uninstall limitations[answerd]

[v12fairlane]

hi, just wondering what the limitations are on uninstalling stuff from the os before she breaks apart on the rocks? if i remove %50 of it, will it mean a total reinstall? will i get away with %75 uninstalled?

thanks fer read'in

[roarde]

I don't have your answer, but right now most of the VL world is asleep.

So I should mention that if you're going to try experimenting here, do your removals package-wise using either GSlapt or the command-line version, slapt-get. Better dependency handling, and a little less likely to do foolish things than, say, removepkg. Of course, if you try this totally manually with "rm" or so, you can get way lost, way fast.

Better to wait for better advice.

[hata_ph]

What stuffs do you refering to?
Like all linux distro you can remove all the X related stuff and you still have a functional console login...if that is what you mean...

[nightflier]

Removing packages with gslapt/slapt-get can have very interesting results. Say you want to get rid of some low level package that X-windows depends on. Removing it will also take out X, which in turn would uninstall all your applications that use the graphical desktop. In other words, you're down to command line only. Not a bad idea for a headless server.

If you are sure you don't need package "whatever.txz", use the removepkg command to uninstall it, as it will not touch other packages.

A better approach may be approaching it from the other end: start with something like VL 7.0 Light "Barebone" and add what you want to it.

[v12fairlane]

im not really sure how far to go, i was mainly thinking of removing the packages that are listed in the menu.

the bare-bones one is 32bit right?
i suppose it doesnt really matter what bit-tage the os is really,

but doesn't it utilize a 64bit pc better to run a 64bit os?

that is the main reason for having the 64bit vector installed anyway.

is the VL 7.0 light icewm?

realistically it might be better in regards to having only the packages most used / needed.

your thoughts?

[hata_ph]

if you are a DIY kind of guys/gals, I would suggest go for the Light version as it give you a very minimum version of VL. You can add/remove any component as you want via gslapt/slapt-get

PS: If your system is 64bit capable and over 4GB of RAM, I would suggest go for the 64bit version.

[v12fairlane]

does the light version come in 64bit?

[nightflier]

Light only comes in 32 bit. It gives you the choice between JWM, IceWM, Openbox and LXDE.

Plain 32 bit maxes out at a little over 3G of RAM.

You can do a custom install of 64-bit Standard and exclude the XFCE bundle. That will leave you with a light but functional Fluxbox desktop.

[v12fairlane]

ok cool. what if i only installed the icewm? is that possible? that would make it light too right? then all i would need to do is modify the menu.

[nightflier]

Yes, icewm is easily installed from the repositories. You can also use gslapt and install the meta package "icewmvmods". That will give you icewm plus most of the modifications of Light, including the menu generator.

[v12fairlane]

ok, cool. so once i have done that , can i then uninstall all the other ones? like remove xfce and fluxbox and all the others? and if i do that, i will still have the programs that i dont use to remove then, right?

[bigpaws]

Yes, you can do that.

Even if you bork the system it is not hard to reinstall and
try again.

Bigpaws

[nightflier]

Bigpaws beat me to it while I typed a rather wordy post, but I'll add my $0.02 to his answer:

Short answer: yes, you can.

Longer answer: Linux does not impose artificial limits on what you can do to your computer. When you are working as root, it will let you do whatever is technically possible, even if it means breaking the system. If you command it to delete everything on the hard drive, it will. You can also craft your own personal system with exactly the programs that you want.

There are thousands of packages that work together to make an operating system. The dependencies are many and complicated. Getting it all to work takes a lot of trial and error. The resulting release represents much time and effort by the developers. When you start removing and modifying pieces, you venture into the developer/hacker territory. You are invited and encouraged to do so. Have some fun, learn a lot. But, count on breaking your system beyond repair, many times. You will get good at re-installing and re-building. So make sure you start with a machine dedicated to experimenting. Or at least a separate hard drive for that purpose. I believe I speak for most of the oldtimers in this forum when I say "been there, done that". 

We have talked about making a minimal install and selectively add to it, as well as starting with a heavy install and subtract from it. Unless you are limited by hard drive capacity, there is a third option: Make a full install and re-configure it. Files on the hard drive do not make a system heavy, it's what's loaded into memory that counts. You can have a machine with all the goodies available, but run a lightweight window manager. That way you get the best of both worlds. Try starting with a full install of VL Standard. Install the icewmvmods package. Then select IceWM from the login screen. Use the system configurator to disable most services. Now you can choose which environment you want. Keep XFCE for when you want a modern, automated environment, switch to IceWM when you want more speed.

[v12fairlane]

ok, cool too easy.

so is there then a core set of processes that cant or shouldn't be touched?
but all the others can be deleted? or disabled?

what is the system configurator?(have you been having flashbacks (or nightmares)of marvin the martian?)

most services? which are they? anything specific?

the only problem with repeatedly borking the system is that it gets tiring reinstalling the damn thing all the time.

[nightflier]

On the menu, under system, look for "VASM", or type vasm (or vasm-legacy) at the command line. Continue to super > service and look around. You can safely disable all the services. I keep cups and cron running, for printing and scheduled tasks.