Hi,
I am wondering if it is possible to disable or remove the desktop environment in Tumbleweed. I am currently using Gnome DE.
What package/service do I need to remove/disable to go headless?
I probably should have picked the server option from the installer, but I wanted to experiment a little bit.
Now, I can’t figure out how to “switch”. Is there an easy way to change configurations, or am I better off reinstalling and picking the server option from the installer?
@dwbufhph6 Hi, nothing, just set the system to run in multi-user rather than graphical… systemctl set-default multi-user.target
Of course you will get updates to the DE, so you could remove patterns if wanting too?
If you want to switch to multi-user without rebooting then systemctl isolate multi-user.target
I wasn’t aware of patterns coming from Debian.
I’d better look it up and learn. It sounds like tasksel from Debian.
Thanks for the helpful tip. I appreciate it!
these are just how are metapackages are called. (and btw, in debian they are not called patterns, but tasks (as in task-ssh-server))
Aha, I see. It just clicked for me. It really isn’t all that complicated than I thought. Thanks for the clear explanation!
A pattern is a collecton of packages, often also (invisible) sub-patterns.
Technically, a pattern is just a meta-package without any content; it only has dependencies like “Requires” (i.e. a hard dependency on another package or pattern) or “Recommends” (a soft dependency that you can override).
You can also inspect a pattern meta-package: Search for “patterns-*” and look at its dependencies. In Myrlyn, that would be in the “Dependencies” details view. But you can also use Zypper or even low-level RPM commands.
Using Zypper:
% zypper se "patterns-xfce"
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...
S | Name | Summary | Type
---+-----------------------------------+------------------------------------------------+-----------
| patterns-xfce | Patterns for Installation (Xfce) | srcpackage
i+ | patterns-xfce-xfce | XFCE Desktop Environment | package
i | patterns-xfce-xfce_basis | XFCE Base System | package
| patterns-xfce-xfce_basis_wayland | XFCE Base System (Experimental Wayland Varia-> | package
i | patterns-xfce-xfce_extra | XFCE Extra Applications | package
| patterns-xfce-xfce_extra_wayland | XFCE Extra Applications (Experimental Waylan-> | package
| patterns-xfce-xfce_laptop | XFCE Laptop | package
| patterns-xfce-xfce_laptop_wayland | XFCE Laptop (Experimental Wayland Variant) | package
| patterns-xfce-xfce_wayland | XFCE Desktop Environment (Experimental Wayla-> | package
% zypper info --requires --recommends "patterns-xfce-xfce"
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...
Information for package patterns-xfce-xfce:
-------------------------------------------
Repository : Slowroll OSS Repo
Name : patterns-xfce-xfce
Version : 20230212-12.2
Arch : x86_64
Vendor : openSUSE
Installed Size : 50 B
Installed : Yes
Status : up-to-date
Source package : patterns-xfce-20230212-12.2.src
Upstream URL : https://github.com/openSUSE/patterns
Summary : XFCE Desktop Environment
Description :
Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment for various *NIX systems.
Requires : [2]
pattern() = x11
pattern() = xfce_basis
Recommends : [64]
evince
gnome-keyring
lightdm
seahorse
file-roller
gucharmap
gnome-disk-utility
gnome-packagekit
simple-scan
blueman
lightdm-gtk-greeter
tumbler
thunar-volman
samba
xfce4-screenshooter
xfce4-eyes-plugin
parole
xfce4-taskmanager
mousepad
xfce4-netload-plugin
xfce4-verve-plugin
gigolo
xfce4-notes-plugin
ristretto
xfce4-clipman-plugin
xfce4-cpufreq-plugin
xfce4-fsguard-plugin
xfce4-weather-plugin
xfce4-cpugraph-plugin
xfce4-genmon-plugin
xfce4-places-plugin
xfce4-smartbookmark-plugin
xfce4-stopwatch-plugin
xfce4-systemload-plugin
xfce4-timer-plugin
xfce4-wavelan-plugin
xfce4-dict
xfce4-diskperf-plugin
xfce4-mount-plugin
xfce4-mpc-plugin
xfce4-sensors-plugin
xfce4-mailwatch-plugin
xfce4-calculator-plugin
menulibre
xfce4-docklike-plugin
lightdm-gtk-greeter-settings
galculator
pragha
gdb
system-config-printer
gnome-keyring-pam
gutenprint
gcr-ssh-askpass
opensuse-welcome-launcher
xfce4-kbdleds-plugin
system-config-printer-applet
mugshot
xfce4-panel-profiles
thunar-plugin-archive
thunar-plugin-media-tags
thunar-sendto-blueman
xfce4-screenshooter-plugin
xfce4-timeout-plugin
pattern() = xfce_extra
Notice: No root privileges needed for those info commands.
Using RPM (only for installed patterns):
% rpm -qa "patterns-xfce*"
patterns-xfce-xfce-20230212-12.2.x86_64
patterns-xfce-xfce_extra-20230212-12.2.x86_64
patterns-xfce-xfce_basis-20230212-12.2.x86_64
% rpm -q --requires "patterns-xfce-xfce"
pattern() = x11
pattern() = xfce_basis
rpmlib(CompressedFileNames) <= 3.0.4-1
rpmlib(FileDigests) <= 4.6.0-1
rpmlib(PayloadFilesHavePrefix) <= 4.0-1
rpmlib(PayloadIsZstd) <= 5.4.18-1
% rpm -q --recommends "patterns-xfce-xfce" | head -n 20
blueman
evince
file-roller
galculator
gcr-ssh-askpass
gdb
gigolo
gnome-disk-utility
gnome-keyring
gnome-keyring-pam
gnome-packagekit
gucharmap
gutenprint
lightdm
lightdm-gtk-greeter
lightdm-gtk-greeter-settings
menulibre
mousepad
mugshot
opensuse-welcome-launcher
The app kinda looks like synaptic. I better check it out. Makes a lot more sense looking at it with a familiar GUI