this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2024
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What are the packages that comes default with Linux Mint Cinnamon that I can remove without any problems.

Linux Mint comes with lots of packages installed by default to give full experience to new users. But not everyone needs everything. In my case for example, I don't need celluloid, pix, hexchat, hypnotix, rhythmbox, LibreOffice, etc,... Those applications has their own audience and Linux Mint including them is a good thing but I personally don't want them.

Mini Rant or QA maybe?

I searched the internet a bit for the answer, on various forums, and subreddits. And All the people who asked this question got obliterated as far as I've seen. The common answers are:

if you remove the applications that came installed with Mint by default, it will cause Dependency issues.

If I remove an application and the dependencies shold be removed UNLESS some other application need those dependency, right? If that's the case, why removing packages can cause dependency issues?

Why would you want to remove essential applications like LibreOffice, pix etc. ? (this question is asked in the sense of "what sane person would want to remove those?")

Cause why not? Maybe I like GwenView more than Pix, maybe I don't need office applications at all. Why this even matter?

If you want don't want Mint's default applications, then what's the point of using Mint? Just use something like Ubuntu server or something. People need to realize that lot of people (at least me) using Mint for it's System management (updates, apt source list, etc..) via GUI ability. Just because I want to manage my system with ease, that doesn't mean I need everyt applications it offers me.

I honestly feel bad for the person who asked the question in the first place. They didn't got the answers till the very end. All they got is Criticism and it's not constructive one.

Why this kind of behaviour even exist?

P.S.: I'm using Mint inside VM for testing purposes. I don't want my VM to take a lot of space. That's why I don't need lot of applications.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 months ago (3 children)

It's very simple in Mint, just right-click it in the menu, click Uninstall, and see if it warns you about dependencies.

Thunderbird, Hypnotix, Hexchat and Firefox can be uninstalled safely for sure, I recommend against uninstalling the Update Manager and strongly recommend against uninstalling Python, as some other programs may/will depend on those

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago (2 children)

If you uninstall python or gjs it will most likely remove the entire desktop

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I did it once, intending to reinstall it. Basically everything broke including APT. sudo apt install python didn't work. That was a reinstall.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, apt-get should still work but Mint's apt is a Python wrapper IIRC

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Does Mint still maintain their own apt command?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yes, at least yesterday when I checked they still did

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

My understanding of that story was Mint kind of did their own thing first, then Ubuntu (or Debian above them) also did it, and I didn't know if Mint adopted the upstream thing or kept their version.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Thanks for the heads up.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Recommend highly against that. That GUI way does not show package dependencies and will not warn you possibly if you uninstall a bunch of stuff.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

It does for me? On Cinnamon DE, if that makes any difference?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

A GUI window showing a warning and listing packages dependent on what you're uninstalling. It has a cancel-button in background colour, and a red uninstall-button.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Very nice. A big advantage over GNOME software or KDE discover

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago