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A few days ago I installed Xubuntu on top of a normal Ubuntu system:

sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop

I didn't play around for long on Xubuntu before I realised that I liked Ubuntu 2D better. Now my problem is how do I uninstall Xubuntu and all of it's dependencies and the recommended packages like Thunar and Abiword.

For now I just run:

sudo apt-get remove xubuntu-*

but I still have a lot left from Xubuntu. It would be nice if by doing

apt-get remove xubuntu-desktop

all of the packages installed with the metapackages were also removed, but that is not the case.

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3 Answers

up vote 10 down vote accepted

You can try this - 

sudo apt-get remove abiword abiword-common abiword-plugin-grammar abiword-plugin-mathview bison blueman brltty-x11 catfish elementary-icon-theme exo-utils flex gigolo gimp gimp-data gmusicbrowser gnome-icon-theme-full gnome-system-tools gnome-time-admin gnumeric gnumeric-common gnumeric-doc gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs gthumb gthumb-data gtk2-engines-pixbuf gtk2-engines-xfce indicator-application-gtk2 indicator-messages-gtk2 indicator-sound-gtk2 indicator-status-provider-pidgin leafpad libabiword-2.8 libaiksaurus-1.2-0c2a libaiksaurus-1.2-data libaiksaurusgtk-1.2-0c2a libao-common libao4 libaudio-scrobbler-perl libbabl-0.0-0 libclutter-1.0-0 libclutter-1.0-common libclutter-gtk-1.0-0 libcogl-common libcogl5 libconfig-inifiles-perl libencode-locale-perl libept1 libexo-1-0 libexo-common libfile-listing-perl libfont-afm-perl libgarcon-1-0 libgarcon-common libgdome2-0 libgdome2-cpp-smart0c2a libgegl-0.0-0 libgimp2.0 libglade2-0 libgnomevfs2-extra libgoffice-0.8-8 libgoffice-0.8-8-common libgsf-1-114 libgsf-1-common libgstreamer-perl libgtk2-notify-perl libgtk2-trayicon-perl libgtkmathview0c2a libhtml-form-perl libhtml-format-perl libhtml-parser-perl libhtml-tagset-perl libhtml-tree-perl libhttp-cookies-perl libhttp-daemon-perl libhttp-date-perl libhttp-message-perl libhttp-negotiate-perl libid3tag0 libido-0.1-0 libilmbase6 libio-socket-ssl-perl libjpeg-progs libkeybinder0 liblink-grammar4 libloudmouth1-0 liblwp-mediatypes-perl liblwp-protocol-https-perl libmad0 libmailtools-perl libnet-dbus-perl libnet-http-perl libnet-ssleay-perl liboobs-1-5 libopenexr6 libotr2 libots0 libpolkit-gtk-1-0 libsexy2 libtagc0 libthunarx-2-0 libtie-ixhash-perl libtimedate-perl libtumbler-1-0 liburi-perl libwv-1.2-3 libwww-perl libwww-robotrules-perl libxfce4ui-1-0 libxfce4util-bin libxfce4util-common libxfce4util4 libxfcegui4-4 libxfconf-0-2 libxml-parser-perl libxml-twig-perl libxml-xpath-perl libxss1 lightdm-gtk-greeter link-grammar-dictionaries-en m4 mpg321 murrine-themes orage parole pastebinit pidgin pidgin-data pidgin-libnotify pidgin-microblog pidgin-otr plymouth-theme-xubuntu-logo plymouth-theme-xubuntu-text python-configobj python-glade2 quadrapassel ristretto screensaver-default-images synaptic system-tools-backends tango-icon-theme tango-icon-theme-common tcl8.5 thunar thunar-archive-plugin thunar-data thunar-media-tags-plugin thunar-volman ttf-droid ttf-lyx tumbler tumbler-common xchat xchat-common xfburn xfce-keyboard-shortcuts xfce4-appfinder xfce4-cpugraph-plugin xfce4-dict xfce4-fsguard-plugin xfce4-indicator-plugin xfce4-mailwatch-plugin xfce4-mixer xfce4-mount-plugin xfce4-netload-plugin xfce4-notes xfce4-notes-plugin xfce4-notifyd xfce4-panel xfce4-places-plugin xfce4-power-manager xfce4-power-manager-data xfce4-quicklauncher-plugin xfce4-screenshooter xfce4-session xfce4-settings xfce4-smartbookmark-plugin xfce4-systemload-plugin xfce4-taskmanager xfce4-terminal xfce4-utils xfce4-verve-plugin xfce4-volumed xfce4-weather-plugin xfconf xfdesktop4 xfdesktop4-data xfwm4 xfwm4-themes xscreensaver xscreensaver-data xscreensaver-gl xubuntu-artwork xubuntu-default-settings xubuntu-desktop xubuntu-docs xubuntu-icon-theme xubuntu-wallpapers && sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

Source: http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/puregnome

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Just asking because I want to remove Xubuntu off of my system as well, did this completely get rid of the xubuntu apps and files? – Jordan Jan 30 '12 at 16:34
@Jordan yes, but if you really want to be shore that everything is gone, use purge instead of remove. – Alvar Jun 2 '12 at 17:11
+1 for showing the Source, as the answer here is possibly out of date. The source's version worked for me whereas the answer here couldn't find some of the packages to remove – matb33 Oct 10 '12 at 20:01
up vote 5 down vote

The following command will remove 95% of Xubuntu and XFCE -- instead of the other commands mentioned that remove only 50% ... 60% ... of the packages.

sudo apt-get autoremove --purge xubuntu-* && sudo apt-get autoremove --purge xfce*

If you're willing to be more radical... You can run the following command. This one remove almost everything about xubuntu/xfce:

sudo apt-get autoremove --purge $( dpkg-query -l *xubuntu* | grep ii | tr -s " " | cut -d" " -f2; dpkg-query -l *xfce* | grep 'ii' | tr -s " " | cut -d" " -f2 )
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What's the advantage of this method over that one? – Eliah Kagan Jun 2 '12 at 16:45
The site uses English as main language and posts should be made in English. Next time do not bother to use multiple languages please. – Bruno Pereira♦ Jun 2 '12 at 17:05
@ Eliah Kagan - i guess at least that of being usable in lubuntu too? the other one is for ubuntu? – cipricus Jan 5 at 22:59
up vote 1 down vote

Purge, instead of remove, will do a more thorough cleaning of packages related to the target. I can't speak to how well it will get rid of everything that was installed to support the xubuntu-desktop package.

sudo apt-get purge xubuntu-desktop

Something you might be able to try.

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2  
Yes, in fact purging is a better way to remove packages since it also removes any config files and other stuff, but that does not really solve the problem. Thanks for the reply though :D – buzu Jan 2 '12 at 8:41
2  
Actually, removing systemwide configuration files is the only difference between purge and remove. (And indeed, just removing or purging the xubuntu-desktop metapackage won't always remove Xubuntu, it's better to use the technique in this answer. Sometimes they are removed though if you run sudo apt-get autoremove or sudo apt-get --purge autoremove afterwards.) – Eliah Kagan Jun 2 '12 at 16:44

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