[SOLVED] 1. Expunge new install of all kde; & 2.exclude kde from further updates & upgrades

Hi folks,

Linux noob here.

My subject line asks my question.

I would greatly appreciate some code to execute these 2 operations.

Thx,
Tex

A quotation that is exercising my imagination today, from Sam Johnson, 18thCentury lexicographer, latinist, conversationalist and great contrarian:
"There are two types of knowledge in the world: that which one finds in books and that concerning where those books can be found"
I thought: how apt this is when applied -mutatis mutandis- to the process of acquiring a rough-n-ready took-kit for linux, and for slackware in particular.

1.

slackpkg remove kde kdei

2. Not necessary if no KDE packages are installed.

Originally Posted by TobiSGD 1. slackpkg remove kde kdei 2. Not necessary if no KDE packages are installed.

Very much appreciated.

1) Go to the "slackware64/kde" directory in your Slackware DVD (or other installation media):

# cd /path/to/SlackDVD/slackware64/kde
# for i in $(cat tagfile); do removepkg ${i%%:*}; done

The tagfile contains a list of all KDE packages that setup installs (all of them, not only the ones with "kde" in their name). The for line invokes removepkg with each package name.

2) Nothing to do. Since KDE is no longer in the system, slackpkg won't upgrade it (when using slackpkg upgrade-all).

But if you upgrade the system to a new Slackware stable or -current, the slackpkg install-new command will put the KDE packages back. In that case you need to blacklist the KDE packages:

# cd /path/to/SlackDVD/slackware64/kde
# for i in $(cat tagfile); do echo ${i%%:*} >> /etc/slackpkg/blacklist; done

The command above adds all KDE package names to the blacklist file. But this blacklist would work only if there are no new or renamed KDE packages in the new Slackware stable or -current, otherwise some unwanted packages might get installed in the upgrade process. In this case, it would be necessary to manually add the package names to /etc/slackpkg/blacklist.

If you want KDE back, either use

# slackpkg install-new

to install it from a mirror, or

# cd /path/to/SlackDVD/slackware64/kde
# installpkg *txz

to install KDE from your Slackware DVD.

Suggestion: Read the manpages for slackpkg, installpkg, removepkg and upgradepkg so you get acquainted with these tools.

Important: Be extra careful whenever you're removing stuff. Make backups of your data. RTFM.

Hope that's clear. Ask, if in doubt.

Mighty helpful. Thanks Diantre.
I'll file the code away and follow your advice by doing
the reading before taking the action!

Originally Posted by Diantre 1) Go to the "slackware64/kde" directory in your Slackware DVD (or other installation media): # cd /path/to/SlackDVD/slackware64/kde # for i in $(cat tagfile); do removepkg ${i%%:*}; done The tagfile contains a list of all KDE packages that setup installs (all of them, not only the ones with "kde" in their name). The for line invokes removepkg with each package name. 2) Nothing to do. Since KDE is no longer in the system, slackpkg won't upgrade it (when using slackpkg upgrade-all). But if you upgrade the system to a new Slackware stable or -current, the slackpkg install-new command will put the KDE packages back. In that case you need to blacklist the KDE packages: # cd /path/to/SlackDVD/slackware64/kde # for i in $(cat tagfile); do echo ${i%%:*} >> /etc/slackpkg/blacklist; done The command above adds all KDE package names to the blacklist file. But this blacklist would work only if there are no new or renamed KDE packages in the new Slackware stable or -current, otherwise some unwanted packages might get installed in the upgrade process. In this case, it would be necessary to manually add the package names to /etc/slackpkg/blacklist. If you want KDE back, either use # slackpkg install-new to install it from a mirror, or # cd /path/to/SlackDVD/slackware64/kde # installpkg *txz to install KDE from your Slackware DVD. Suggestion: Read the manpages for slackpkg, installpkg, removepkg and upgradepkg so you get acquainted with these tools. Important: Be extra careful whenever you're removing stuff. Make backups of your data. RTFM. Hope that's clear. Ask, if in doubt.

I really appreciate posts like this. Thanks for your time here.

Originally Posted by Diantre 1) Go to the "slackware64/kde" directory in your Slackware DVD (or other installation media): # cd /path/to/SlackDVD/slackware64/kde # for i in $(cat tagfile); do removepkg ${i%%:*}; done

This was an excellent post. I have one question: in the 'for' line above, what does the ${i%%:*} do? I am not familiar with that construction, particularly what the %%:* does to modify ${i}.

Originally Posted by quiescere I have one question: in the 'for' line above, what does the ${i%%:*} do? I am not familiar with that construction, particularly what the %%:* does to modify ${i}.

The ${string%%substring} is a bash construct that removes the longest match of substring from the back of string.

In the tagfile, the packages have a keyword that indicates if the package is installed automatically or not, or if the user is prompted to install it. For example, from the KDE tagfile:

amarok:OPT
ark:REC
kdelibs:ADD

The ${i%%:*} removes characters from the back of $i, from ':' to the end of the string, indicated by '*'. So we get the packages names without the ':*' at the end:

amarok
ark
kdelibs

You can read more about the tagfiles in the SlackBook, and the Advanced Bash Scripting book has details about string manipulation.

Thanks very much: that's good to know.