Removal of 'base' package

["Carlo U. Segre" <segre@charlie.cns.iit.edu>]

Hello All:

I have noticed a lot of traffic recently on how the obsolete package
'base' can be removed.  This is a detailed description of what I did.  If
there are any flaws in this let me know, otherwise, this could be used as
a guide for those who want to remove the "offender".

Cheers,

Carlo


    ***********************************************************************
    *                            Carlo U. Segre                           *
    *      Department of Biological, Chemical and Physical Sciences       *
    *        Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL 60616          *
    *   Voice: (312) 567-3498                      FAX: (312) 567-3494    *
    *                            segre@iit.edu                            *
    ***********************************************************************

------------------------------------------------------------------------

How to remove the obsolete 'base' package:


The package has been rendered unneeded but not by another package
replacing it, rather by the placing of most of its files in the base
diskettes that the system is installed with from scratch.  This is why no
package goes to the trouble of removing the reference to base.

I have gotten past this by removing the relevant files by hand.  here is
what I have done:

0.	su to root or login as root
1.	go to /var/lib/dpkg/info and check what files are present
	relating to 'base' by doing a 'ls base.*'.  You should get 
	the following 3 files:
		base.conffiles  base.list       base.postinst
2.	look at the contents of 'base.list' which contains the files 
	which belong to the base package.  You should get:

	/.
	/usr
	/usr/doc
	/usr/doc/copyright
	/usr/doc/copyright/base
	/usr/doc/copyright/base/debian.README
	/usr/doc/copyright/GPL
	/usr/doc/copyright/LGPL
	/usr/doc/copyright/Artistic
	/usr/doc/base
	/usr/doc/base/README.DEBIAN
	/usr/doc/examples
	/usr/src
	/usr/bin
	/usr/dict
	/usr/games
	/usr/info
	/usr/lib
	/usr/lib/locale
	/usr/lib/locale/en_GB
	/usr/sbin
	/usr/local
	/usr/local/bin
	/usr/local/man
	/usr/man
	/usr/man/man8
	/usr/man/man8/MAKEDEV.8
	/etc
	/etc/skel
	/root
	/dev
	 ............. and here are all of the /dev/* devices
	/sbin
	/var
	/var/tmp
	/var/spool
	/var/spool/mail
	/var/run
	/var/run/utmp
	/var/lock
	/var/log
	/var/backups
	/var/lib
	/var/lib/dpkg
	/var/local
	/var/local/usr
	/tmp
	/tmp/base.postinst
	/bin
	/proc
	/floppy
	/boot
	/lib
	/mnt
	/home
	/cdrom

3.	Of these files, delete, by hand the following, which are not used
	by any other package.  In fact, most have been replaced by other
	packages without deleting these old ones.  All the others are 
	clearly vital directories for the system.  I have noted the 
	replacements in the right hand column.
	
		DELETE				   REPLACEMENT
   /usr/doc/copyright/base		    /usr/doc/base-files
   /usr/doc/copyright/base/debian.README    /usr/doc/base-files/copyright

   /usr/doc/copyright/GPL		    /usr/doc/copyright/GPL.gz
   /usr/doc/copyright/LGPL		    /usr/doc/copyright/LGPL.gz
   /usr/doc/copyright/Artistic		    /usr/doc/copyright/Artistic.gz

   /usr/doc/base			    /usr/doc/base-files
   /usr/doc/base/README.DEBIAN		    /usr/doc/base-files/copyright

   /usr/lib/locale			    /usr/share/locale
   /usr/lib/locale/en_GB		    /usr/share/locale/en_GB

4.	Now remove the 3 files listed above:

	/var/lib/dpkg/info/base.list
	/var/lib/dpkg/info/base.conffiles
	/var/lib/dpkg/info/base.postinst

5.	Finally, go to the /var/lib/dpkg directory and edit the 'status'
	file to remove the following entry:

	Package: base
	Essential: yes
	Status: ok installed
	Priority: required
	Section: base
	Maintainer: Bruce Perens <Bruce@Pixar.com>
	Version: 1.1.0-14
	Replaces: miscutils
	Conffiles:
	 /dev/MAKEDEV 9c600060928b03633f9682d014956cce
	 /etc/adjtime b7920456f21d52fd516f7ff390112d1d
	 /etc/group a56a7999fa189038d9744cb2e48d72d8  
	 /etc/host.conf a61b9f6548d337c1cc1e5a4de39f7b7f
	 /etc/issue 3488b71d436c67a12d80d5dea77bb0f2
	 /etc/motd 03465202ebeafb7ea39663f4bf055309
	 /etc/passwd 785647694522546dba95365b191cee98
	 /root/.bash_profile f885bce730eac7717e6610468b52a500
	 /root/.bashrc 118f882acfaf472e6a352b1baaf5db87
	Description: Debian Base System Miscellaneous Files
	 You will not need to re-install this package once your Debian system has
	 been set up. If you _do_ decide to re-install this package, make sure to
	 answer "NO" when asked to overwrite /etc/passwd and /etc/group.

6.	DONE!  The next time you run dselect, the offending package should
	be gone.



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