As an example of where I'm headed I've done two Squeeze instals
[enough has changed with Jessie that I've not accomplished comparisons
yet ;]
Counting all applications entries under "Applications" there are:
11 entries for my minimal Squeeze install [1.5 GB on disk]
67 entries for a default Squeeze install [3.0 GB on disk]
What do you mean by "entries"?
In the top left of the GUI is a top level menu titled "Applications".
Below that are multiple sub-menus.
My 'totals' are clickable items in lowest submenus.
Thanks: Now that you mention the keyword "menu" I understand you.
Do you perhaps mean packages explicitly
installed (as opposed to auto-installed due to dependencies)?
No. How many choices am I given.
[I favor disabling "Recommends" in favor of moving the desired
elements to "Depends" of custom metapackages.]
Seems you are mixing terms here:
"Recommends" and "Depends" is tied to packages, not menu items.
For each of your systems, what might make sense to share and discuss
without pushing those actual GBs of data over the wire is the output
of the following command for each environment:
apt-mark showmanual
neither Squeeze install recognizes that as valid command.
Ah, right. On that very very old system, apt-mark does not exist.
You can install aptitude and mark packages as auto-installed, but since
back then the mechanism was not yet integrated into core APT, the system
haven't flagged any packages as such so you will have to do the markup
yourself.
My Jessie install responds with long list.
I suggested you to share that infor as a way for us to move forward
in developing a Blend.
If you don't want to do that, then what do you want here?