Re: Fwd: Re: I think Firefox is crashing my system
On Sun 17 Aug 2025 at 23:05:19 (-0700), David Christensen wrote:
> On 8/17/25 20:18, David Wright wrote:
> > On Sun 17 Aug 2025 at 14:05:03 (-0700), David Christensen wrote:
> > > On 8/17/25 06:28, Greg Wooledge wrote:
> > > > On Sat, Aug 16, 2025 at 23:00:29 -0700, David Christensen wrote:
> > > > > # apt-get purge firefox-esr
> > > >
> > > > Since the goal is to reinstall firefox-esr shortly afterward, we don't
> > > > really want to remove anything that depends on firefox-esr, such as
> > > > a desktop environment metapackage. Even worse, a metapackage that
> > > > has a line like "Depends: firefox-esr | other-browser" might bring in
> > > > some other browser we don't want. So, this command might be better:
> > > >
> > > > dpkg --purge --force-depends firefox-esr
> > >
> > > If `apt-get purge firefox-esr` purges up the desktop or other packages
> > > would should be precursors, that would be a serious bug.
> >
> > If I understand your terminology,
>
> Sorry for the scrambled thoughts. Please let me clarify.
>
> If `apt-get purge firefox-esr` purges the desktop or other packages
> that casual observers would expect to be unrelated, then that would be
> a serious bug.
No, it has nothing to do with the expectations of casual observers.
It's quite simply to do with removing a package that another one
depends on.
You want a simple analogy? If you remove one wheel of a car, then it's
going to fall onto the brake disc on that corner. Greg's trick is to
support the car on a jack while you remove and replace the wheel.
> > then I don't understand where the
> > serious bug is. My firefox-esr is a dependency of firefox-esr-l10n-en-gb,
> > and when setting up the system, installing firefox-esr-l10n-en-gb
> > pulled in firefox-esr.
> >
> > But libreoffice-help-en-gb also depends on a browser, and I made sure
> > to install it after firefox-esr-l10n-en-gb so that it didn't pull in
> > some other browser.¹
> >
> > So if I remove firefox-esr, APT will dutifully install
> > epiphany-browser² and any of its dependencies that are lacking.
> > Not what we want.
>
> Do you mean "So if I remove firefox-esr, APT will dutifully uninstall
> epiphany-browser"? And, libreoffice is also uninstalled? If so, the
> term "dependency hell" comes to mind.
No, I wrote "APT will dutifully install epiphany-browser", which
prevents there being no browser, and so libreoffice-help-en-gb
remains satisfied. (I didn't mention libreoffice.)
I suggest you read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dependency_hell
to remind yourself what dependency hell means.
> All the more justification for "backup, wipe, install, restore".
Smacks of buying a new helmet instead of pulling a tear off from
the visor.
Cheers,
David.
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