Is there a desktop-free howto out there?

Zebbeman · n00b Joined: 14 Jun 2003 Posts: 69

Hello,
Is there a desktop-free howto out there? I have no desire to start any X-related applications and I would like to know how much I can remove after a clean install with the basic minimal install cd + stage3-amd64 without breaking the system. Some packages seem a bit X-related, like x11-misc/shared-mime-info (since it says x11).

John R. Graham · Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2015 8:07 pm Post subject:

The basic install is desktop free. Just follow the Handbook as-is. To be as minimalistic as possible, select a profile that doesn't contain "desktop" in the name, such as default/linux/amd64/13.0.

- John
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kikko · Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2015 8:22 pm Post subject:

Hi Zebbeman
sincerely I've never heard of such howto, usually one claims the opposite :lol:

Jokes aside, in case of a minimal install you'll have a tiny set of libraries with some "relation" to X or Graphical environment in general... a proper set of USE flags should be enough to avoid having X-related dependencies
For example the x11-misc/shared-mime-info, its category is x11-misc, but it is a requirement for e.g. networkmanager (which you can also use without X, besides it's from GNOME)

Anyway, if you want to cleanup, you can check dependencies of packages using the equery tool

madchaz · Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2015 12:21 am Post subject:

add "-X" in your useflags in make.conf and follow the install manual.

you now have a 100% X11 free installation.
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Zebbeman · n00b Joined: 14 Jun 2003 Posts: 69

Thanks all!

I did a clean install with -X with the profile without desktop amd64/13 so I guess I am X-free. Kikko's term X-related is probably what I did not understand. Since shared-mime-info was pulled in by glib, I followed the link to gtk.org, which sounds very graphic to me. I did the --depclean as well but there was nothing to remove.

Thanks again!