I have no need for the help utility, document viewer, contacts app, etc. that Gnome has built into the gnome-shell.
Is is possible to remove just those packages? Every time I try it wants me to remove gnome3 all together.
I feel like this should be possible and that I am missing something.
Uninstalling packages pulled by a meta-package is always hard, if not impossible. However, Since you're desperately willing to remove those, even using manual guessing, I can suggest a good alternative.
The packages installed, upgraded or removed are logged in /var/log/apt/history.log file. It is relatively easier to just copy the package names from relevant section and manually uninstall them.
Here is a sample of a section from the file
Start-Date: 2016-12-12 19:15:40
Commandline: aptdaemon role='role-commit-packages' sender=':1.293'
Install: libva-tpi1:amd64 (1.7.1-2~gd~x), intel-gpu-tools:amd64 (1.15-1intel1), libva-egl1:amd64 (1.7.1-2~gd~x), vainfo:amd64 (1.7.1-2~gd~x), libva-glx1:amd64 (1.7.1-2~gd~x)
Upgrade: libgles2-mesa:amd64 (13.1~git1611130730.151aec~gd~x, 13.1~git1612120730.609216~gd~x), libdrm-nouveau2:amd64 (2.4.73+git1611221830.1924b6~gd~x, 2.4.74+git1612060630.082579~gd~x), libdrm-nouveau2:i386 (2.4.73+git1611221830.1924b6~gd~x, 2.4.74+git1612060630.082579~gd~x), libegl1-mesa-dev:amd64 (13.1~git1611130730.151aec~gd~x, 13.1~git1612120730.609216~gd~x), libgles1-mesa:amd64 (13.1~git1611130730.151aec~gd~x, 13.1~git1612120730.609216~gd~x), libglapi-mesa:amd64 (13.1~git1611130730.151aec~gd~x, 13.1~git1612120730.609216~gd~x), libglapi-mesa:i386 (13.1~git1611130730.151aec~gd~x, 13.1~git1612120730.609216~gd~x), mesa-common-dev:amd64 (13.1~git1611130730.151aec~gd~x, 13.1~git1612120730.609216~gd~x), libxatracker2:amd64 (13.1~git1611130730.151aec~gd~x, 13.1~git1612120730.609216~gd~x), libegl1-mesa-drivers:amd64 (13.1~git1611130730.151aec~gd~x, 13.1~git1612120730.609216~gd~x), libegl1-mesa:amd64 (13.1~git1611130730.151aec~gd~x, 13.1~git1612120730.609216~gd~x), libgbm1:amd64 (13.1~git1611130730.151aec~gd~x, 13.1~git1612120730.609216~gd~x), libdrm-amdgpu1:amd64 (2.4.73+git1611221830.1924b6~gd~x, 2.4.74+git1612060630.082579~gd~x), libdrm-amdgpu1:i386 (2.4.73+git1611221830.1924b6~gd~x, 2.4.74+git1612060630.082579~gd~x), libwayland-egl1-mesa:amd64 (13.1~git1611130730.151aec~gd~x, 13.1~git1612120730.609216~gd~x), libgles2-mesa-dev:amd64 (13.1~git1611130730.151aec~gd~x, 13.1~git1612120730.609216~gd~x), libdrm2:amd64 (2.4.73+git1611221830.1924b6~gd~x, 2.4.74+git1612060630.082579~gd~x), libdrm2:i386 (2.4.73+git1611221830.1924b6~gd~x, 2.4.74+git1612060630.082579~gd~x), libgl1-mesa-dev:amd64 (13.1~git1611130730.151aec~gd~x, 13.1~git1612120730.609216~gd~x), libgl1-mesa-dri:amd64 (13.1~git1611130730.151aec~gd~x, 13.1~git1612120730.609216~gd~x), libgl1-mesa-dri:i386 (13.1~git1611130730.151aec~gd~x, 13.1~git1612120730.609216~gd~x), libosmesa6:amd64 (13.1~git1611130730.151aec~gd~x, 13.1~git1612120730.609216~gd~x), libosmesa6:i386 (13.1~git1611130730.151aec~gd~x, 13.1~git1612120730.609216~gd~x), libgl1-mesa-glx:amd64 (13.1~git1611130730.151aec~gd~x, 13.1~git1612120730.609216~gd~x), libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 (13.1~git1611130730.151aec~gd~x, 13.1~git1612120730.609216~gd~x), libdrm-intel1:amd64 (2.4.73+git1611221830.1924b6~gd~x, 2.4.74+git1612060630.082579~gd~x), libdrm-intel1:i386 (2.4.73+git1611221830.1924b6~gd~x, 2.4.74+git1612060630.082579~gd~x), libdrm-radeon1:amd64 (2.4.73+git1611221830.1924b6~gd~x, 2.4.74+git1612060630.082579~gd~x), libdrm-radeon1:i386 (2.4.73+git1611221830.1924b6~gd~x, 2.4.74+git1612060630.082579~gd~x), libdrm-dev:amd64 (2.4.73+git1611221830.1924b6~gd~x, 2.4.74+git1612060630.082579~gd~x)
End-Date: 2016-12-12 19:16:59
You can find the required package name from Install: field's value. Maybe even employ some textual parsing to pull the package names from it.
Hope this helps a bit at least.
I've written a Ruby script to help see the packages get installed with a command, so that those can be removed later. But caution should be practiced because your later installed some package might also be dependent on some of them. It still isn't finished and I want to expand it. Anyway, check it here https://github.com/AnwarShah/apt-remove-meta
cd to the directory andruby search-apt-log.rb. It will ask for a search term, give it. Then it will give you a history of all apt event involving that term. You can then see which packages get installed and remove them by copying the names.I saw that the installation size/space to be freed for those packages when calling up apt-get was a few MBs so I bit the bullet and let apt-get do its thing, and everything was OK.
So if anyone else is not so sure about going through with package removal, just make sure the install/uninstall size is right for the package and everything should be just fine. If it shows up as a few hundred MBs, then don't hit Y
Some time ago I wrote an sh script I called apt-holepunch that accomplishes this (http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg900702/apt-holepunch). Warning: this script is extremely dangerous.
Full context here: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=625801
It turns out that, yes there are good reasons for not wanting to install all packages from a metapackage but leaving the metapackage installed so that future ones added get installed. Somehow the dev team doesn't grasp this.
