如何卸载Debian GNOME 环境中预安装的应用软件

How to uninstall the preinstalled GNOME applications

I just installed Debian "Bullseye" with GNOME, but it comes with a lot of unwanted applications which I want to remove. I went ahead and searched for the corresponding package names. I also checked if a given application can be removed in the software center.

Application	Package	Removing Method
2048	gnome-2048	Software Center
Advanced Network Configuration	network-manager-gnome	Terminal
AisleRiot Solitaire	aisleriot	Software Center
Archive Manager	file-roller	Terminal
Calculator	gnome-calculator	Terminal
Calender	gnome-calendar	Software Center
Characters	gnome-characters	Terminal
Cheese	cheese	Software Center
Chess	gnome-chess	Software Center
Clocks	gnome-clocks	Software Center
Color Profile Viewer	gnome-color-manager	Software Center
Contacts	gnome-contacts	Software Center
Disk Usage Analyzer	baobab	Terminal
Disks	gnome-disk-utility	Software Center
Document Scanner	simple-scan	Software Center
Document Viewer	evince	Terminal
Documents	gnome-documents	Software Center
Evolution	evolution	Software Center
Extensions	gnome-shell-extension-prefs	Software
Files	nautilus	Software Center
Firefox ESR	firefox-esr	Terminal
Five or More	five-or-more	Software Center
Fonts	gnome-font-viewer	Terminal
Four-in-a-row	four-in-a-row	Software Center
Help	yelp	Terminal
Hitori	hitori	Software Center
Image Viewer	eog	Terminal
Input Method	im-config	Software Center
Klotski	gnome-klotski	Software Center
LibreOffice	libreoffice-common	Terminal
LibreOffice Calc	libreoffice-calc	Software Center
LibreOffice Draw	libreoffice-draw	Software Center
LibreOffice Impress	libreoffice-impress	Software Center
LibreOffice Writer	libreoffice-writer	Software Center
Lights Off	lightsoff	Software Center
Logs	gnome-logs	Software Center
Mahjongg	gnome-mahjongg	Software Center
Maps	gnome-maps	Software Center
Mines	gnome-mines	Software Center
Music	gnome-music	Software Center
Nibbles	gnome-nibbles	Software Center
Parental Controls	malcontent	Software Center
Passwords and Keys	seahorse	Software Center
Quadrapassel	quadrapassel	Software Center
Reversi	iagno	Software Center
Rhythmbox	rhythmbox	Software Center
Robots	gnome-robots	Software Center
Screenshot	gnome-screenshot	Terminal
Shotwell	shotwell	Software Center
Software & Updates	software-properties-gtk	Software Center
Software	gnome-software	Terminal
Sound Recorder	gnome-sound-recorder	Software Center
Sudoku	gnome-sudoku	Software Center
Swell Foop	swell-foop	Software Center
Synaptic Package Manager	synaptic	Software Center
System Monitor	gnome-system-monitor	Terminal
Tali	tali	Software Center
Taquin	gnome-taquin	Software Center
Terminal	gnome-terminal	Terminal
Tetravex	gnome-tetravex	Software Center
Text Editor	gedit	Terminal
To Do	gnome-todo	Software Center
Transmission	transmission-gtk	Software Center
Tweaks	gnome-tweaks	Software Center
Videos	totem	Terminal
Weather	gnome-weather	Software Center

The following command purges every application that could be removed in the software center:

apt purge aisleriot cheese evolution five-or-more four-in-a-row gnome-2048 gnome-calendar gnome-chess gnome-clocks gnome-color-manager gnome-contacts gnome-disk-utility gnome-documents gnome-klotski gnome-logs gnome-mahjongg gnome-maps gnome-mines gnome-music gnome-nibbles gnome-robots gnome-sound-recorder gnome-shell-extension-prefs gnome-sudoku gnome-taquin gnome-tetravex gnome-todo gnome-tweaks gnome-weather hitori iagno im-config libreoffice-calc libreoffice-draw libreoffice-impress libreoffice-writer lightsoff malcontent nautilus quadrapassel rhythmbox seahorse shotwell simple-scan software-properties-gtk swell-foop synaptic tali transmission-gtk

