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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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6 Answers 6

Reset to default
36

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, 2012 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, 2012 at 17:05
  • @ Eliah Kagan - i guess at least that of being usable in lubuntu too? the other one is for ubuntu?
    – user47206
    Jan 5, 2013 at 22:59
  • 1
    This works in 13.04, the other one is version dependent.
    – Javier Rivera
    Jul 5, 2013 at 13:06
22

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

Update: on (X)Ubuntu 13.10 the code above might yield an error on packages libabiword-2.8 and ttf-droid, so you might actually have to run this:

sudo apt-get remove abiword abiword-common abiword-plugin-grammar abiword-plugin-mathview alacarte bison blueman brltty-x11 catfish espeak exo-utils flex fonts-droid fonts-lyx gigolo gmusicbrowser gnome-system-tools gnome-time-admin gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs gthumb gthumb-data gtk2-engines-pixbuf indicator-application-gtk2 indicator-sound-gtk2 leafpad libabiword-3.0 libbison-dev libdigest-crc-perl libexo-1-0 libexo-common libexo-helpers libfl-dev libgarcon-1-0 libgarcon-common libgdome2-0 libgdome2-cpp-smart0c2a libglade2-0 libgnomevfs2-0 libgnomevfs2-common libgnomevfs2-extra libgsf-1-114 libgsf-1-common libgstreamer-perl libgtk2-notify-perl libgtk2-trayicon-perl libgtkmathview0c2a libgtkspell0 libido-0.1-0 libindicate-gtk3 libintl-perl libjpeg-progs libjpeg-turbo-progs libkeybinder0 liblink-grammar4 libloudmouth1-0 libnet-dbus-perl liboobs-1-5 libotr2 libots0 librarian0 libsexy2 libtagc0 libthunarx-2-0 libtidy-0.99-0 libtie-ixhash-perl libtumbler-1-0 libunique-1.0-0 libvte-common libvte9 libwv-1.2-4 libxfce4ui-1-0 libxfce4ui-utils libxfce4util-bin libxfce4util-common libxfce4util6 libxfcegui4-4 libxfconf-0-2 libxml-parser-perl libxml-twig-perl libxml-xpath-perl lightdm-gtk-greeter link-grammar-dictionaries-en m4 orage parole pastebinit pavucontrol pidgin pidgin-data pidgin-libnotify pidgin-microblog pidgin-otr plymouth-theme-xubuntu-logo plymouth-theme-xubuntu-text python-configobj rarian-compat ristretto screensaver-default-images scrollkeeper shimmer-themes system-tools-backends tcl8.5 thunar thunar-archive-plugin thunar-data thunar-media-tags-plugin thunar-volman tumbler tumbler-common xbrlapi xchat xchat-common xfburn xfce-keyboard-shortcuts xfce4-appfinder xfce4-cpugraph-plugin xfce4-dict xfce4-indicator-plugin xfce4-mailwatch-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-systemload-plugin xfce4-taskmanager xfce4-terminal xfce4-verve-plugin xfce4-volumed xfce4-weather-plugin xfce4-xkb-plugin xfconf xfdesktop4 xfdesktop4-data xfwm4 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

Which is the same as the first code, but with libabiword-3.0 instead of 2.8 and without ttf-droid.

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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, 2012 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, 2012 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, 2012 at 20:01
  • What about Ubuntu 14.04?
    – Peter Raeves
    Oct 7, 2014 at 9:28
  • why would you uninstall pidgin?
    – vinni_f
    Nov 5, 2014 at 3:51
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Review the list of packages to remove:

