2011-05-11

Simpler removing of meta packages

In a previous post, I explained how to remove kubuntu-desktop meta-package. This required a huge command line with all the packet that were installed through this meta-package. Now, I learned a simpler solution: apt-get does not provide a remove function for meta-packages, bug aptitude does!

This makes installing and removing meta-packages like kubuntu-desktop much simpler:
aptitude install kubuntu-desktop

and:
sudo aptitude remove kubuntu-desktop

I found this information on ubuntuforums.org. It worked for me to uninstall the Xubuntu desktop before upgrading to Ubuntu 11.04, as the upgrade procedure complained about third party packaged before cancelling the upgrade procedure.