I'm setting up a new server, and wanted to install "meld", a nice "graphical tool to
diff and merge files".
Surprised by the huge amount of dependencies it was about to install, I had a closer
look. And indeed, the dependencies seem ridiculous: spell-checkers, multimedia
codecs, a modem manager, wifi, etc. Below is the full list, with the short
descriptions, and "??" in front of those which seemed obviously unneeded. I'm sure
there are even more unneeded ones, which I didn't mark because I'm not sure what they
are for.
It looks like the meld package wants to install a full desktop with all the bells and
whistles on my headless server.
So the question is: what is the best way to install meld without all the cruft?
- with dpkg --force-depends -i ?
- by installing from the repository of an older distribution? How?
- compile the source? (but will also have dependencies, harder to track down?)
What would you do?
Here is the list of meld dependencies:
The following NEW packages will be installed:
adwaita-icon-theme - default icon theme of GNOME
?? aspell - GNU Aspell spell-checker
?? aspell-en - English dictionary for GNU Aspell
at-spi2-core - Assistive Technology Service Provider Interface (dbus
core)
colord - system service to manage device colour profiles -- system
daemon
colord-data - system service to manage device colour profiles -- data
files
dconf-gsettings-backend - simple configuration storage system - GSettings
back-end
dconf-service - simple configuration storage system - D-Bus service
?? enchant - Wrapper for various spell checker engines (binary programs)
fonts-dejavu - metapackage to pull in fonts-dejavu-core and
fonts-dejavu-extra
fonts-dejavu-extra - Vera font family derivate with additional characters
(extra variants)
?? geoclue-2.0 - geoinformation service
gir1.2-atk-1.0 - ATK accessibility toolkit (GObject introspection)
gir1.2-freedesktop - Introspection data for some FreeDesktop components
gir1.2-gdkpixbuf-2.0 - GDK Pixbuf library - GObject-Introspection
gir1.2-glib-2.0 - Introspection data for GLib, GObject, Gio and GModule
gir1.2-gtk-3.0 - GTK+ graphical user interface library -- gir bindings
gir1.2-gtksource-3.0 - gir files for the GTK+ syntax highlighting widget
gir1.2-pango-1.0 - Layout and rendering of internationalized text - gir
bindings
glib-networking - network-related giomodules for GLib
glib-networking-common - network-related giomodules for GLib - data
files
glib-networking-services - network-related giomodules for GLib - D-Bus
services
gnome-user-guide - GNOME user's guide
gsettings-desktop-schemas - GSettings desktop-wide schemas
?? gstreamer1.0-plugins-base - GStreamer plugins from the "base" set
?? gstreamer1.0-plugins-good - GStreamer plugins from the "good" set
?? gstreamer1.0-x - GStreamer plugins for X11 and Pango
?? hunspell-en-us - English_american dictionary for hunspell
libaa1 - ASCII art library
?? libasound2 - shared library for ALSA applications
?? libasound2-data - Configuration files and profiles for ALSA drivers
?? libaspell15 - GNU Aspell spell-checker runtime library
libatk-bridge2.0-0 - AT-SPI 2 toolkit bridge - shared library
libatspi2.0-0 - Assistive Technology Service Provider Interface -
shared library
?? libavc1394-0 - control IEEE 1394 audio/video devices
libcaca0 - colour ASCII art library
libcairo-gobject2 - Cairo 2D vector graphics library (GObject library)
?? libcanberra-gtk3-0 - GTK+ 3.0 helper for playing widget event sounds with
libcanberra
?? libcanberra-gtk3-module - translates GTK3 widgets signals to event
sounds
?? libcanberra0 - simple abstract interface for playing event sounds
?? libcdparanoia0 - audio extraction tool for sampling CDs (library)
?? libcolord2 - system service to manage device colour profiles -- runtime
?? libcolorhug2 - library to access the ColorHug colourimeter -- runtime
libcroco3 - Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) parsing and manipulation toolkit
libdconf1 - simple configuration storage system - runtime library
?? libdrm-intel1 - Userspace interface to intel-specific kernel DRM services --
runtime
?? libdrm-nouveau2 - Userspace interface to nouveau-specific kernel DRM
services -- runtime
?? libdrm-radeon1 - Userspace interface to radeon-specific kernel DRM services
-- runtime
?? libdrm2 - Userspace interface to kernel DRM services -- runtime
?? libdv4 - software library for DV format digital video (runtime lib)
libelf1 - library to read and write ELF files
?? libenchant1c2a - Wrapper library for various spell checker engines (runtime
libs)
?? libexif12 - library to parse EXIF files
libfile-copy-recursive-perl - Perl extension for recursively copying files
and directories
?? libflac8 - Free Lossless Audio Codec - runtime C library
libgirepository-1.0-1 - Library for handling GObject introspection data
(runtime library)
libgl1-mesa-dri - free implementation of the OpenGL API -- DRI modules
libgl1-mesa-glx - free implementation of the OpenGL API -- GLX runtime
libglapi-mesa - free implementation of the GL API -- shared library
libglu1-mesa - Mesa OpenGL utility library (GLU)
?? libgphoto2-6 - gphoto2 digital camera library
?? libgphoto2-l10n - gphoto2 digital camera library - localized messages
?? libgphoto2-port10 - gphoto2 digital camera port library
?? libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-0 - GStreamer libraries from the "base" set
?? libgstreamer1.0-0 - Core GStreamer libraries and elements
libgtk-3-0 - GTK+ graphical user interface library
libgtk-3-bin - programs for the GTK+ graphical user interface library
libgtk-3-common - common files for the GTK+ graphical user interface
library
libgtksourceview-3.0-1 - shared libraries for the GTK+ syntax highlighting
widget
libgtksourceview-3.0-common - common files for the GTK+ syntax highlighting
widget
libgudev-1.0-0 - GObject-based wrapper library for libudev
libgusb2 - GLib wrapper around libusb1
libharfbuzz-icu0 - OpenType text shaping engine ICU backend
?? libhunspell-1.3-0 - spell checker and morphological analyzer (shared
library)
libice6 - X11 Inter-Client Exchange library
libiec61883-0 - an partial implementation of IEC 61883
?? libieee1284-3 - cross-platform library for parallel port access
?? libjack-jackd2-0 - JACK Audio Connection Kit (libraries)
libjavascriptcoregtk-3.0-0 - JavaScript engine library from WebKitGTK+
libjim0.75 - small-footprint implementation of Tcl - shared library
libjson-glib-1.0-0 - GLib JSON manipulation library
libjson-glib-1.0-common - GLib JSON manipulation library (common files)
libllvm3.5 - Modular compiler and toolchain technologies, runtime
library
libltdl7 - System independent dlopen wrapper for GNU libtool
libmbim-glib4 - Support library to use the MBIM protocol
libmbim-proxy - Proxy to communicate with MBIM ports
?? libmm-glib0 - D-Bus service for managing modems - shared libraries
libnl-3-200 - library for dealing with netlink sockets
libnl-genl-3-200 - library for dealing with netlink sockets - generic
netlink
?? libogg0 - Ogg bitstream library
?? libopus0 - Opus codec runtime library
liborc-0.4-0 - Library of Optimized Inner Loops Runtime Compiler
libpam-systemd - system and service manager - PAM module
libpangoxft-1.0-0 - Layout and rendering of internationalized text
libpciaccess0 - Generic PCI access library for X
?? libpcsclite1 - Middleware to access a smart card using PC/SC (library)
libpolkit-agent-1-0 - PolicyKit Authentication Agent API
libpolkit-backend-1-0 - PolicyKit backend API
libpolkit-gobject-1-0 - PolicyKit Authorization API