$ apt-cache depends xubuntu-desktop | awk '/^\s+Depends: /{print $2;}' | column
alsa-base                       inputattach                     software-properties-gtk         xfce4-notifyd
alsa-utils                      language-selector-gnome         thunar                          xfce4-panel
anacron                         libasound2-plugins              thunar-volman                   xfce4-session
bc                              libpam-systemd                  tumbler                         xfce4-settings
ca-certificates                 libsasl2-modules                ubuntu-drivers-common           xfdesktop4
dmz-cursor-theme                libxp6                          ubuntu-extras-keyring           xfwm4
doc-base                        lightdm                         unzip                           xkb-data
fonts-dejavu-core               lightdm-gtk-greeter             update-manager                  xorg
fonts-freefont-ttf              memtest86+                      wireless-tools                  xterm
foomatic-db-compressed-ppds     openprinting-ppds               wpasupplicant                   xubuntu-artwork
genisoimage                     pm-utils                        xdg-user-dirs                   xubuntu-default-settings
ghostscript-x                   printer-driver-pnm2ppa          xdg-user-dirs-gtk               zenity
gtk2-engines-pixbuf             rfkill                          xfce4-appfinder                 zip

Then either write the above to a file and edit, or just uninstall them all and then reinstall the ones you need for Ubuntu:

apt-cache depends xubuntu-desktop \
    | awk '/^\s+Depends: /{print $2;}' \
    | sudo xargs apt-get purge -y`
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop
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  • Uninstalling lightdm will prevent you from logging back in and require some fancy recovery mode footwork to unbrick your laptop. Not to mention all the other essentials listed above that are also dependencies of Ubuntu/Debian. So subtract the Ubuntu dependencies first!
    – hobs
    Jul 11, 2016 at 2:20
  • Caveat emptor - I would assume you would install the DM of your choice from the command line after this.
    – Dan Garthwaite
    Jul 11, 2016 at 16:02
  • No, you'd have to reinstall all of Ubuntu distro. The op wants Ubuntu, which needs many of the things you uninstalled, like anacron, memtest86, wpasupplicant, etc.
    – hobs
    Jul 11, 2016 at 16:11
  • Then apt-get install ubuntu-desktop
    – Dan Garthwaite
    Jul 12, 2016 at 13:59
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To completely remove xubuntu-desktop, type the following three commands in the terminal.

sudo apt remove xubuntu-desktop
sudo apt autoremove xubuntu-desktop
sudo apt purge xubuntu-desktop

This will get rid of xubuntu-desktop, all xubuntu configuration files, and all xfce apps.

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This one works For Ubuntu 12.04 Copy all this in Terminal

sudo apt-get remove abiword abiword-common abiword-plugin-grammar abiword-plugin-mathview alacarte bison blueman brltty-x11 catfish docbook-xml exo-utils flex fonts-droid gigolo gimp gimp-data gmusicbrowser gnome-desktop-data gnome-system-tools gnome-time-admin gnumeric gnumeric-common gnumeric-doc gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs gthumb gthumb-data gtk2-engines-pixbuf indicator-application-gtk2 indicator-messages-gtk2 indicator-sound-gtk2 indicator-status-provider-pidgin leafpad libabiword-2.9 libao-common libao4 libaudio-scrobbler-perl libbabl-0.0-0 libbison-dev libcolamd2.7.1 libconfig-inifiles-perl libdigest-crc-perl libencode-locale-perl libept1.4.12 libexo-1-0 libexo-common libexo-helpers libfile-listing-perl libfl-dev libfont-afm-perl libgarcon-1-0 libgarcon-common libgdome2-0 libgdome2-cpp-smart0c2a libgegl-0.0-0 libgimp2.0 libglade2-0 libgnomevfs2-0 libgnomevfs2-common 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 libgtkspell0 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-inet6-perl libio-socket-ssl-perl libjavascriptcoregtk-1.0-0 libjpeg-progs libjpeg-turbo-progs libkeybinder0 liblaunchpad-integration1 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 librarian0 libsexy2 libsocket6-perl libtagc0 libthunarx-2-0 libtidy-0.99-0 libtie-ixhash-perl libtimedate-perl libtumbler-1-0 libunique-1.0-0 liburi-perl libvte-common libvte9 libwebkitgtk-1.0-0 libwebkitgtk-1.0-common libwv-1.2-4 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 linux-headers-3.2.0-24 linux-headers-3.2.0-24-generic linux-headers-generic lp-solve m4 mpg321 orage parole pastebinit pavucontrol pidgin pidgin-data pidgin-libnotify pidgin-microblog pidgin-otr plymouth-theme-xubuntu-logo plymouth-theme-xubuntu-text python-configobj python-glade2 python-gmenu rarian-compat ristretto screensaver-default-images sgml-data shimmer-themes synaptic system-tools-backends 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-datetime-plugin xfce4-dict xfce4-indicator-plugin xfce4-mailwatch-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-systemload-plugin xfce4-taskmanager xfce4-terminal xfce4-utils xfce4-verve-plugin xfce4-volumed xfce4-weather-plugin xfce4-xkb-plugin xfconf xfdesktop4 xfdesktop4-data xfwm4 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 && sudo /usr/lib/lightdm/lightdm-set-defaults -g unity-greeter
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The commands need to be updated to the following for Ubuntu 14.04 as libotr2 is not a valid package. It needs to be changed to libotr5. Here is the updated code. It'll reinstall ubuntu-desktop.

