apt-get "recommends" package install question in Lenny

kushalkoolwal · 12-27-2008, 07:49 PM

It looks like the new version of apt-get in current Lenny installs recommended packages by default. For example, when I did this:

Code:

apt-get install gcc-4.3

it showed me:

Code:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  cpp-4.3 libc6-dev libgmp3c2 libgomp1 libmpfr1ldbl linux-libc-dev
Suggested packages:
  gcc-4.3-locales gcc-4.3-multilib libmudflap0-4.3-dev gcc-4.3-doc libgcc1-dbg libgomp1-dbg libmudflap0-dbg glibc-doc manpages-dev
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  cpp-4.3 gcc-4.3 libc6-dev libgmp3c2 libgomp1 libmpfr1ldbl linux-libc-dev
0 upgraded, 7 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 10.5MB of archives.
After this operation, 30.7MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y

As you can see the package in red, libc6-dev, is just a recommended package and not a pure dependency as per here.

Now since I had specific knowledge about this package I could detect that libc6-dev was not a dependency package, so I can remove it manually by apt-get remove libc6-dev.

For future I can take care of this by passing the argument as per apt-get man page:

Code:

 --no-install-recommends
           Do not consider recommended packages as a dependency for installing. Configuration Item: APT::Install-Recommends.

However, my question is that apt-get must have installed other recommended packages also without my knowledge. So how can I detect those packages in my system and remove them?

Thanks

jailbait · 12-27-2008, 07:55 PM

I use orphaner to find and delete packages which are not related to anything useful. See:

man orphaner

-----------------------
Steve Stites

kushalkoolwal · 12-27-2008, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jailbait

I use orphaner to find and delete packages which are not related to anything useful. See:

man orphaner

-----------------------
Steve Stites

Steve thank you for your response and time. Actually I have used orphaner before and for some reasons it does not detect the libc6-dev package in this case. So for example, I did this:

Removed the gcc-4.3 package first:

Code:

debian:~# apt-get remove gcc-4.3
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libgomp1 linux-libc-dev libgmp3c2 libmpfr1ldbl libc6-dev cpp-4.3
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  gcc-4.3
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 4665kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
(Reading database ... 14844 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing gcc-4.3 ...

debian:~# apt-get autoremove
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libgomp1 linux-libc-dev libgmp3c2 libmpfr1ldbl libc6-dev cpp-4.3
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  cpp-4.3 libc6-dev libgmp3c2 libgomp1 libmpfr1ldbl linux-libc-dev
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 6 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 26.0MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
(Reading database ... 14781 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing cpp-4.3 ...
Removing libc6-dev ...
Removing libmpfr1ldbl ...
Removing libgmp3c2 ...
Removing libgomp1 ...
Removing linux-libc-dev ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
debian:~#

Installed it again:

Code:

debian:~# apt-get install gcc-4.3
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  cpp-4.3 libc6-dev libgmp3c2 libgomp1 libmpfr1ldbl linux-libc-dev
Suggested packages:
  gcc-4.3-locales gcc-4.3-multilib libmudflap0-4.3-dev gcc-4.3-doc libgcc1-dbg libgomp1-dbg libmudflap0-dbg glibc-doc manpages-dev
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  cpp-4.3 gcc-4.3 libc6-dev libgmp3c2 libgomp1 libmpfr1ldbl linux-libc-dev
0 upgraded, 7 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B/10.5MB of archives.
After this operation, 30.7MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
debconf: delaying package configuration, since apt-utils is not installed
Selecting previously deselected package libgmp3c2.
(Reading database ... 13636 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking libgmp3c2 (from .../libgmp3c2_2%3a4.2.2+dfsg-3_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libmpfr1ldbl.
Unpacking libmpfr1ldbl (from .../libmpfr1ldbl_2.3.1.dfsg.1-2_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package cpp-4.3.
Unpacking cpp-4.3 (from .../cpp-4.3_4.3.2-1_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libgomp1.
Unpacking libgomp1 (from .../libgomp1_4.3.2-1_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package gcc-4.3.
Unpacking gcc-4.3 (from .../gcc-4.3_4.3.2-1_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package linux-libc-dev.
Unpacking linux-libc-dev (from .../linux-libc-dev_2.6.26-12_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libc6-dev.
Unpacking libc6-dev (from .../libc6-dev_2.7-16_i386.deb) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up libgmp3c2 (2:4.2.2+dfsg-3) ...
Setting up libmpfr1ldbl (2.3.1.dfsg.1-2) ...
Setting up cpp-4.3 (4.3.2-1) ...
Setting up libgomp1 (4.3.2-1) ...
Setting up gcc-4.3 (4.3.2-1) ...
Setting up linux-libc-dev (2.6.26-12) ...
Setting up libc6-dev (2.7-16) ...
debian:~#

Now libc6-dev gets installed again which is fine. Now when I give orphaner it does not detect libc6-dev package:

Code:

debian:~# orphaner
No orphaned package found

My understanding is that orphaner will only find out libc6-dev if we uninstall gcc-4.3. Then technically libc6-dev *now* is a orphaned package.

I am looking for all the packages that I can potentially remove (recommended ones like libc6-dev) from my system. I am trying to make it as lean as possible.

jailbait · 12-27-2008, 08:24 PM

OK, here's my second try. Run synaptic. Click on Settings -> Preferences -> General and untick the box labeled "Consider recommended packages as dependencies".
Apply and OK. Maybe that will work.

-------------------
Steve Stites

kushalkoolwal · 12-27-2008, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jailbait

OK, here's my second try. Run synaptic. Click on Settings -> Preferences -> General and untick the box labeled "Consider recommended packages as dependencies".
Apply and OK. Maybe that will work.

-------------------
Steve Stites

I wish I could. Installing X is not an option for me. I want to keep the system just console based.

Even by what you suggested I think that will take care of *future* installations, but my question is what about the packages that have been *previously* installed as recommended ones. How can I detect those on my system?

There is gotta be some way to do that.

Thank you once again for your effort.

craigevil · 12-28-2008, 12:35 AM

Add the following to your /etc/apt/apt.conf or /etc/apt/
apt.conf.d

// Recommends are as of now still abused in many packages
APT::Install-Recommends "0";
APT::Install-Suggests "0";

Rather than orphaner you might try deborphan and defoster.

kushalkoolwal · 12-28-2008, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigevil

Add the following to your /etc/apt/apt.conf or /etc/apt/
apt.conf.d

// Recommends are as of now still abused in many packages
APT::Install-Recommends "0";
APT::Install-Suggests "0";

Rather than orphaner you might try deborphan and defoster.

Thanks craigevil. I do understand that putting those lines will prevent this from happening in future. Unfortunately this is *not* my question. My question was how can I find out packages which were installed as "recommended" (like libc6-dev) before the above fix was done?

So for example, I only got aware of this problem yesterday and I have been using this system for about 1 week and I installed all my packages using apt-get without the above fix. So I need to take care of (basically purge) those packages before the above fix is implemented i.e. find out all the packages installed as "recommended" and purge them.

craigevil · 12-28-2008, 10:04 PM

aptitude may be able to do that:
http://algebraicthunk.net/~dburrows/...TermQuickGuide

Its really not that big a deal unless you are short on drive space.

kushalkoolwal · 12-28-2008, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigevil

aptitude may be able to do that:
http://algebraicthunk.net/~dburrows/...TermQuickGuide

I will look into that...

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigevil

Its really not that big a deal unless you are short on drive space.

Yes, I am trying to make a minimal debian system for a small embedded device. So space is gold for me...