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Uninstall Desktop Environments

PostPosted: Dec 24th, '22, 01:40
by pnbalaji
Hi,

I recently installed Mageia 8 on my iMac. Everything is working good though I have a minor issue. During installation, I have selected all the DEs and WMs (KDE, GNome, Cinnamon, XFCE, MATE, other desktops, etc) and everything is installed now. Due to this, the performance of my Mageia installation is not that great. My preferred DE is MATE and that is what I am currently using it. How do I uninstall other DEs and WMs without breaking any dependencies? Command line option would be great.

Thanks in advance.

Re: Uninstall Desktop Environments

PostPosted: Dec 24th, '22, 03:25
by benmc
the desktops (and some other program groups) are installed a via a mechanism: *task-something*
the *task-something* package contains all the information regarding packages and dependencies for a particular desktop or group.

to check which desktops can be safely removed, run the command (as root)
Code: Select all
urpme task-
and press the *tab* key.

result should be something like:
Code: Select all
urpme task-
task-cinnamon-minimal           task-lxde                   
task-lxde-minimal               task-mate-minimal                                   
task-gnome-minimal              task-plasma5-minimal                               
task-xfce-minimal 


so, to remove xfce, issue as root, the command
Code: Select all
urpme task-xfce-minimal


continue to remove each desktop in turn.
you will likely end up with a large orphans list. treat this list with care.

Re: Uninstall Desktop Environments

PostPosted: Dec 24th, '22, 08:06
by pnbalaji
Thanks for your response. I have followed your directions and got rid of the extra DEs and rebooted my iMac. If I run the command "sudo urpme task-" now, I am getting the following results.

Code: Select all
sudo urpme task-
[sudo] password for user:
The following packages contain task-:
meta-task-8-1.mga8.noarch
task-codec-audio-6-4.mga8.x86_64
task-codec-video-6-4.mga8.x86_64
task-mate-minimal-1.24.1-1.mga8.noarch
task-printing-hp-2018-6.mga8.x86_64
task-printing-server-2018-6.mga8.x86_64
task-pulseaudio-2018.0-2.mga8.noarch
task-x11-1-10.mga8.noarch


I also removed the orphan packages. However, I am still seeing several KDE related apps in my Start menu. How do I uninstall KDE Plasma and all it's dependencies/apps/packages etc?

Re: Uninstall Desktop Environments

PostPosted: Dec 24th, '22, 15:04
by morgano
For the stated question i have no simple idea.

Personally i would have simply made a reinstall with only the DE i want, keeping /home.

Re: Uninstall Desktop Environments

PostPosted: Dec 24th, '22, 15:18
by doktor5000
benmc wrote:so, to remove xfce, issue as root, the command
Code: Select all
urpme task-xfce-minimal

continue to remove each desktop in turn.

That won't really remove the desktop, that will only remove the task- meta package. The remaining actual packages of the desktop will need to be removed manually.
Or really carefully, one by one desktop via the orphans mechanism. Best read the hints and warnings at https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Removing_packages

@pnbalaji: I'll try to have a look, what KDE related apps do you still see ? Also please post the output of

Code: Select all
rpm -qa | grep -i plasma | sort