apt autoremove uninstalls gnome UI customisation packages

[Cs137]

I run an apt autoremove on the freshly arrived PineNote (Community Edition) with the stock image after an apt upgrade and apt update and encountered that required packages were removed. The corresponding entry from the /var/log/apt/history.log file is as follows:

Remove: gir1.2-gtop-2.0:arm64 (2.41.3-1+b2), gnome-shell-extension-light-style:arm64 (47.1-1), gnome-shell-extension-launch-new-instance:arm64 (47.1-1), gir1.2-gmenu-3.0:arm64 (3.36.0-1.1+b3), gnome-shell-extension-workspace-indicator:arm64 (47.1-1), eog:arm64 (47.0-1), gnome-shell-extension-native-window-placement:arm64 (47.1-1), gstreamer1.0-clutter-3.0:arm64 (3.0.27-4+b1), gnome-shell-extension-auto-move-windows:arm64 (47.1-1), gnome-shell-extension-window-list:arm64 (47.1-1), gnome-shell-extension-apps-menu:arm64 (47.1-1), libcheese-gtk25:arm64 (44.1-2), gnome-shell-extensions:arm64 (47.1-1), libgnome-menu-3-0:arm64 (3.36.0-1.1+b3), gnome-shell-extension-places-menu:arm64 (47.1-1), gnome-shell-extension-screenshot-window-sizer:arm64 (47.1-1), gnome-shell-extension-windows-navigator:arm64 (47.1-1), cheese:arm64 (44.1-2), gnome-video-effects:arm64 (0.6.0-1), gnome-shell-extension-drive-menu:arm64 (47.1-1), gnome-shell-extension-system-monitor:arm64 (47.1-1), libcheese8:arm64 (44.1-2), gnome-shell-extensions-common:arm64 (47.1-1), gnome-shell-extension-user-theme:arm64 (47.1-1), cheese-common:arm64 (44.1-2), libclutter-gst-3.0-0:arm64 (3.0.27-4+b1)

I reinstalled the packages on my device, thus they are marked as being manually installed and will remain in the future, but other users might experience the same. In my opinion they have to be marked in the stock image as being manually installed to prevent this behaviour. In case you removed it as well, just add them as follows:

$ sudo apt install gir1.2-gtop-2.0:arm64 gnome-shell-extension-light-style:arm64 gnome-shell-extension-launch-new-instance:arm64 gir1.2-gmenu-3.0:arm64 gnome-shell-extension-workspace-indicator:arm64 eog:arm64 gnome-shell-extension-native-window-placement:arm64 gstreamer1.0-clutter-3.0:arm64 gnome-shell-extension-auto-move-windows:arm64 gnome-shell-extension-window-list:arm64 gnome-shell-extension-apps-menu:arm64 libcheese-gtk25:arm64 gnome-shell-extensions:arm64 libgnome-menu-3-0:arm64 gnome-shell-extension-places-menu:arm64 gnome-shell-extension-screenshot-window-sizer:arm64 gnome-shell-extension-windows-navigator:arm64 cheese:arm64 gnome-video-effects:arm64 gnome-shell-extension-drive-menu:arm64 gnome-shell-extension-system-monitor:arm64 libcheese8:arm64 gnome-shell-extensions-common:arm64 gnome-shell-extension-user-theme:arm64 cheese-common:arm64 libclutter-gst-3.0-0:arm64

And last but not least, many many thanks for all the efforts you spent into this nice build and the good experience it provides ❤️

[ewenmcneill]

FTR, this is what is displayed when running apt-get dist-upgrade, which encourages users to consider apt autoremove:

user@pinenote:~$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  cheese cheese-common eog gir1.2-gmenu-3.0 gir1.2-gtop-2.0
  gnome-shell-extension-apps-menu gnome-shell-extension-auto-move-windows
  gnome-shell-extension-drive-menu gnome-shell-extension-launch-new-instance
  gnome-shell-extension-light-style
  gnome-shell-extension-native-window-placement
  gnome-shell-extension-places-menu
  gnome-shell-extension-screenshot-window-sizer
  gnome-shell-extension-system-monitor gnome-shell-extension-user-theme
  gnome-shell-extension-window-list gnome-shell-extension-windows-navigator
  gnome-shell-extension-workspace-indicator gnome-shell-extensions
  gnome-shell-extensions-common gnome-video-effects gstreamer1.0-clutter-3.0
  libcheese-gtk25 libcheese8 libclutter-gst-3.0-0 libgnome-menu-3-0
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
user@pinenote:~$ 

At a guess they were previously brought in by something depending on them, which has since been removed. But as discussed in Discord/etc chat some of the packages eligible for auto-remove are important desktop UI customisations I too am going to apt install ... those packages so theyr'e retained for now (due to being marked manually installed).