sudo apt-get remove abiword abiword-common abiword-plugin-grammar abiword-plugin-mathview alacarte bison blueman brltty-x11 catfish espeak exo-utils flex fonts-droid fonts-lyx gigolo gmusicbrowser gnome-system-tools gnome-time-admin gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs gthumb gthumb-data gtk2-engines-pixbuf indicator-application-gtk2 indicator-sound-gtk2 leafpad libabiword-3.0 libbison-dev libdigest-crc-perl libexo-1-0 libexo-common libexo-helpers libfl-dev libgarcon-1-0 libgarcon-common libgdome2-0 libgdome2-cpp-smart0c2a libglade2-0 libgnomevfs2-0 libgnomevfs2-common libgnomevfs2-extra libgsf-1-114 libgsf-1-common libgstreamer-perl libgtk2-notify-perl libgtk2-trayicon-perl libgtkmathview0c2a libgtkspell0 libido-0.1-0 libindicate-gtk3 libintl-perl libjpeg-progs libjpeg-turbo-progs libkeybinder0 liblink-grammar4 libloudmouth1-0 libnet-dbus-perl liboobs-1-5 libotr5 libots0 librarian0 libsexy2 libtagc0 libthunarx-2-0 libtidy-0.99-0 libtie-ixhash-perl libtumbler-1-0 libunique-1.0-0 libvte-common libvte9 libwv-1.2-4 libxfce4ui-1-0 libxfce4ui-utils libxfce4util-bin libxfce4util-common libxfce4util6 libxfcegui4-4 libxfconf-0-2 libxml-parser-perl libxml-twig-perl libxml-xpath-perl lightdm-gtk-greeter link-grammar-dictionaries-en m4 orage parole pastebinit pavucontrol pidgin pidgin-data pidgin-libnotify pidgin-microblog pidgin-otr plymouth-theme-xubuntu-logo plymouth-theme-xubuntu-text python-configobj rarian-compat ristretto screensaver-default-images scrollkeeper shimmer-themes system-tools-backends tcl8.5 thunar thunar-archive-plugin thunar-data thunar-media-tags-plugin thunar-volman tumbler tumbler-common xbrlapi xchat xchat-common xfburn xfce-keyboard-shortcuts xfce4-appfinder xfce4-cpugraph-plugin xfce4-dict xfce4-indicator-plugin xfce4-mailwatch-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-systemload-plugin xfce4-taskmanager xfce4-terminal xfce4-verve-plugin xfce4-volumed xfce4-weather-plugin xfce4-xkb-plugin xfconf xfdesktop4 xfdesktop4-data xfwm4 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
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