  

Regards

Clive

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