Ewen

ETA Packges set to manual (where /tmp/autopackages was just a copy of the text above)

output from apt-get install of the autoremove packages

user@pinenote:~$ sudo apt-get install $(egrep 'cheese|gnome|clutter' /tmp/auto-packages) 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
cheese is already the newest version (44.1-2).
cheese set to manually installed.
cheese-common is already the newest version (44.1-2).
cheese-common set to manually installed.
eog is already the newest version (47.0-1).
eog set to manually installed.
gir1.2-gmenu-3.0 is already the newest version (3.36.0-1.1+b3).
gir1.2-gmenu-3.0 set to manually installed.
gir1.2-gtop-2.0 is already the newest version (2.41.3-1+b2).
gir1.2-gtop-2.0 set to manually installed.
gnome-shell-extension-apps-menu is already the newest version (47.1-1).
gnome-shell-extension-apps-menu set to manually installed.
gnome-shell-extension-auto-move-windows is already the newest version (47.1-1).
gnome-shell-extension-auto-move-windows set to manually installed.
gnome-shell-extension-drive-menu is already the newest version (47.1-1).
gnome-shell-extension-drive-menu set to manually installed.
gnome-shell-extension-launch-new-instance is already the newest version (47.1-1).
gnome-shell-extension-launch-new-instance set to manually installed.
gnome-shell-extension-light-style is already the newest version (47.1-1).
gnome-shell-extension-light-style set to manually installed.
gnome-shell-extension-native-window-placement is already the newest version (47.1-1).
gnome-shell-extension-native-window-placement set to manually installed.
gnome-shell-extension-places-menu is already the newest version (47.1-1).
gnome-shell-extension-places-menu set to manually installed.
gnome-shell-extension-screenshot-window-sizer is already the newest version (47.1-1).
gnome-shell-extension-screenshot-window-sizer set to manually installed.
gnome-shell-extension-system-monitor is already the newest version (47.1-1).
gnome-shell-extension-system-monitor set to manually installed.
gnome-shell-extension-user-theme is already the newest version (47.1-1).
gnome-shell-extension-user-theme set to manually installed.
gnome-shell-extension-window-list is already the newest version (47.1-1).
gnome-shell-extension-window-list set to manually installed.
gnome-shell-extension-windows-navigator is already the newest version (47.1-1).
gnome-shell-extension-windows-navigator set to manually installed.
gnome-shell-extension-workspace-indicator is already the newest version (47.1-1).
gnome-shell-extension-workspace-indicator set to manually installed.
gnome-shell-extensions is already the newest version (47.1-1).
gnome-shell-extensions set to manually installed.
gnome-shell-extensions-common is already the newest version (47.1-1).
gnome-shell-extensions-common set to manually installed.
gnome-video-effects is already the newest version (0.6.0-1).
gnome-video-effects set to manually installed.
gstreamer1.0-clutter-3.0 is already the newest version (3.0.27-4+b1).
gstreamer1.0-clutter-3.0 set to manually installed.
libcheese-gtk25 is already the newest version (44.1-2).
libcheese-gtk25 set to manually installed.
libcheese8 is already the newest version (44.1-2).
libcheese8 set to manually installed.
libclutter-gst-3.0-0 is already the newest version (3.0.27-4+b1).
libclutter-gst-3.0-0 set to manually installed.
libgnome-menu-3-0 is already the newest version (3.36.0-1.1+b3).
libgnome-menu-3-0 set to manually installed.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
user@pinenote:~$

[jtracey]

FWIW, cheese seems unlikely to be useful on a PineNote anyway, and should probably be removed from the default install.