Arch Linux

zpxing

Member

Registered: 2008-08-15

Posts: 21

Can I remove these packages after installation?

Hi,

I checked packages installed on my laptop. The followings are explicitly installed but I do not know whether they are useful to me. So I am wondering whether I can remove them without affecting my work. Can anyone give me some advices?

xfsprogs 2.10.1-1
mlocate 0.21-1
mdadm 2.6.7-1
mailx 8.1.1-5
lvm2 2.02.43-1
lzo2 2.02-3
licenses 2.4-1
jfsutils 1.1.13-1
gettext 0.17-2
dmapi 2.2.8-3
dash 0.5.4-4
cpio 2.9-3
cryptsetup 1.0.6-2

Allan

Pacman

From: Brisbane, AU

Registered: 2007-06-09

Posts: 11,385

Website

Re: Can I remove these packages after installation?

You can probably safely remove xfsprogs, jfsutils, lvm2, cryptsetup, licenses, mailx, mdadm
Not sure sure about lzo2, cpio, dmapi
I'd keep mlocate, gettext and dash, although you could remove them if you really wanted...

If you are not sure what they do, it is always safer the keep them.  Look on their homepages for more info on each package and try it out.  Worst thing that can happen is that you need to reboot using a live CD and reinstall them.

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Daenyth

Forum Fellow

From: Boston, MA

Registered: 2008-02-24

Posts: 1,244

Re: Can I remove these packages after installation?

The reason they were probably marked as explicit installs is because they're in the base group, which a default install provides all of.

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R00KIE

Forum Fellow

From: Between a computer and a chair

Registered: 2008-09-14

Posts: 4,734

Re: Can I remove these packages after installation?

cpio might me needed to update the kernel, at least the name sounds familiar. I would definitely remove mlocate or at least disable the cron job, so far the only use I have for it is to slowdown my system (a lot).

xfsprogs: not needed if you don't use xfs file systems
mlocate: I dont like, chmod -x on the cron job, didn't remove it though
mdadm: no idea of what it does
mailx: no idea of what it does
lvm2: not needed if you don't use lvm volumes
lzo2: I think is a compression/decompression utility, I would keep it
licenses: no idea of what it does
jfsutils: not needed if you don't use jfs file systems
gettext: no idea of what it does
dmapi: no idea of what it does
dash: no idea of what it does
cpio: I believe it is needed to update the kernel
cryptsetup: no idea of what it does

When in doubt, don't remove things because they might be needed later :d

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R00KIE
Tm90aGluZyB0byBzZWUgaGVyZSwgbW92ZSBhbG9uZy4K

Daenyth

Forum Fellow

From: Boston, MA

Registered: 2008-02-24

Posts: 1,244

Re: Can I remove these packages after installation?

You can use pacman -Qil to see a bunch of info about a package.

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zpxing

Member

Registered: 2008-08-15

Posts: 21

Re: Can I remove these packages after installation?

I think mailx is a command line version of mail system that enable us to use mail -s "suject xxx" xxx@xxx.com. But I never use it.

fukawi2

Ex-Administratorino

From: .vic.au

Registered: 2007-09-28

Posts: 6,223

Website

Re: Can I remove these packages after installation?

Picking up from where R00KIE left off...

mdadm: Administration tools for software RAID
dash: Alternative to the Bash shell
cryptsetup: Partition level encryption tools

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