[Tfug] stripping the gui in a linux distro

[Claude Rubinson]

On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 07:41:49AM -0700, skeptikos wrote:
> hey, how easy is it to strip the gui in a typical (I know that's a
> loaded term =) ) linux distro.

> I've recently realized that I'm just too attached to my fvwm set up
> to go with any of the distros offering gnome, kde, fluxbox, xfce, or
> something else, but if I could recreate that part of my
> environments, my stints with linux might last longer.

What exactly are you asking?  On Debian proper, it's trivial to run
without a desktop environment.  The only GNOME-related packages I have
on my system, for example, are a few libraries that support
network-manager.  I have a few more KDE-related packages, because I do
run a handful of KDE apps on a semi-regular basis (e.g., Amarok, k3b).
But, again, I certainly don't have the whole DE installed.  If you're
on Debian, just see what'll happen when you start removing
GNOME/KDE-related packages (i.e., aptitude -s).

Earl's mentioned in the past that GNOME has worked its way pretty
deeply into Ubuntu and that removing the GNOME packages broke his
system.  He was able to fix it but, of course, he's Earl and you're a
mere mortal.

Claude