How to completely remove KDE from Mint 17?

Question

The original system that has been installed is Linux Mint KDE 17.1 Rebecca, later upgraded to Linux Mint KDE 17.2 Rafaela.

Onto which I have installed Cinnamon desktop environment yesterday.

I am satisfied with Cinnamon on another computer and prefer it, so I decided to remove KDE from the first computer. How shall I proceed?

EDIT1:

Supposing I have already installed Cinnamon.

EDIT2:

I installed Cinnamon as follows:

sudo apt-get install --install-recommends cinnamon

Solution 1

I have just simulated the clean installation of Linux Mint KDE 17.2 in a VM and installed Cinnamon using this command:

sudo apt-get install --install-recommends cinnamon

Saying Yes to every question.

For some reason, the first try failed, but the second succeeded.

But to the point. This solution has been verified to purge KDE Desktop Environment from Linux Mint 17.2 KDE edition.

Disclaimer:

If you did not perform a clean installation, please note, that this guide may differ. I get the point that 99% of people will read this on existing installations, therefore no guarantees can be provided. It may differ slightly or very, depending on the modifications you have made. It can even break your system. If you are not prepared to take the risk or skilled enough to deal with such situations, please don't follow this guide.

Preparation:

1. Be sure to do the correct package pre-installation steps.
2. Do an upgrade with: sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

1st step:

Open a text editor you are skilled in.

2nd step:

Copy and paste the following line to your editor, it is a list of packages we would like to remove:

package_names='akonadi-backend-mysql akonadi-server akregator amarok amarok-common amarok-utils apturl-kde ark bluedevil cdparanoia cdrdao cryptsetup docbook-xml docbook-xsl dolphin dragonplayer freespacenotifier gnupg-agent gnupg2 gpgsm gstreamer0.10-qapt gtk2-engines-oxygen gtk3-engines-oxygen gwenview ibus-qt4 icoutils k3b k3b-data kaccessible kaddressbook kamera kate kate-data katepart kcalc kde-baseapps-bin kde-baseapps-data kde-runtime kde-runtime-data kde-style-oxygen kde-wallpapers-default kde-window-manager kde-window-manager-common kde-workspace kde-workspace-bin kde-workspace-data kde-workspace-kgreet-plugins kde-zeroconf kdegraphics-strigi-analyzer kdelibs-bin kdelibs5-data kdelibs5-plugins kdemultimedia-kio-plugins kdenetwork-filesharing kdepasswd kdepim-kresources kdepim-runtime kdepimlibs-kio-plugins kdesudo kdoctools khelpcenter4 kinfocenter klipper kmag kmail kmenuedit kmix kmousetool knotes konsole kontact korganizer kppp ksnapshot ksysguard ksysguardd ksystemlog ktorrent ktorrent-data kubuntu-debug-installer kubuntu-web-shortcuts kwalletmanager libakonadi-calendar4 libakonadi-contact4 libakonadi-kabc4 libakonadi-kcal4 libakonadi-kde4 libakonadi-kmime4 libakonadi-notes4 libakonadiprotocolinternals1 libassuan0 libbluedevil1 libcalendarsupport4 libcln6 libdebconf-kde0 libdlrestrictions1 libdmtx0a libencode-locale-perl libepub0 libeventviews4 libfile-listing-perl libflac++6 libfont-afm-perl libgif4 libgpgme++2 libgps20 libgrantlee-core0 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 libibus-qt1 libincidenceeditorsng4 libindicate-qt1 libio-socket-ssl-perl libk3b6 libkabc4 libkactivities-bin libkactivities6 libkalarmcal2 libkateinterfaces4 libkatepartinterfaces4 libkblog4 libkcal4 libkcalcore4 libkcalutils4 libkcddb4 libkcmutils4 libkde3support4 libkdeclarative5 libkdecore5 libkdepim4 libkdepimdbusinterfaces4 libkdesu5 libkdeui5 libkdewebkit5 libkdnssd4 libkemoticons4 libkephal4abi1 libkexiv2-data libkfile4 libkholidays4 libkhtml5 libkidletime4 libkimap4 libkio5 libkipi-data libkjsapi4 libkjsembed4 libkldap4 libkleo4 libkmanagesieve4 libkmbox4 libkmediaplayer4 libkmime4 libknewstuff2-4 libknewstuff3-4 libknotifyconfig4 libkntlm4 libkonq-common libkonq5-templates libkonq5abi1 libkontactinterface4 libkparts4 libkpgp4 libkpimidentities4 libkpimtextedit4 libkpimutils4 libkprintutils4 libkpty4 libkresources4 libkrosscore4 libksba8 libkscreensaver5 libksgrd4 libksieve4 libksieveui4 libksignalplotter4 libktexteditor4 libktnef4 libktorrent-l10n libkunitconversion4 libkxmlrpcclient4 libloudmouth1-0 liblwp-mediatypes-perl liblwp-protocol-https-perl libmailcommon4 libmailtransport4 libmessagecomposer4 libmessagecore4 libmessagelist4 libmessageviewer4 libmicroblog4 libmpcdec6 libmygpo-qt1 libmysqlclient18 libnet-http-perl libnet-ssleay-perl libntrack-qt4-1 libntrack0 libphonon4 libplasma-geolocation-interface4 libplasma3 libplasmagenericshell4 libpolkit-qt-1-1 libprison0 libprocesscore4abi1 libprocessui4a libqalculate5 libqca2 libqca2-plugin-ossl libqgpgme1 libqimageblitz4 libqjson0 libqrencode3 libqt4-designer libqt4-help libqt4-qt3support libqt4-scripttools libqt4-sql-mysql libqt4-test libqtassistantclient4 libqtglib-2.0-0 libqtscript4-core libqtscript4-gui libqtscript4-network libqtscript4-sql libqtscript4-uitools libqtscript4-xml libqtwebkit4 libreoffice-style-oxygen libsolid4 libsoprano4 libstreamanalyzer0 libstreams0 libsyndication4 libtag-extras1 libtemplateparser4 libthreadweaver4 libtimedate-perl liburi-perl libvirtodbc0 libweather-ion6 libwww-perl libwww-robotrules-perl libxml2-utils libxss1 libzip2 mysql-client-core-5.5 mysql-common mysql-server-core-5.5 ntrack-module-libnl-0 odbcinst odbcinst1debian2 okular okular-extra-backends oxygen-cursor-theme oxygen-icon-theme partitionmanager phonon phonon-backend-gstreamer pinentry-qt4 plasma-dataengines-addons plasma-dataengines-workspace plasma-desktop plasma-scriptengine-javascript plasma-scriptengine-python plasma-widget-facebook plasma-widget-folderview plasma-widget-message-indicator plasma-widget-networkmanagement plasma-widgets-addons plasma-widgets-workspace polkit-kde-1 python-kde4 python-pyudev python-qt4 python-qt4-dbus python-sip qapt-batch qapt-deb-installer sgml-data soprano-daemon systemsettings virtuoso-minimal virtuoso-opensource-6.1-bin virtuoso-opensource-6.1-common'