libproxy1 - automatic proxy configuration management library (shared)
?? libqmi-glib1 - Support library to use the Qualcomm MSM Interface (QMI)
protocol
?? libqmi-proxy - Proxy to communicate with QMI ports
?? libraw1394-11 - library for direct access to IEEE 1394 bus (aka
FireWire)
librest-0.7-0 - REST service access library
?? librsvg2-2 - SAX-based renderer library for SVG files (runtime)
?? librsvg2-common - SAX-based renderer library for SVG files (extra
runtime)
?? libsamplerate0 - Audio sample rate conversion library
?? libsane - API library for scanners
?? libsane-common - API library for scanners -- documentation and support
files
?? libsane-extras - API library for scanners -- extra backends
?? libsane-extras-common - API library for scanners -- documentation and
support files
?? libsecret-1-0 - Secret store
?? libsecret-common - Secret store (common files)
?? libshout3 - MP3/Ogg Vorbis broadcast streaming library
libsm6 - X11 Session Management library
libsoup-gnome2.4-1 - HTTP library implementation in C -- GNOME support
library
libsoup2.4-1 - HTTP library implementation in C -- Shared library
?? libspeex1 - The Speex codec runtime library
?? libtag1-vanilla - audio meta-data library - vanilla flavour
?? libtag1c2a - audio meta-data library
libtdb1 - Trivial Database - shared library
?? libtheora0 - Theora Video Compression Codec
libtxc-dxtn-s2tc0 - Texture compression library for Mesa
?? libv4l-0 - Collection of video4linux support libraries
?? libv4lconvert0 - Video4linux frame format conversion library
?? libvisual-0.4-0 - Audio visualization framework
?? libvisual-0.4-plugins - Audio visualization framework plugins
?? libvorbis0a - decoder library for Vorbis General Audio Compression Codec
?? libvorbisenc2 - encoder library for Vorbis General Audio Compression
Codec
?? libvorbisfile3 - high-level API for Vorbis General Audio Compression
Codec
?? libwavpack1 - audio codec (lossy and lossless) - library
libwayland-client0 - wayland compositor infrastructure - client library
libwayland-cursor0 - wayland compositor infrastructure - cursor library
libwebkitgtk-3.0-0 - Web content engine library for GTK+
libwebkitgtk-3.0-common - Web content engine library for GTK+ - data
files
libx11-xcb1 - Xlib/XCB interface library
libxcb-dri2-0 - X C Binding, dri2 extension
libxcb-dri3-0 - X C Binding, dri3 extension
libxcb-glx0 - X C Binding, glx extension
libxcb-present0 - X C Binding, present extension
libxcb-sync1 - X C Binding, sync extension
libxft2 - FreeType-based font drawing library for X
libxkbcommon0 - library interface to the XKB compiler - shared library
libxshmfence1 - X shared memory fences - shared library
libxslt1.1 - XSLT 1.0 processing library - runtime library
libxt6 - X11 toolkit intrinsics library
libxtst6 - X11 Testing -- Record extension library
libxv1 - X11 Video extension library
libxxf86vm1 - X11 XFree86 video mode extension library
libyelp0 - Library for the GNOME help browser
meld - graphical tool to diff and merge files
?? modemmanager - D-Bus service for managing modems
?? policykit-1 - framework for managing administrative policies and
privileges
python-cairo - Python bindings for the Cairo vector graphics library
python-gi - Python 2.x bindings for gobject-introspection libraries
python-gi-cairo - Python Cairo bindings for the GObject library
?? sane-utils - API library for scanners -- utilities
update-inetd - inetd configuration file updater
?? usb-modeswitch - mode switching tool for controlling "flip flop" USB
devices
?? usb-modeswitch-data - mode switching data for usb-modeswitch
?? wpasupplicant - client support for WPA and WPA2 (IEEE 802.11i)
x11-common - X Window System (X.Org) infrastructure
yelp - Help browser for GNOME
yelp-xsl - XSL stylesheets for the yelp help browser
