Removing MATE desktop

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kt53
Posts: 48
Joined: 2016/05/12 05:12:02

Removing MATE desktop

Post by kt53 » 2018/11/15 02:00:40

Greetings:

I have "CentOS Linux release 7.5.1804 (Core) 3.10.0-862.14.4.el7.x86_64" and have also installed the "Mate Desktop".
I have looked at the following two methods to remove the "Mate Desktop".

Method A:

Per Trevor (viewtopic.php?t=51105)

# yum remove mate\*
.
Remove 30 Packages (+40 Dependent packages)
Installed size: 358 M
Is this ok [y/N]:


I have not attempted this yet.

Method B:

# yum group mark remove MATE
.
# yum group remove MATE
.
Remove 45 Packages (+41 Dependent packages)
Installed size: 368 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading packages:
Running transaction check
ERROR with transaction check vs depsolve:
mate-control-center is needed by (installed) mate-session-manager-1.16.1-3.el7.x86_64
You could try running: rpm -Va --nofiles --nodigest
Your transaction was saved, rerun it with:
yum load-transaction /tmp/yum_save_tx.2018-11-14.18-55.DbtIi1.yumtx
#


However, mate-control-center is already installed, and running rpm -Va --nofiles --nodigest does not make any diference.
# rpm -q mate-control-center
mate-control-center-1.16.1-1.el7.x86_64
#

I have tried method B in both gnome classic desktop and mate desktop with the same results.

Any thoughts on why method B runs into difficulty is appreciated.

Thanks,
KT.

desertcat
Posts: 843
Joined: 2014/08/07 02:17:29
Location: Tucson, AZ

Re: Removing MATE desktop

Post by desertcat » 2018/11/15 08:25:37

kt53 wrote:
2018/11/15 02:00:40
Greetings:

I have "CentOS Linux release 7.5.1804 (Core) 3.10.0-862.14.4.el7.x86_64" and have also installed the "Mate Desktop".
I have looked at the following two methods to remove the "Mate Desktop".

Method A:

Per Trevor (viewtopic.php?t=51105)

# yum remove mate\*
.
Remove 30 Packages (+40 Dependent packages)
Installed size: 358 M
Is this ok [y/N]:


I have not attempted this yet.

Method B:

# yum group mark remove MATE
.
# yum group remove MATE
.
Remove 45 Packages (+41 Dependent packages)
Installed size: 368 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading packages:
Running transaction check
ERROR with transaction check vs depsolve:
mate-control-center is needed by (installed) mate-session-manager-1.16.1-3.el7.x86_64
You could try running: rpm -Va --nofiles --nodigest
Your transaction was saved, rerun it with:
yum load-transaction /tmp/yum_save_tx.2018-11-14.18-55.DbtIi1.yumtx
#


However, mate-control-center is already installed, and running rpm -Va --nofiles --nodigest does not make any diference.
# rpm -q mate-control-center
mate-control-center-1.16.1-1.el7.x86_64
#

I have tried method B in both gnome classic desktop and mate desktop with the same results.

Any thoughts on why method B runs into difficulty is appreciated.

Thanks,
KT.
I agree with TrevorH. Method A is the way I would do it; that said be VERY CAREFUL what it wants to delete. I forget what I was removing -- some trivial thing and it said it wanted to remove 20 odd packages and some 200+ dependent packages, and -- of course -- I said Y... It nuked my machine. Lesson learned. I will reiterate what TrevorH said: "...but be careful and read the list of packages that it intends to remove before you blindly reply Y to the confirmation prompt!"

joka had a better idea: "Before removing a yum group, I would recommend to add following line to /etc/yum.conf:

Code: Select all

groupremove_leaf_only=1

to avoid that packages are going to be removed required by or being member of other groups."

Only AFTER that can you /should you run:

Code: Select all

yum group mark remove "MATE Desktop"

So did you do the first part BEFORE you ran your command?

*Maybe* the best thing to do would be to modify /etc/yum.conf with groupremove_leaf_only=1, then run yum remove mate\*

As an aside, is there any particular reason you want to remove the MATE desktop? I have several DE many of which I don't run, including MATE, but there are some things which can be used in KDE that comes from MATE. I like the MATE Calculator the best for instance. In this era of multi-TB HDD and 1-2 TB SSD's unless the space is so important I'd just leave it in place rather than remove it. Indeed when I have a problem one of the ways I trouble shoot it is to try and open different DE: GNOME, MATE, and Xfce are the ones I usually try. In short I abide by the rule, "If it ain't broke don't fix it".

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TrevorH
Site Admin
Posts: 33202
Joined: 2009/09/24 10:40:56
Location: Brighton, UK

Re: Removing MATE desktop

Post by TrevorH » 2018/11/15 10:01:48

Also, if this is something you recently installed, perhaps in order to test it, then you may be better off using yum history undo $number to undo the transaction. Running yum history list will show you the list and you get $number from that.
The future appears to be RHEL or Debian. I think I'm going Debian.
Info for USB installs on http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/InstallFromUSBkey
CentOS 5 and 6 are deadest, do not use them.
Use the FAQ Luke

kt53
Posts: 48
Joined: 2016/05/12 05:12:02

Re: Removing MATE desktop -- SOLVED

Post by kt53 » 2018/11/15 17:34:26

Thank you for your replies.
The reason for removing mate desktop is twofold:
  • An exercise in reversibility and a system clean up in anticipation of 7.6.
  • Also, I have an 11-year old laptop that was dual-booted with XP and OpenSUSE 32-bit long time ago and was being used as a door stop. Recently, I replaced OpenSUSE with Fedora 28 MATE-Compiz, and now EVERYTHING works and plays (even Skype). So, no need to keep a version that was being handicapped by an older kernel.
Keeping logs of system changes always helps remembering dates and events:

# yum history list all
.
127 | user <user> | 2018-03-23 21:08 | Install | 121
.


OR

# yum history info mate-desktop
Loaded plugins: changelog, fastestmirror, langpacks
Transaction ID : 127


and as suggested: # yum history undo 127

All is well.
Thanks,
KT.

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