On 2025-11-14 at 15:00, David Wright wrote: > On Thu 13 Nov 2025 at 02:29:01 (+0100), Vincent Lefevre wrote: > >> On 2025-11-12 07:16:01 -0500, Greg Wooledge wrote: >>> The correct way to get the setup you want is to uncheck all the >>> Desktop options in the installer, and boot to a regular text >>> console. Then login, and install xorg, fvwm (or fvwm3 now), and >>> whatever other packages you want. >> >> This is not sufficient for a usual desktop (that's why >> task-desktop depends on other packages), and this is not >> documented. Things could silently break. > > I thought you said you didn't want a DE, but only "the packages > common to desktop machines", and later, the "packages common to > desktop machines without getting a specific desktop environment". > Which packages are these—I've never seen an attempt to define such a > collection. Is there a virtual package for it? What would it be > called? Without at least that, I wouldn't expect any documentation to > get written. My reflexive interpretation would define that set of packages as follows. A: Start with task-desktop, and all of its (direct or indirect) dependencies or recommendations. B: Subtract the task-*-desktop packages, and all packages included only because of indirect dependencies through those packages. C: Add in any packages which are included as indirect dependencies through *all* of the task-*-desktop packages. If you stop after B, then in current testing, the direct dependencies or recommendations would get you: tasksel, xorg, xerver-xorg-video-all, xserver-xorg-input-all, desktop-base, xdg-utils, fonts-symbola, avahi-daemon, libnss-mdns, anacron, eject, iw, alsa-utils, sudo, firefox | firefox-esr, cups Getting the list of indirect dependencies or recommendations is more than I care to try to attempt at the moment. Getting the list of packages that would result from step C would probably require a series of '--dry-run' install (and/or removal) attempts - ideally from an environment with none of them, or their dependencies or recommendations, present - against various task-*-desktop packages, and either manual comparison to see what they have in common, or scripting up something to do that comparison automatically. I know roughly how to do the latter, but again, do not care to try to actually attempt it at the moment. If I wanted to try to accomplish something approximating the "packages common to desktop machines without getting a specific desktop environment" goal in practice right now, I would stop after step B. No virtual package or metapackage for this exists at the moment as far as I know. If I were to try to get one created, the name I'd suggest wold probably be something like 'task-desktop-plain' or 'task-desktop-no-de' or even 'task-none-desktop'. I could probably come up with something better with some more time thinking. -- The Wanderer The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Bernard Shaw
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