Hi all,

I am in the process of slimming down my system which is used as a home desktop computer.

I am hoping to get a really lean system before creating tagfiles for a new 10.2 installation.

I checked the tagfiles from the installation cd's and the /var/log/packages/ from SLAX 5.0.5, this gave me a base line to work from. I have managed to slim this by a further 26 packages.

Following is my current /var/log/packages/
Please make suggestions as to the next packages that would be safe to remove.

Many thanks

Samac

About the only things I'd recommend you scrap would be xsane (if you don't have a scanner), and the KDE/ARTS packages if you don't use KDE.

Incidentally, why create a tagfile and install with that? Why not just use upgradepkg? I mean, that way you get to keep your existing userfiles and configurations....

Well, a lot of the packages could probably be removed but it all depends on what your using, might need, etc. This isn't our box we work on so it would be hard to assume what you actually need on your own machine.

For example, you currently have all the alsa packages installed, or a majority of them. I personally don't use alsa for my soundcards so I'd remove those, but I have no way in telling if you need them or not. If you do no development on this machine, probably a large majority of the d packages can be removed. If you don't use umsdos or don't have Windows on this same machine, probably drop that package with the floppy package, along with dropping the TCL/TK packages, tetex, etc. Don't have any HP printers, can drop the hpijs package. Do you install RPM packages on your slackware box? If not, drop the rpm package as it's pointless.

So yeah, it just all depends on what you need, so determining that is hard for us to make since these are the decisions you need to make.

Thanks Killerbob

Unfortunately I use those two.

I only say tagfiles because when I upgraded from 10.0 to 10.1 my system was borked big style, even though I followed the instructions to the letter.

However you are probably correct I should use upgradepkg.

Samac

Thanks Trickykid

The only ones that I use from that list are the HP drivers and floppy drivers.

The only reason I ask is that sometimes some packages are needed for other packages, and I appreciate you cannot tell how I use my system, but many eyes could spot things that I would have to work out by trial and error.

Regards

Samac

It really depends what you need - a brief idea:
Do you use the arts sound server?
arts-1.3.2-i486-1

Do yo use the ash shell?
ash-0.4.0-i386-1

Do yo use aspell for spellcheck?
aspell-0.60-i486-2
aspell-en-6.0_0-noarch-2

Do you use at instead of cron?
at-3.1.8-i486-2

Do you download with bittorrent?
bittorrent-3.9.1-noarch-1

Do you ever use a hex editor?
bpe-2.01.00-i486-1

Do you have a cd/dvd recorder?
cdparanoia-IIIalpha9.8-i386-1
cdrdao-1.1.9-i486-1
cdrtools-2.01-i486-1
dvd+rw-tools-5.21.4.10.8-i486-1
k3b-0.12.2-i486-1pcx

Do you use the cups print system?
cups-1.1.23-i486-1

Do you need dhcp services?
dhcpcd-1.3.22pl4-i386-1

Do you use elvis to edit files (this is a vi clone)
elvis-2.2_0-i486-2

Do you use fluxbox as a window manager?
fluxbox-0.9.12-i486-1

Do you use gimp for graphics editing?
gimp-2.2.3-i486-1

Do you need hotplug support?
hotplug-2004_09_23-noarch-1

Do you have an hp printer?
hpijs-1.7-i486-1

Do you use iptables for a firewall (if not you really should)?
iproute2-2.6.9_ss040831-i486-1
iptables-1.2.11-i486-1

Do you run java applications?
jre-1_5_0_01-i586-1

Do you use kde?
kde-i18n-en_GB-3.3.2-noarch-1
kdeadmin-3.3.2-i486-1
kdeartwork-3.3.2-i486-1
kdebase-3.3.2-i486-1
kdegraphics-3.3.2-i486-3
kdelibs-3.3.2-i486-2
kdemultimedia-3.3.2-i486-1
kdenetwork-3.3.2-i486-2
kdepim-3.3.2-i486-1
kdeutils-3.3.2-i486-1
kdewebdev-3.3.2-i486-1

Do you often read man pages (you can always get them online)?
man-1.5m2-i486-1
man-pages-1.64-noarch-1

Do you use perl for anything (quite a few scripts and apps use this so make sure)?
perl-5.8.6-i486-1

Do you use procmail for local mail?
procmail-3.15.2-i386-1

Do you ever install rpms?
rpm-4.2.1-i486-3

Do you use rsync for file transfers?
rsync-2.6.3-i486-1

Do you use rzip for compression
rzip-2.0-i486-2

Do you use screen, its handy but you don't need it
screen-4.0.2-i486-1

I assume you use this for gaming?
scummvm-0.7.0-i486-1axl

This is just a busy cursor thing
startup-notification-0.6-i486-1

If you don't debug programs then strace can go
strace-4.5.4-i486-1

If you don't use sudo to run commands as other users then remove it
sudo-1.6.8p9-i486-1

Unless you need network analysis you can remove these
iptraf-2.7.0-i386-1
tcpdump-3.9.3-i486-1
tcpip-0.17-i486-31
traceroute-1.4a12-i386-2
nc-1.10-i386-1
netwatch-1.0a-i386-1
nmap-3.75-i486-1

You probably don't need this unless you have a umsdos filesystem
umsdos-progs-1.13-i386-1

Do you ever run whois queries (this can also be done via the web)?
whois-4.6.16-i486-1

Do you need to emulate windows exe's?
wine-20040813-i486-1pcx

Do you need a scanner?
sane-1.0.15-i486-1
xsane-0.96-i486-1

You may also want to consider using swaret to upgrade rather than a tagfile.

Thanks David Ross

A full and frank answer. That is a big help. I will be able to remove a good number more packages with this information.

Samac

OK so I am now slimmer, only one mishap, guess I did need tcpip.

Thinking back to a brief flirtation with debian, they had a package called orphaner (I think), which checked your libraries/programs to see if they were used by another package.

Is there such a thing in the Slackware world.

Samac

Swaret does a pretty good job with "swaret --dep"

So, swaret --dep will find out if any dependencies are unfulfilled and download the required dependancy.

So it would now be fairly safe to remove a package that I wasn't sure of then run swaret --dep and if the package was needed it would then download and reinstall it.

More complicated, but workable.

Thanks again.

Samac