3rd step: Checking APT cache, copy-paste this line:

apt-cache policy $package_names 2>&1 | grep none -B 1

If it says either:

PACKAGE-NAME:
Installed: (none)
Candidate: (none)

, or:

PACKAGE-NAME:
Installed: (none)

Remove all of those PACKAGE-NAMEs from the list and repeat the cache test until there is no result, there should literally be nothing as the output.

4th step: Purging those packages with APT, copy-paste the package names you have edited onto PACKAGE-NAMEs' place:

sudo apt-get purge PACKAGE-NAMEs

If it says something like this:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
default-jre : Depends: openjdk-7-jre (>= 7~u3-2.1.1) but it is not going to be installed
E: Error, pkgProblemResolver::Resolve generated breaks, this may be caused by held packages.

Install these missing packages, with the example of default-jre:

sudo apt-get install --yes default-jre

Then repeat the same purging command.

After it finishes, restart the system:

sudo reboot

You will probably experience this issue:

If you do, keep calm, switch to the first console with CTRL+ALT+F1 and type your standard username and password.

Then execute:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install --install-recommends cinnamon

sudo reboot

It should boot directly into Cinnamon. If not, I have warned you ;-)

After you got it working, remove all remnant packages:

sudo apt-get --purge autoremove

Solution 2

Safe removal criteria difficult to satisfy. If uncomfortable without GUI- one uses KNetwork manager to connect, wholly dependent on WiFi -then this is unadvised. As comment by Erasmus, may wish to additionally install Cinnamon, Mate, etc. if uninterrupted access to GUI is important.

aptitude purge kde-standard

Comments

[Vlastimil Burián]

I have no available meta package like kde-standard to hang on to.