Hi all!
Yesterday I decided to ditch windows on my laptop and move to linux. After quite awhile of decision making, i installed linux mint. So far it works perfect and havent had a problem. i dont think ill ever go back i love this os so much!

Anyways what i would like to know is this: is there a way to make sure all extra packages (that get installed with the program) get removed when i uninstall something? I would like to know because i dont want to have my system being clogged with unused packages and like to keep my os clean. I also often install something use it, realize i dont want it/doesnt do what i want, and uninstall it. did that yesterday with XRDP. I use the Software Manager to get my programs and other stuff.

Thanks for any help!

Try apt-get autoremove every now and then to keep clean of the orphaned packages.

Thanks for the tip. sounds easy enough. anything else?
also does the software manager remove extra packages by itself when you uninstall? just wanting to confirm.

1 members found this post helpful.

Yes it should.

removing redundant packages - https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ckages-918503/

Thanks alot guys!
You answered all my questions and im satisfied.
wish me luck as i continue to explore linux!

i just noticed something after installing some software. when i install it through the software manager it says that it will install x packages, but if i were to go back and remove it it would only remove one of them and leave the rest (playonlinux for example). i think on others it will remove them all (chromium for example). whats with that?

just wondering why it does not remove these.

Seriously?
Tell a new "Linux Mint user" who has stated he's operating from within the context of "Software Manager", tell 'em to mumblety sudo -magicky get...
?!?

Dear mmtt22, I'm only a few weeks ahead of you, in terms of the "learning curve".
I'm still dual-booting between WinXP and various debian-based distros.

Here's what I've discovered is helpful (cough, necessary) in terms of housekeeping:

Install "bleachbit".
Read its thorough docs to understand what (what all) it can do for you.
Bleachbit is the linux-equivalent to the windows CCleaner utility.
Although it's powerful, you'll still want to use its "shred folders" and "shred files" dialog panes to setup "custom" file and folder locations that you'd like to see cleaned. Like CCleaner, although bleachbit automatically finds paths for well-known browsers, and presents a checkbox for each found browser's cache directory... if you use Midori, or other not-well-known (!) browser, you'll need to specify a custom shred path for its cache.

^--- Note: Many of the files you delete (send to trash) while in "sudo root" role, will be untouchable by bleachbit unless you choose "run Bleachbit as root" from the application menu.

==========

Next on my list of essential (IMO) housekeeping helpers is the app/package named "localepurge".
Cumulatively, across the thousand+ packages preinstalled in a distro, along with each package you install, thousands upon thousands of useless (to you) translation files get installed. Although each is tiny (prob only 2kb to 30kb or so)... they bog your search (catfish, e.g., searching needlessly through these myriad extra files) and their bloat affects the size (and speed) of your backup. After you install localepurge (and configure it to only keep English, en_us, en_UTF8 and whatever few other languages you and your family might speak) it will be registered as everpresent a "post install" step, automatically called each time you install or upgrade any package. From the commandline, on first run, you can expect that it will weed out 70-90Mb worth of of clutter.

Bleachbit may overlap, it might also handle locale files. Still, I'm keeping localepurge installed as well. Oh, there's another package named "sweeper"; naw, don't bother with that -- bleachbit handles everything (and a lot more) than sweeper does.

===========

"Software Manager"
Mint is playing "Ubuntu wannabe" -- catering to users who want/need to have apps spoonfed to them. The likely intent is to eventually Paypal-enable (or GoogleWallet, ala KDE) the interface, as Ubuntu has done... offering non-free "apps" intermixed with the free+opensource content. Okay, whatever, 'cept it chapped my hide to (almost) install some dang game, called 'rocksndiamonds', without realizing it was not a free app. To anyone considering downloading via Software Manager -- consider: Who's the author of a given "app"? Is support available? Are these "apps" vetted? I might "browse" via software manager, then install an interesting app via synaptic package manager -OR- I might install-and-testdrive using a live USB pen session... but otherwise this venue certainly isn't my cuppa tea.
-=-
One step removed is the "community } software" section of the linuxmint site. From that venue, at least you have the benefit of seeing browser statusbar (and whatnot). Install is similarly transparent (the links are apturl:// and are handled automatically to accomplish a spoonfed install). To date, I haven't been able to understand why the "numbers don't match up" comparing the number of, say, "games" category apps -- wildly differing counts are shown, between what you see via the (castrated, chromeless) "Software Manager" interface vs the counts presented at the community site. Does "Software Manager" really consider what EXACT (Debian + xfce) Mint distro I have installed, and only presents "apps" shich are suitable for my system? No, I don't believe it's that sophisticated; besides, for a given software category, SM often shows more titles available than does the community webpage interface.
-=-
Anyhow, relevant to houskeeping, be aware that "Software Manager" downloads, and caches on your system, gobs (thousands) of icons. These are are NOT cached to a browser cache directory; find the path (IDK offhand) and weed them out prior to backup, eh?

