How can I remove everything gnome/gtk and start afresh?
Not sure if this list can provide any assistance. If not, please let
me know and direct me to a more suitable one.
About two months ago I installed Debian Sarge in a spare partition on
this laptop. Due to the limited resources of this machine (disk
space.. ram.. cpu..) I prefer running a thin desktop like Window
Maker. As a result I did not initially plan to install gnome.
The install and configuration went very smoothly with the exception of
font customization.
In hindsight I realize now that there were two separate problems:
1. Specifying suitable anti-aliasing/hinting choices to Xft/fontconfig (solved).
2. Specifying my choice of "widget fonts" (family, size, style) to the
various toolkits I was going to use and more particularly gtk.
Due mainly to my total ignorance of fonts configuration aspects on
modern distributions I have spent most of my "linux time" these last
5-6 weeks addressing these issues,
Since I was unsuccessful tweaking fonts to my heart's content by
editing configuration files I ended up installing gnome.. at least it
would create rc files that I could trust.
In fact I ended up installing.. removing.. re-installing.. etc. gnome
a number of times and while playing with some gconf- .. gtk- or gnome-
related file(s).. I apparently managed to break some things that I am
quite unable to repair.
Naturally I did way too many things to be able to remember, let alone
describe.. what I exactly did.. especially since it probably took a
while before I even noticed anything was wrong..
Ironically, as I still have gnome installed on this machine.. if I
start the gnome-settings daemon from my Window Maker session I
immediately get exactly what I want in terms of widget/menu/dialog
fonts in all gtk apps.
If not, I get an oversized default font that looks a lot like
bitstream's Vera Sans at an estimated pointsize of about 12-14..
despite the fact that my .gtkrc and .gtkrc-2.0. among others specify
something entirely different.
Apart from manual editing and gnome gui tools I have also used a
utility called gtk-theme-switch2 to change menu fonts but this didn't
work either. Basically it just created additional ~/gtk* files with
"do not edit" comments and font/theme definitions.
Naturally keeping gnome "dormant" on this system so as to be able to
run the gnome-settings daemon does not strike me as smartest long-term
solution to my gtk font problem. I guess it probably does a bunch of
other things including some I definitely do not need/want..
Now after playing with gnome/gconf/gtk rc files for some six weeks,
removing/reinstalling 3-4 times, not surprisingly some things in gnome
are broken..
And I am beginning to think that being unable to switch fonts except
via the gnome-settings daemon might be one of them.
So, now that I understand the fonts setup a little better and know a
little bit about Debian, I am looking for an idiot-proof way of
removing *everything* relative to gnome and gtk so I can take a fresh
start and build a clean environment.
Obviously I have tried removing the gnome package and specified
"--purge" - both literally with apt-get (I believe) and its synaptic
equivalent but it seems this leaves some of my broken custom files
lying around ready to wreak havoc with subsequent installs.
Or is it that gnome is so damaged that Debian can no longer un-install
it properly..?
In any event my successive attempts at cleaning up the mess haven't
helped at all regarding my gnome/gtk problems.
I was thinking of removing all gtk apps besides gnome but I don't know
how I can make sure I'm not leaving anything out, And even if I do
remove them all would that do the trick?
As a last resort I also considered removing the x-server package..
thinking this should cause everything gui to be removed (?) .. but
this practically amounts to doing a fresh install.
And since I don't have the CD's handy and I am doing this over a
dialup connection.. I'd rather try something a little less drastic
first.
Many thanks for reading.
Please advise.
--
cga
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