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.
I believe in an update in the last 2 years or so, mint added a feature to warn you if you’re about to uninstall something that will break things. So if you uninstall with the GUI, you’ll see that warning if uninstalling will cause issues.
Thank you.
Removing applications are as straightforwards as "sudo apt purge packagename ". Using purge instead of remove will remove any configuration files associated with the package.
If you don’t like the terminal, just search the app in the application manager and remove it there.
Regarding your subject title, the apps you’re talking about don’t break mint if they’re missing. They’re usability applications, not libraries or drivers.
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?
Correct, BUT… Mint is a Ubuntu derivative. They specifically wanted to remove certain controversial Ubuntu features without having to redistribute the whole distro, so they still use most of the Ubuntu packages and servers.
In Ubuntu, there are metapackages such as ubuntu-minimal, that depend on essential packages for the system. Mint can’t use it because a couple of the packages are the things they want to get rid of. So they simply include the packages they need on the default install, but didn’t create a mint-minimal meta package.
So relying on APT’s dependency handling alone could land you into trouble if you’re not careful. If you want more visibility on what APT is about to do before you commit to a removal, I suggest using a graphical manager such as aptitude (TUI) or synaptic (GUI). But removing applications like you listed will be fine.
It would be cool if Mint supported maintaining the system using meta packages like Debian intended, but that’s not their current philosophy. They want users to stick to Software Center; pruning packages is possible but you’re on your own doing that. At least that’s the gist of what I got from their support channel on discord. You can always ask here.
Thank You.