This additional command purges the applications that can only be removed through the terminal. (I didn't include network-manager-gnome and gnome-terminal since removing these will cause a lot of annoyance.)

apt purge baobab eog evince file-roller firefox-esr gedit gnome-calculator gnome-characters gnome-font-viewer gnome-screenshot gnome-software gnome-system-monitor libreoffice-common totem yelp

Finally, the following command combines the two above:

apt purge aisleriot baobab cheese eog evince evolution file-roller firefox-esr five-or-more four-in-a-row gedit gnome-2048 gnome-calculator gnome-calendar gnome-characters gnome-chess gnome-clocks gnome-color-manager gnome-contacts gnome-disk-utility gnome-documents gnome-font-viewer gnome-klotski gnome-logs gnome-mahjongg gnome-maps gnome-mines gnome-music gnome-nibbles gnome-robots gnome-screenshot gnome-software gnome-sound-recorder gnome-shell-extension-prefs gnome-sudoku gnome-system-monitor gnome-taquin gnome-tetravex gnome-todo gnome-tweaks gnome-weather hitori iagno im-config libreoffice-calc libreoffice-common libreoffice-draw libreoffice-impress libreoffice-writer lightsoff malcontent nautilus quadrapassel rhythmbox seahorse shotwell simple-scan software-properties-gtk swell-foop synaptic tali totem transmission-gtk yelp 

Is there a better way to achieve a minimal install than running the commands above?

The answer is :

The gnome metapackage is not aimed at providing a minimal install, but a full install, with an office suite, photo viewers, games, etc.

@mashuptwice has a good comment that will work for an installation "from-scratch", but it's possible to get into that same state without re-installing your machine.

I had experienced previously that uninstalling evolution will uninstall the packages that depend on it (i.e. gnome). Doing that will mark other dependencies (e.g. gnome-core) for autoremoval unless they are explicitly marked as manually installed.

If you want the Gnome desktop environment without the "extra components", take a look at the Depends:, Recommends: and Suggests: section and choose which parts you want to manually install:

$ apt show gnome
Package: gnome
Section: metapackages
...
Depends: 
 gnome-core, 
 desktop-base, 
 network-manager-gnome,
 libproxy1-plugin-networkmanager,
 cheese,
 file-roller,
 gnome-calendar,
 gnome-clocks,
 gnome-color-manager,
 gnome-documents,
 gnome-maps,
 gnome-music,
 shotwell | gnome-photos,
 gnome-screenshot,
 gnome-todo,
 gnome-weather,
 orca,
 rygel-playbin,
 rygel-tracker,
 simple-scan,
 avahi-daemon,
 evolution,
 gnome-sound-recorder,
 gnome-tweaks,
 libreoffice-gnome,
 libreoffice-writer,
 libreoffice-calc,
 libreoffice-impress,
 libgsf-bin,
 rhythmbox,
 seahorse,
 xdg-user-dirs-gtk,
 cups-pk-helper,
 evolution-plugins,
 gedit-plugins,
 gstreamer1.0-libav,
 gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly,
 rhythmbox-plugins,
 rhythmbox-plugin-cdrecorder,
 totem-plugins
Recommends: 
 nautilus-extension-brasero,
 gnome-remote-desktop,
 gnome-games,
 transmission-gtk
Suggests:
 alacarte,
 empathy,
 goobox | sound-juicer,
 polari,
 vinagre,
 webext-ublock-origin,
 firefox-esr-l10n-all | firefox-l10n-all

Steps:

1. Choose the components you want,
2. Either sudo apt install ... or sudo apt-mark manual ... each of these components. This will mark them as "manually installed".
3. sudo apt purge gnome to remove the gnome metapackage.
4. sudo apt autoremove to remove all of gnome's dependencies which were not manually installed.

---

You'll note that things like gnome-chess are not listed in the dependencies here. They are further down the tree (brought in by gnome-games). You probably don't want to deal with dependencies of dependencies, that's frustrating. Just deal with the metapackage and everything else will be taken care of.