zypper remove problem

English Applications
#1 

sudo zypper remove libavcodec52 libdvdnav4 libdvdread4 libffmpeg0 libquicktime0 libxine1 libxine1-codecs libxvidcore4 w32codec-all xvidcore



Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...
Resolving package dependencies...

The following NEW packages are going to be installed:
  libnotify libnotify1 NetworkManager-gnome NetworkManager-openvpn-gnome NetworkManager-pptp-gnome NetworkManager-vpnc-gnome
  phonon-backend-gstreamer-0_10 PolicyKit-gnome-libs

The following packages are going to be REMOVED:
  akregator ark digikam dolphin gwenview k3b kaddressbook kaffeine kcalc kcharselect kcolorchooser kcron
  kde4-kgreeter-plugins kde4-webkitpart kdeartwork4-screensaver kdebase4 kdebase4-nsplugin kdebase4-openSUSE
  kdebase4-runtime kdebase4-runtime-branding-openSUSE kdebase4-session kdebase4-workspace
  kdebase4-workspace-branding-openSUSE kdebluetooth4 kdegames4 kdegraphics4 kdemultimedia4 kdenetwork4-filesharing kdepasswd
  kdepim4 kdepim4-wizards kdialog kdm kdnssd keditbookmarks kfind kgamma kget kgpg kinfocenter kio_audiocd kio_kamera
  kio_sysinfo kio_sysinfo-branding-openSUSE kipi-plugins kmag kmahjongg kmail kmines kmix kmousetool knode knotes kompare
  konqueror konqueror-plugins konqueror-plugins-lang konsole kontact konversation kopete kopete-protocol-facebook korganizer
  kpat krdc kreversi krfb kruler kscd ksnapshot ksudoku ksystemlog ktorrent kupdateapplet kupdateapplet-packagekit kvkbd
  kwalletmanager kwin kwrite libavcodec52 libavdevice52 libavformat52 libdvdnav4 libdvdplay0 libdvdread4 libffmpeg0
  libkdegames4 libksane0 libquicktime0 libxine1 libxine1-codecs libxine1-gnome-vfs libxine1-pulse libxvidcore4 marble
  mozilla-xulrunner191-kde4 NetworkManager-kde4 NetworkManager-kde4-libs NetworkManager-openvpn-kde4
  NetworkManager-pptp-kde4 NetworkManager-vpnc-kde4 okteta okular patterns-openSUSE-kde4 patterns-openSUSE-kde4_basis
  patterns-openSUSE-kde4_imaging phonon-backend-xine plasma-addons plasma-addons-marble plasmoid-quickaccess skanlite
  sweeper w32codec-all xvidcore yakuake

8 new packages to install, 115 to remove.
Overall download size: 845.0 KiB. After the operation, 271.5 MiB will be freed.
Continue? [y/n/p/?] (y): n
#2

What you’ve done there is tried to remove something required by a metapackage (might be patterns-openSUSE-kde4).

The metapackages don’t actually contain anything useful themselves, they just depend on all the things that ‘group’ is supposed to have in it - the point being you don’t have to install everything manually, you just install ‘kde4’ and dependencies drag everything else in for you.

But if you remove something it depends on, it’ll also be removed - you can’t have a package without its dependencies. And, in turn, all the things installed by it automatically will try to run away too…

Solution? You can remove the metapackages but not their dependencies, and just try to keep track of what should be on your system yourself - this will be difficult, but not impossible. Your system will break, but you’ll probably learn a lot about it. In all honesty though, if you’re going to do that, you might be better off with a distro more like Arch.

More advisable is just not to remove anything that comes up with a list like that - obviously SUSE considers it an important part of the system, and they’ve been doing this longer than we have…