Removing packages

Bubbagen comes with a number of packages pre-installed, matching the functionality and services that were available in the original Bubba OS. Of course you choose which of the associated services you actually want to enable but because running updates is rather time consuming on the B3 you may also not want to have the B3 spend up to hours on packages you never use. For instance, if you do not own any Apple devices you will likely not have any need for services like netatalk (Apple print services), forked-daapd (Apple iTunes server) and avahi (Apple DNS). And if your B3 does not have a wifi adapter there's really no need for wireless tools.

The safe method for deleting packages in Gentoo is by issuing the following command:

emerge -av --depclean <package name> [<package name>] ...

The response from that command will either prompt you to go ahead with the removal or inform you that some other package has a dependency on the package you want to remove. In the latter case you have the option to remove that package as well or see if you can remove the dependency (see the USE flags page for additional info).

There is also a special group of packages that are installed as part of a so-called set because they are controllable by the GUI. These packages are:

mail-client/bubba-roundcube
mail-mta/postfix
media-gfx/singapore
media-sound/forked-daapd
media-sound/logitechmediaserver
net-dns/dnsmasq
net-fs/davfs2
net-fs/netatalk
net-fs/samba
net-ftp/proftpd
net-mail/fetchmail
net-misc/forked-easyfind-client
net-mail/dovecot
net-misc/minidlna
net-misc/ntp
net-p2p/filetransferdaemon
sys-power/bubba-buttond
virtual/bubba

To be able to remove any of these packages you will need to deselect the set which can be done with the following command:

emerge --deselect @bubba3

Do note that after doing so, a global depclean will remove all these packages except for postfix (which has a dependency on dovecot TLS), ntp, and bubba-buttond which are named explicitly in the normal world file. The special package virtual/bubba which is responsible for the core packages of the GUI will also remain. Any other package that you would like to keep must thus be added to world manually. This can either be done by reinstalling the package (safe method) or editing the world file located in /var/lib/portage (unsafe method).