unecessary program links and dependencies

poltiser · 2016-04-09 05:46:28

I am not an IT engineer just a user of Linux. If I am not very clear my background is not technical. I try to explain what I want to say.
In wonderful system of XFCE I found many dependencies between the ordinary programs like dictionary - and the system components. Can we change that in next version of xfce?
Recently removing something like that I accidentally removed half of the system... in Xubuntu. It was not a tragic event as in 1 hour I was back and running, but it happens...

Is it possible to clearly separate what is "the system" and what is "the program"? Some elements like "other languages inputs" or "accessibility" should be present as optional - to be used by those who need them, and to be removable if one needs more space instead...

Best regards and thank you for fantastic job

sixsixfive · 2016-04-09 15:12:07

This has nothing to-do with Xfce, its an issue with you distribution that added all those dependencies on compilation, in fact xfce itself req. only a few dependencies (http://docs.xfce.org/xfce/building#xfce … ency_chain).

If you don't like it use a distribution has no dependency management in its package management like plain slackware...

Last edited by sixsixfive (2016-04-09 15:12:59)

poltiser · 2016-04-09 15:53:32

Thank you - I did not know that this behaviour is distribution related.

MountainDewManiac · 2016-04-10 03:27:58

Could these "dependencies" be meta-packages?

Regards,
MDM

poltiser · 2016-04-10 04:42:34

not in a case of "dictionary" = xfce4-dict

MountainDewManiac · 2016-04-10 05:20:48

MountainDewManiac wrote:

Could these "dependencies" be meta-packages?

poltiser wrote:

not in a case of "dictionary" = xfce4-dict

Huh. That's odd; I use Mint (the Xfce version, of course)... I just ran Synaptic Package Manager and marked xfce4-dict for removal - and the only additional thing that Synaptic Package Manager stated would be removed was the xfce4-goodies meta-package. If you do not see the same behavior, perhaps you should hunt for a better distro.

Regards,
MDM

ozjd · 2016-04-10 06:50:03

As an exercise I tried to remove xfce4-dict on Korora (which is really Fedora for the sake of this exercise) and the only other package to be removed was xfce4-dict-plugin which makes sense. It is possible to remove the plugin by itself.

Actually I found this mildly surprising as dependency issues was one of the problems when dnf was first introduced. Maybe they really have sorted them :-).

sixsixfive · 2016-04-10 09:29:55

I guess the issue is the apt autoremove feature eg(you can remove the meta package xfce4 and if you do so apt will suggest the removal of many xfce packages)

also thats not a debian-only issue this happens on all distros that use dependencies. I also archived the same by using redhats packagekit(even with more devastating results)...

bobwad · 2016-04-10 12:00:11

Some basic confusion here?

In any complex computer OS there are many programs and library routines which are called by multiple programs. Thus, to invent a silly example, a routine which draws check-boxes will be called by any program using check-boxes. Program A (which uses check-boxes) will show the routine as a dependency, meaning that it will not run without that routine being available. Program B, with similar requirements, will also show the same routine as a dependency. If you attempt to remove an unwanted Program A, and at the same time remove the routine, then Program B will not be able to run. You have entered what is called "dependency hell."

To avoid this many (most) distros use a package management system (such as apt or pacman) which, when asked to remove Program A, will only remove the routine if there are no other programs remaining on the system which require that routine.

So I guess the solution is to take the easy way out and use a distro with a reliable package management system.

Good luck!

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#1 2016-04-09 05:46:28

unecessary program links and dependencies

#2 2016-04-09 15:12:07

Re: unecessary program links and dependencies

#3 2016-04-09 15:53:32

Re: unecessary program links and dependencies

#4 2016-04-10 03:27:58

Re: unecessary program links and dependencies

#5 2016-04-10 04:42:34

Re: unecessary program links and dependencies

#6 2016-04-10 05:20:48

Re: unecessary program links and dependencies

#7 2016-04-10 06:50:03

Re: unecessary program links and dependencies

#8 2016-04-10 09:29:55

Re: unecessary program links and dependencies

#9 2016-04-10 12:00:11

Re: unecessary program links and dependencies

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