===================

As a next step, I would suggest browsing your filesystem to:
/usr/share/themes
and
/usr/share/icons/

^--- (brace yourself. careful not to fall outa your chair!)
Right-click and check the size of each of these.

Yeah, weed out any iconsets that you're not going to use.
Because so many different apps default to using "oxygen", I installed that (hmm, or was it preinstalled?)... but I sure as heck didn't keep all the nested "oxy-yellow", "oxy-midblue", etc variants. Insane! Icon sets ship with 9 copies each (various sizes) of seemingly hundreds of "well known" apps (apps I'll probably never install, regardless what iconset I've chosen!).

====================

Hopefully someone else will chime in. What other "likely suspect" paths should we should keep an eye one?

1 members found this post helpful.

Well if he is new to Linux, getting to know some basic terminal work is helpful, I remember when I started out a few years back a simple apt-get command was a lot more helpful than installing several new packages through the package manager and figuring out how to use all of them.

It is understandable that as a former windows user you might be used to the windows way, which is basically "I have a problem, there must be a program to fix it".
Linux distros don't work that way, you install new things if you want new functionality, and if you have an issue with a program already there, then the solution is most likely within the boundaries of the very same program.

Apt-get is in the very core of a debian based distribution such as mint, and learning it will go a long way.

Also, the icons you mentioned should be left alone. They are part of certain packages as far as I know. Oxygen is a theme in KDE, in mint it is probably there as a result of installing a KDE package, if you are not using it anymore try removing any KDE dependencies.

If you want complete control of each file within each package and consider it so important you should consider a distro you compile yourself to get rid of every single unnecessary detail before installing the package.

1 members found this post helpful.

Beware of autoremove.
I'd suggest apt-get clean or apt-get autoclean after you update the system.
http://administratosphere.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/the-metapackage-problem-and-apt-get-autoremove/

1 members found this post helpful.

Wow that was alot to read...
I can relate to ccleaner because ive used it before, and I think that bleachbit would take care of caches and other stuff. localepurge seems good to remove extra crap. I will probably use thoes along with trying to get the hang of the command line ones, but packages it installs is not what im concerned about (I dont care that much what it installs). What Im concerned about is that when I install something (x) it says it will also install (y,x,z). When it comes to uninstalling it says it will remove only (x). I would like it to autoremove (or even with a command afterwards) uninstall the unused (x,y,z).

Thanks for all the effort so far though, it really makes getting to know linux easier.

apt-get autoremove and apt-get clean are unnecessary unless you are running low on hard drive space.

Unused packages do not "clog" your system; this is not Windows.

Different distributions seem to handle things differently.
Don't know about Mint; Ubuntu seems to run clean or autoclean automatically after an upgrade; with Debian Squeeze, I find a small amount of cruft if I don't do it manually; the aptosid manual tells you to run apt-get clean after an upgrade; with Arch and Gentoo, unless you clean the package cache manually, you finish by drowning in it.
As an example of why I say to abjure autoremove and all its works:

Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them?
Not bloody likely!
(although since I've re-installed they probably wouldn'tgo anyway)

Welcome to Linux Mint! The OS is quite self maintaining and most likely isn't necessary to run additional software to remove stale packages. Be sure to check the Linux Mint Forum too.

1 members found this post helpful.

Ok thanks for all of your help guys! I guess I don't really have to worry about cleaning it up, but I might every month or so.
Thanks again!

P.S if somebody still has an explanation to my question above about what software centre will remove I'd like to know. Not really important. Just curious!