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How to uninstalling orphaned packages

PostPosted: Apr 28th, '12, 19:22
by wind
Is there a way to uninstall orphaned packages in mageia 2. I am sorry , maybe it is simple question but i coulnd't found it how it could be.

Re: How to uninstalling orphaned packages

PostPosted: Apr 28th, '12, 19:26
by alf
Code: Select all
urpme --auto-orphans
as root in a console

Re: How to uninstalling orphaned packages

PostPosted: Apr 28th, '12, 19:54
by wind
Thanks , it worked.

Re: How to uninstalling orphaned packages

PostPosted: Apr 29th, '12, 15:23
by doktor5000
Please always pay attention to every single item on that list, as --auto-orphans does not check whether the packages are still needed/necessary or not.

Re: How to uninstalling orphaned packages

PostPosted: Apr 29th, '12, 19:13
by wind
doktor5000 wrote:Please always pay attention to every single item on that list, as --auto-orphans does not check whether the packages are still needed/necessary or not.


İ have insatalled mageia on virtualbox only for test purpose. I am not exprienced linux user so i cant understand if any of these packages is needed or not. Is there a way to understand ??

And one more question. The package manager giving an error when updating package list at the last stage o f installation. And the same error is given when i am trying to add core relase repository list.

The error somethink like that.

20120317-034514-synthesis.hdlist.cz cant read. And could not fetched.

Becouse my sistem in Turkish i counldnt translate the exact error.

Re: How to uninstalling orphaned packages

PostPosted: Apr 29th, '12, 19:22
by doktor5000
This is probably due to some outdated or unreliable mirror. Maybe you should remove your existing software sources and add a new set.
https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Rpmdrake#Con ... nd_updates
But you should probably click on File -> Add a specific media mirror -> Full Set and then you can select which mirror you want, maybe you want to try ftp.mandrivauser.de or some other which is near your location.

PS: Generally we have some kind of golden rule: Please only one problem per thread, so next time, please start a new thread for a new problem ;)

Re: How to uninstalling orphaned packages

PostPosted: Apr 29th, '12, 19:50
by djennings
İ have insatalled mageia on virtualbox only for test purpose. I am not exprienced linux user so i cant understand if any of these packages is needed or not. Is there a way to understand ??


There are a number of Mageia (and Mandriva) users who would prefer the message about orphan packages not be given because it encourages novice users like yourself to uninstall the orphans. There are circumstances when uninstalling orphans is a seriously bad idea because it can damage your system. I will attempt to explain why.

Some packages are 'meta' packages. They do not contain any files, but they list a number of packages as dependencies. An example is the package 'task-kde4'.
Installing task-kde4 causes lots of other packages to be installed so by installing a single package you can install an entire desktop system.
Now if you decide to uninstall just one package in Kde you decide you do not need say for example okular. When you uninstall okular the meta package task-kde4 will also be uninstalled because okular is a component of the meta package and if okular is removed the meta package is no longer complete. So far so good. That is logical.

Now comes the twist. With the meta package task-kde4 uninstalled every other package in Kde is now an orphan. A package becomes an orphan when it was installed because some other package was installed and now that package is gone. So if you were to now uninstall orphan packages you would lose the whole of KDE.

So my advice is to only uninstall packages if you know what they are and why you do not need them. If that results in using a bit more disc space then so what. It is better than trashing your system by uninstalling something important.

I hope that makes sense.

Re: How to uninstalling orphaned packages

PostPosted: Apr 29th, '12, 20:29
by doktor5000
wind wrote:The error somethink like that.

20120317-034514-synthesis.hdlist.cz cant read. And could not fetched.

Becouse my sistem in Turkish i counldnt translate the exact error.

By the way, you can simply run any command-line program by prefixing it with LC_ALL=C, like f.ex.
Code: Select all
LC_ALL=C urpmi somepackage
which will show all output of that program in C locale, which is english. Also works for many graphical programs, but nor for all. Makes it easier to post error messages and such output in english ;)

Re: How to uninstalling orphaned packages

PostPosted: Apr 30th, '12, 06:30
by wind
Thanks all of you for helping...

Re: How to uninstalling orphaned packages

PostPosted: Apr 30th, '12, 08:25
by wobo
doktor5000 wrote:This is probably due to some outdated or unreliable mirror.

Not in this case. wind talked about the update during the installation process (last stage). This almost always fails. Even if it does not fail, it does not work. In my last installation (cable bound net connection) it did not give a failure, it just ends after a couple of seconds. After reboot I do an 'urpmi --auto-update' without changing the mirror and urpmi installed over 400 updates. It's been like that for ages.

I don't use that feature any more but after reboot I set the media to my liking and then do the update.

Re: How to uninstalling orphaned packages

PostPosted: Apr 30th, '12, 08:49
by Ken-Bergen
wobo wrote:Not in this case. wind talked about the update during the installation process (last stage). This almost always fails. Even if it does not fail, it does not work. In my last installation (cable bound net connection) it did not give a failure, it just ends after a couple of seconds. After reboot I do an 'urpmi --auto-update' without changing the mirror and urpmi installed over 400 updates. It's been like that for ages.

I don't use that feature any more but after reboot I set the media to my liking and then do the update.
As this is Mageia2/Cauldron I would expect to have no updates when done from the installation phase as that tool only looks at the update repositories which of course are empty.
'urpmi --auto-update' however looks for newer versions of packages in all enabled repositories.

Edit: This thread should be moved to "Testing : Alpha, Beta, RC and Cauldron"

Re: How to uninstalling orphaned packages

PostPosted: Apr 30th, '12, 09:10
by wobo
Ken-Bergen wrote:As this is Mageia2/Cauldron I would expect to have no updates when done from the installation phase as that tool only looks at the update repositories which of course are empty.

Of course you are right in this case! :oops:

Re: How to uninstalling orphaned packages

PostPosted: Apr 30th, '12, 11:36
by wind
I have opened new topic at "Testing : Alpha, Beta, RC and Cauldron" about repository bug. And added one more little bug.

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2327

Re: How to uninstalling orphaned packages

PostPosted: Apr 30th, '12, 14:23
by isadora
Ken-Bergen wrote:
wobo wrote:.......................

Edit: This thread should be moved to "Testing : Alpha, Beta, RC and Cauldron"

Agreed, and therefore moved.