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FYI, I think "apt-get autoremove" will do what you want -- list packages which were installed automatically as a dependency and are no longer necessary. (I'm n

FYI, I think "apt-get autoremove" will do what you want -- list packages which were installed automatically as a dependency and are no longer necessary. (I'm not sure how or if you can do the same thing with the package management GUI.)

bad_user 16y ago
BTW ... both "autoremove" and "dist-upgrade" made my system unusable a couple of times. There's no software repository as properly maintained as Debian's ... but normal users can totally trash their systems and that is not OK.
- mquander 16y ago
  I always assumed that it tended to work out for "normal" users -- that sucks if it doesn't. I tend to be the sort of person who "[thinks that] development versions, experimental and unstable are for old ladies" (HT to xorg-edgers.) I'm pretty sure that condemns me to a life of resolving weird incompatibilities. I definitely don't personally trust autoremove as far as I can chuck it. (edit: my experience is on Ubuntu, not Debian.)
  - _delirium 16y ago
    I've never had a problem with aptitude's autoremoval on Debian, at least. It might be somewhat more conservative than apt-get's autoremove, though I'm not sure exactly how apt-get's version works. Aptitude sort of opts-in packages to autoremoval: when aptitude itself automatically installs a package to satisfy a dependency, it remembers that fact, and only considers those packages for auto-uninstallation. So the only possible way a package will get auto-removed is if it was a package that aptitude auto-installed to begin with, and none of the reasons for the auto-installation hold anymore. Any package that got on the system some other way, such as being part of the base install from an ISO, doesn't get considered, even if nothing depends on it.
- sliverstorm 16y ago
  > normal users can totally trash their systems and that is not OK. That is one of it's greatest shortcomings. Then again, on the other hand, that is one of it's greatest strengths.
  - cynicalkane 16y ago
    It's not a strength. Poorly-defined, fundamentally broken behavior is not a strength.
    - sliverstorm 16y ago
      Sorry, I was referring more to Linux as a whole, and I guess you are talking more specifically about the package manager?

bad_user 16y ago

BTW ... both "autoremove" and "dist-upgrade" made my system unusable a couple of times. There's no software repository as properly maintained as Debian's ... but normal users can totally trash their systems and that is not OK.

mquander 16y ago
I always assumed that it tended to work out for "normal" users -- that sucks if it doesn't. I tend to be the sort of person who "[thinks that] development versions, experimental and unstable are for old ladies" (HT to xorg-edgers.) I'm pretty sure that condemns me to a life of resolving weird incompatibilities. I definitely don't personally trust autoremove as far as I can chuck it. (edit: my experience is on Ubuntu, not Debian.)
- _delirium 16y ago
  I've never had a problem with aptitude's autoremoval on Debian, at least. It might be somewhat more conservative than apt-get's autoremove, though I'm not sure exactly how apt-get's version works. Aptitude sort of opts-in packages to autoremoval: when aptitude itself automatically installs a package to satisfy a dependency, it remembers that fact, and only considers those packages for auto-uninstallation. So the only possible way a package will get auto-removed is if it was a package that aptitude auto-installed to begin with, and none of the reasons for the auto-installation hold anymore. Any package that got on the system some other way, such as being part of the base install from an ISO, doesn't get considered, even if nothing depends on it.
sliverstorm 16y ago
> normal users can totally trash their systems and that is not OK. That is one of it's greatest shortcomings. Then again, on the other hand, that is one of it's greatest strengths.
- cynicalkane 16y ago
  It's not a strength. Poorly-defined, fundamentally broken behavior is not a strength.
  - sliverstorm 16y ago
    Sorry, I was referring more to Linux as a whole, and I guess you are talking more specifically about the package manager?