Re: package libxnvctrl0 installed by xfce, but nouveau is installed

[Jeffrey Walton <noloader@gmail.com>]

On Tue, Apr 4, 2023 at 9:18 AM zithro <slack@rabbit.lu> wrote:
>
> I have a bug with the nouveau driver shown in dmesg, so I looked up for
> solutions.
> On freedesktop.org, they say to remove everything concerning nvidia
> first, and only installing/using "nouveau" packages.
> On my system, I found the package "libxnvctrl0" (by nvidia) which was
> installed by xfce.
> If I try to remove "libxnvctrl0", it wants to remove "xfce4-goodies" and
> "xfce4-sensors-plugin".
> Then, many packages are marked as "autoremove" (xfce-*, ristretto, ...).
> Is that normal that xfce packages rely on an official nvidia library,
> even when using nouveau ?
>
> What should I do ?
>
> Thanks, have a nice day !
>
> PS:
> I'm using an up-to-date Debian stable (uname: Linux debian
> 5.10.0-21-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 5.10.162-1 (2023-01-21) x86_64 GNU/Linux).
>
> Output of "apt purge libxnvctrl0 --dry-run" :
>
> The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer
> required:
>    libqrencode4 ristretto xfce4-battery-plugin xfce4-clipman
> xfce4-clipman-plugin xfce4-cpufreq-plugin xfce4-cpugraph-plugin
>    xfce4-datetime-plugin xfce4-dict xfce4-diskperf-plugin
> xfce4-fsguard-plugin xfce4-genmon-plugin xfce4-mailwatch-plugin
>    xfce4-netload-plugin xfce4-places-plugin xfce4-screenshooter
> xfce4-smartbookmark-plugin xfce4-systemload-plugin
>    xfce4-taskmanager xfce4-timer-plugin xfce4-verve-plugin
> xfce4-wavelan-plugin xfce4-weather-plugin
>    xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin xfce4-xkb-plugin
> Use 'apt autoremove' to remove them.
> The following packages will be REMOVED:
>    libxnvctrl0* xfce4-goodies* xfce4-sensors-plugin*
> 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 3 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
> Purg xfce4-goodies [4.14.0]
> Purg xfce4-sensors-plugin [1.3.0-3]
> Purg libxnvctrl0 [470.141.03-1~deb11u1]

I think you can take one of two actions.

First, if you have not removed the recommended packages that are no
longer needed, then use apt-mark to change them from auto to manual.
Something like:

    apt-mark manual xfce4-goodies xfce4-sensors-plugin libxnvctrl0

Second, if you have removed them, then manually install them. Apt
should leave them alone after that. Something like:

    apt-get install xfce4-goodies xfce4-sensors-plugin libxnvctrl0

Also see the apt-mark(8) man page:

APT-MARK(8)                           APT                          APT-MARK(8)

NAME
       apt-mark - show, set and unset various settings for a package

SYNOPSIS
       apt-mark {-f=filename | {auto | manual} pkg...  |
                {showauto | showmanual} [pkg...] } | {-v | --version} |
                {-h | --help}

       apt-mark {hold | unhold | install | remove | purge} pkg...  |
                {showhold | showinstall | showremove | showpurge} [pkg...]

DESCRIPTION
       apt-mark can be used as a unified front-end to set various settings for
       a package, such as marking a package as being automatically/manually
       installed or changing dpkg selections such as hold, install, deinstall
       and purge which are respected e.g. by apt-get dselect-upgrade or
       aptitude.

Jeff