[SOLVED] Remove kde-applications-meta and install packages manually

seands · 2020-09-06 06:59:26

Hi all, I made the apparent rookie mistake of installing kde-applications-meta, which gave me *every* KDE package under the sun. There are lots of applications I now want to remove because I don't want them and they're cluttering up my launcher. I come from KDE Neon and would like a set of KDE applications resembling those available there, e.g. the system utilities (settings, etc.), konsole, Okular, Gwenview, KDE Connect, etc., but not kdevelop, konqueror, and basically everything else beginning with k.

I read that you can remove the meta package and then uninstall everything manually, but this looks like a lot of work. Is there instead some way I can take e.g. a text file with the packages I want to keep (hopefully one exists for KDE Neon?) and use that as a whitelist against the complete list of packages that are dependencies of kde-applications-meta?

Or would it also be possible to uninstall everything in kde-applications-meta but crucially keep all application configuration, then reinstall only the ones I need? (Will uninstalling with pacman delete any home directory config stuff?)

Last edited by seands (2020-09-06 15:48:19)

d_fajardo · 2020-09-06 07:19:16

You can perhaps delete the group package kde-applications-meta, remove all kde, and begin again simply with plasma.
Once clean, reinstall konsole (so you have a terminal) and just install the programs you need as needed.
Arch has the latest packages so it will be as good as Neon.

Will uninstalling with pacman delete any home directory config stuff?

No pacman won't touch your config files.

Last edited by d_fajardo (2020-09-06 07:20:14)

seands · 2020-09-06 07:38:13

d_fajardo wrote:

You can perhaps delete the group package kde-applications-meta, remove all kde, and begin again simply with plasma.
Once clean, reinstall konsole (so you have a terminal) and just install the programs you need as needed.
Arch has the latest packages so it will be as good as Neon.

Thanks! Is there a reason not to just nuke everything installed by kde-applications-meta and reinstall as needed? You seem to be suggesting to reinstall plasma itself. (Or did I misinterpret that?)

d_fajardo wrote:

Will uninstalling with pacman delete any home directory config stuff?
No pacman won't touch your config files.

Great!

Last edited by seands (2020-09-06 07:38:45)

d_fajardo · 2020-09-06 07:57:51

No you don't need to reinstall plasma. Just kde. Uninstalling the kde-applications group is enough.

Last edited by d_fajardo (2020-09-06 07:58:46)

seands · 2020-09-06 15:23:19

d_fajardo wrote:

No you don't need to reinstall plasma. Just kde. Uninstalling the kde-applications group is enough.

That worked perfectly - thanks!

d_fajardo · 2020-09-06 15:43:20

It is customary to mark your thread 'Solved' by editing the title of your first post.

seands · 2020-09-06 15:48:46

d_fajardo wrote:

It is customary to mark your thread 'Solved' by editing the title of your first post.

Done. I also changed the title to better reflect the eventual solution.

eschwartz · 2020-09-06 16:01:05

Note you'll need to change their install reason from "as dependency" to "as explicit" or they'll be marked as orphans.

expac -l '\n' -S '%D' kde-applications-meta | while read -r submeta; do
    expac -l '\n' -S '%D' "$submeta"
done | sort -u

Provides the list of each package installed by kde-applications-meta (which itself merely depends on 10 other metapackages). You can explicitly mark the ones you wanted with pacman -D --asexplicit, then use pacman -Rns to remove the metapackage and all of its orphaned dependencies.

Arch Linux

#1 2020-09-06 06:59:26

[SOLVED] Remove kde-applications-meta and install packages manually

#2 2020-09-06 07:19:16

Re: [SOLVED] Remove kde-applications-meta and install packages manually

#3 2020-09-06 07:38:13

Re: [SOLVED] Remove kde-applications-meta and install packages manually

#4 2020-09-06 07:57:51

Re: [SOLVED] Remove kde-applications-meta and install packages manually

#5 2020-09-06 15:23:19

Re: [SOLVED] Remove kde-applications-meta and install packages manually

#6 2020-09-06 15:43:20

Re: [SOLVED] Remove kde-applications-meta and install packages manually

#7 2020-09-06 15:48:46

Re: [SOLVED] Remove kde-applications-meta and install packages manually

#8 2020-09-06 16:01:05

Re: [SOLVED] Remove kde-applications-meta and install packages manually

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