HowToo install Plasma-Desktop without Kde-Apps on Slackware current?
 

Hiya guys,

I never have been a Plasma user but I would like to know how to install a base Plasma desktop?

What I mean a Plasma desktop without Kde-apps.

I want to create a tagfile for plasma5-desktop-only based desktop environment.

thanks

I am moderately curious why you think there is some advantage in leaving any libraries out. Isn't it just easier and more lonmgterm effective to just doo a Full Recommended Install? Are you lacking storage space?

Speaking for myself, I prefer a minimal Plasma install because I use only a handful of KDE apps, and absolutely loathe having the Xfce menu polluted with zillions of other KDE applications.

Thanks Gerard_Lally, that makes some sense to me since I can't recall if Xfce has an effective "Search" function in it's menu. I tend to run Plasma and with usually 3 to 4 keystrokes I see access to any app so I don't even remember the last time I had to manually wade through it's menu.

I'm not familiar at all with Slackware and its terminology, so what is "Kde-apps"?

KDE has Plasma which seems to be the desktop environment itself, Frameworks ("The KDE Frameworks are a set of 83 add-on libraries for programming with Qt.") and Gears (which seems to be a collection of applications such as Dolphin, Kate, Konsole, etc), each with its own release cycle.

So maybe Slackware provides something like "metapackages" suitable to your needs.

Again, I don't know what OP means by "Kde-apps". KDE is rather famous for its numerous packages and their dependencies :D. In the *buntu world, several flavors including Kubuntu offer a "minimal" install option via their iso. See this oldish link for an idea of what would be removed compared to a full install.

Re. XFCE's menu: https://docs.xfce.org/panel-plugins/...u-plugin/start covers XFCE's search menu. I hardly ever use any of KDE's application launchers or menus but mostly krunner or rofi.

I see you point and you are probably right but in some circumstances is it better to do a custom installation.

My little project based on Plasma and there is no need for a full recommended installation, in particular when you just have a lightweight notebook.

Sorry English isn't my first language and I am not good in explaining things.

I just would like to have a Slackware with a minimal/base KDE installation with no extra applications.

There's a file in the KDE source tree at mirrors.slackware.com called all-packaged-applications. Skipping those applications (as well as the 'lib' variants, e.g. libktorrent) might be a good starting point.

I heartily agree. I do use k3b, and in KDE4 that meant one (1) dependency (kdelibs IIRC). In Plasma there are a few more (33), meaning that I could skip kmahjongg and 261 other packages in today's upgrade :)

Some people just like things minimalistic and uncluttered..

An example is his mention of the KDE menu. Anyways, there are many ways non-needed components of KDE clutters the environment and add features you may not want or you're better of without. It can clutter panels, folders, screenspace and many other things. Not sure why any of this is a problem. In Slackware installation you can deselect packages, and most KDE packages are in the kde and kdei folder.

Mageia by default install a "package selection task" called "task kde-minimal", which is not so minimal, but yet avoids installing "everything kde". It was worse before in regards to dependencies in KDE. They managed to split up many KDE components in KDE4 and even more in KDE5. But it's still not a modular desktop in any way. You can't install "kde-wimnowmanager" only for example, and add wanted features. I personally wish that was possible, and it would make KDE better suited for a variety of platforms. But who knows what they will do with KDE6. Anyways, I don't think this need to be the concern of Slackware. It provides a Slackware selected KDE. Anyways, resolving KDE dependencies is a nightmare, even with a full package manager which resolves dependencies.

Anyways, some people like things minimalistic, myself included.

Maybe it is possible with slackbuilds. You simply drop kde and kdei during Slackware installation and install a "minimal KDE" slackbuild post-install.

Yes you can. I'm doing it with the help from slackpkgplus. I just add kde to slackpkgplus greylist's and pick kde applications manually. But of course I had to install all packages from kde frameworks and plasma.

I'm aware of the reasons some do a custom if not a minimalist install, but I was curious as to why lancsuk wanted to. A lot of dependency issues are just solved by doing Full Recommended Install so the choice isn't trivial particularly for those unused to manual dependency resolution. Some think KDE is bloated and resource hungry and that's no longer true so there are fewer reasons. To quote Clarence in "True Romance"..., "It's better to have a gun and not need it than to need one and not have it" ;) Anyway ... just curious.

@ hish2021 you may have already discovered but just in case, Ubuntu comes in distinct "flavors" that is by default with just one DE. Slackware has nearly a dozen WM/DEs installed with Full Recommended by default. It is far easier and more usable to pick and choose individual components since even Fluxbox has some KDE support so many apps will run on it... same with Xfce with a bit more support. So KDE Plasma comes divided up to make such customization more workable.

In that case, KDE is a gold plated .357 SMG.

Actually, I've been saying that for years. KDE is surprisingly lightweight actually. Yes, it includes alot of stuff that doesn't make it less lightweight, but takes HD space and includes functions and programs you don't need. But KDE is a full desktop suite, so part of its goal is to include all those things.

Like you say, many think KDE is not lightweight, but they are wrong. It's very light on resources and very snappy too. But personally I do remove some of the features I don't need, like kconnect and PIM.