Re: Uninstall (nearly) everything installed after spacific date
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Bob wrote:
> 8< Snip original thread, to see it in all it's glory go here
> http://groups.google.com/group/linux.debian.user/browse_frm/thread/d273b566e1a761d5/3bb0f539cdd82281?
>
>
> Thought I'd update the list on my progress on this,
> *WARNING THIS WILL BRAKE YOUR INSTALL* but the reasons are interesting
>
> # make a list of installed packages by date
> ls -l -t /var/lib/dpkg/info/*.list > ./inst.txt
> vi ./inst.txt
> # delete what you want to keep
>
> # beautify the list (thanks Joe and Tyler)
> cat ./inst.txt | sed 's/.*\(200[0-9]\)/\1/g' | awk -F"/" '{print $6}' |
> awk -F"." '{print $1}' > uninstall.txt
> apt-get -s remove --purge $(cat ./uninstall.txt)
>
> # At this point you'll get errors like "E: Couldn't find package libldap-2"
> # so in another terminal open ./uninstall.txt and delete the offending
> entrys
> # (there'll be many) until the command runs cleanly, then
> # it will most likely have a section like
>
> WARNING: The following essential packages will be removed.
> This should NOT be done unless you know exactly what you are doing!
> apt libc6 (due to apt) libgcc1 (due to apt) libstdc++6 (due to apt)
> debian-archive-keyring (due to apt) base-files base-passwd (due to
> base-files) bash debianutils (due to bash) libncurses5 (due to bash)
> bsdutils coreutils libacl1 (due to coreutils) libselinux1 (due to
> coreutils) mktemp (due to debianutils) diff dpkg e2fsprogs e2fslibs (due
> to e2fsprogs) libblkid1 (due to e2fsprogs) libcomerr2 (due to
> e2fsprogs) libss2 (due to e2fsprogs) libuuid1 (due to e2fsprogs)
> findutils grep gzip hostname login libpam-modules (due to login)
> libpam0g (due to login) mount ncurses-base ncurses-bin perl-base sed
> sysvinit
> libsepol1 (due to sysvinit) initscripts (due to sysvinit)
> sysvinit-utils (due to sysvinit) tar util-linux lsb-base (due to
> util-linux) tzdata (due to util-linux) libslang2 (due to util-linux)
> zlib1g (due to
> util-linux)
>
> # you should remove any listed packages from the uninstall.txt list
> until it all runs without a warning,
> # you may have to go to the packages webpage to figure out dependencies.
> http://www.debian.org/distrib/packages
> # for instance on my system libldap2 gnupg gpgv were causing apt to get
> listed
> # you should also have a look at the page for your running kernel and
> make sure you're
> # not uninstalling any of it's dependencies.
>
> # after that you can run apt-get without the -s
>
>
> The process went fine but I uninstalled networking so gave up and
> reinstalled, the problem is when a package gets updated it causes it to
> appear on a different date that that on-which it was initially installed
> so you can easily remove something you want to keep.
>
> If I had been a little more cautious or if I was removing less from the
> system it would have gone fine, all I need is a way of listing packages
> by when they were *first* installed.
>
> Hay ho, it's no substitute for aptitude but it was an interesting
> experiment.
>
>
I would agree. End result is a broken system. Much better just to use
aptitude and mark packages individually. My addition to the script was
only as a learning exercise and Tyler fixed it to do exactly what was
wanted. I never would dream of running that.
What I don't get is why someone would even do something like that in the
first place. If one is worried about bloat, then install a base system
and add only packages that are needed.
Joe
- --
Registerd Linux user #443289 at http://counter.li.org/
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