On Thu 06 Nov 2025 at 12:50:07 (+0100), Sebastian Kraus wrote: > selecting > > [*] Debian desktop environment > > is definitely NOT(!) "superfluous". > > Having a look at the control files of the two "task packages" e.g. > > task-desktop > task-gnome-desktop > > reveals the following:
In the light of these lines extracted from the packages lists: Package: task-desktop Depends: tasksel (= 3.81), xorg, xserver-xorg-video-all, xserver-xorg-input-all, desktop-base Recommends: task-gnome-desktop | task-xfce-desktop | task-kde-desktop | task-lxde-desktop | task-gnome-flashback-desktop | task-cinnamon-desktop | task-mate-desktop | task-lxqt-desktop, [ … ] Package: task-gnome-desktop Depends: tasksel (= 3.81), task-desktop, gnome-core Package: task-cinnamon-desktop Depends: tasksel (= 3.81), task-desktop, cinnamon-desktop-environment Package: task-gnome-flashback-desktop Depends: tasksel (= 3.81), task-desktop, gnome-session-flashback, [ … ] Package: task-kde-desktop Depends: tasksel (= 3.81), task-desktop, kde-standard, sddm Package: task-lxde-desktop Depends: tasksel (= 3.81), task-desktop, lightdm, lxde Package: task-lxqt-desktop Depends: tasksel (= 3.81), task-desktop, sddm-theme-debian-elarun | sddm-theme, sddm, lxqt Package: task-mate-desktop Depends: tasksel (= 3.81), task-desktop, mate-desktop-environment, lightdm Package: task-xfce-desktop Depends: tasksel (= 3.81), task-desktop, xfce4, lightdm and these lines from /var/log/apt/history.log[…]: Start-Date: 2025-09-08 17:06:21 Commandline: apt-get -o APT::Status-Fd=4 -o APT::Keep-Fds::=5 -o APT::Keep-Fds::=6 -q -y --no-remove install tasksel Install: tasksel-data:amd64 (3.81, automatic), tasksel:amd64 (3.81) End-Date: 2025-09-08 17:06:23 Start-Date: 2025-09-08 17:07:02 Commandline: apt-get -o APT::Status-Fd=4 -o APT::Keep-Fds::=5 -o APT::Keep-Fds::=6 -q -y -o APT::Install-Recommends=true -o APT::Get::AutomaticRemove=true -o Acquire::Retries=3 install task-english task-ssh-server util-linux-extra [ … ] ¹ how do you prevent the reciprocal Depends/Recommends of task-desktop and task-gnome-desktop from pulling in both? > You definitely have to install the "task-desktop" package by > selecting "Debian desktop environment". Otherwise, necessary > dependencies for the GNOME Desktop environment will miss from your > installation. For all other > "task-<name_of_desktop_environment>-desktop" "task packages", the > same condition holds true and installation of the specific Desktop > environment with fail with fatal errors. I'm discounting the obvious answer of preseeding --no-install-recommends during installation². So does this mean that the control files of these desktop packages do not mirror the package metadata that originally contained them, which I would call a bug. If you're saying that: [ ] Debian desktop environment [ ] ... GNOME are unrelated to the task-desktop and task-gnome-desktop tasks, that's something that could only be determined, I think, from the d-i's source code, and would be a very odd decision to make. Yes, some of the packages /in/ the d-i ISOs are doctored packages (like the udebs), but I think those installed as late as the main installation step are (and should be) standard packages, and should correspond to the descriptions in the d-i menu above. ¹ I obviously don't install a desktop myself on this 2GB machine. ² How one might do this has been asked on this list in the past. Obviously it's easy if you install the desktop later on using normal commandlines, but that isn't the concern of this thread. Cheers, David.
