Cruft Discussion and Scripts

[VastOne]

Now we are getting into the personalization of the distro to a specific users needs/wants...

Up till now it has been a scrubbing and purge, I think anything like what you have just suggested is individual tastes

Mr Savant Digit is looking for aliases, so I am sure the lxterm=lxterminal could be added

Thanks for all of the scrub work, you really take the name/handle ectropy to another level!

[Digit]

yup, ran off to add that the moment i saw it.

loving your ectropic input ectropy. 

firefox configuration could deserve its own thread.   i know i'd certainly have a "few" things to say on that (like having a privacy-oriented profile), as i imagine others would too. 

however, while we're on the topic of decrufting... how do slitaz get their firefox so small?   
must be a lot of guff that can be removed yet.      which is good news on top of so much space already saved.

[VastOne]

Aye... smxi has cruft as part of it's package of goodies...

@Digit, I like the idea of the FF thread

[Digit]

i saw something curious when booting up the latest vsido iso i have (25th... that newest?  idk anymore, cant keep up with the testing iso)

sez kde stuff

is "kde-services" essential?  trivial?


ps, CRUFT!  yes!  totally forgot about that one.  (likely because i never made good use of it)

[VastOne]

^ Aye... I have seen that as well and will look at it... I know it is a non issue, but still

[statmonkey]

textarea cache add-on wooo-hooo never knew about that one but many times have wondered if there was anything like it.  Just never looked (ashamedly).  Great stuff.

Digit.  I am at my personal "new thread" limit so you better start that firefox add on thread.  I would certainly have my favs.  The bottom line is that if you just save . files you can move it all pretty much or use febe (I do both). 

I am trying to grok all of ectropy's earlier post still so will reserve comment on that.  It always leads me down a path though.

Didn't realize (or ever really thought about) what doesn't happen or does happen with a live disk.  I tend to install and go.  Thanks for raising that point.

[VastOne]

Wow... took me a minute or 3 but I wanted to get all of the messages regarding this under one umbrella

If I have miss any, please let me know

[statmonkey]

Thanks for this.  I will play with this and compare with mine.  I will say mine is somewhat specific to my needs and I haven't (as of yet) separated the user specific parts out of the general removal sections so I have some edits to do.  In other words my cruft script has cruft in it.  Ha!  You are right we should probably have a thread for that.  I am also thinking I should put up my mpd scripts (in case anyone finds them useful or has some intriguing ones I can swipe.

[VastOne]

I take a look around... See that I am now in Cruft Discussion and Scripts

[statmonkey]

Vastone  looks around wait ... this is not the golf course?

[VastOne]

Adding deleted content  relevant to this discussion

Psst! The current release contains 200Mb+ of cruft which can, and should, be pared out.
(don't shoot the messenger, eh)

Although the space savings within the squashfs won't be the full "size on disk" of the items detailed below (213Mb)... pappy always said "a thing worth doin' is worth doin' RIGHT"

====================
====================
====================

TIP: install the debian package "ncdu" (ncurses directory usage utility), then you can easily "walk" the filesystem to flesh out space hogs and cruft
$ cd /
$ ncdu

/usr/share/qt4/translations
(handpick, most files pathed here can be nixed)
4Mb

rm -Rf /usr/share/kde4/*
2.7Mb

/usr/share/aptitude
(handpick, nix all foriegn lang helpdocs n readme files)
3Mb

/usr/share/i18n
(handpick, nix all foriegn lang helpdocs n readme files)
6Mb

/usr/share/fluxbox/nls
(handpick, nix all foriegn lang helpdocs n readme files)
1Mb

rm -Rf /usr/share/perl/5.18.1/Unicode/Collate/*
unneeded, non-English locale-specific cruft
3Mb+

rm -Rf /usr/share/themes/Adwaita/backgrounds/*
1.2Mb

/usr/share/fonts
(handpick, weed out most "serif" fontsets)(please!)
6Mb approx

rm /var/cache/apt/*.bin
unneeded. these are automatically regenerated by each "apt-get update" operation
42Mb

/var/lib/mlocate/mlocate/mlocate.db
occupies 2.3Mb in current squashfs
and (BUT) will be regenerated at boot (delaying bootup of each live session, eternally) if missing
so please don't get overzealous and nix molcate.db (some live distros do)

v--- variants or backup/renamed copies of various png files
/boot/grub
/lib/live/mount/medium/isolinux
/etc/remastersys
/urs/local/bin/images
/usr/share/images
3Mb+

v--- these will be autogenerated at first run, if absent:
rm /etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/0bwoq7rk.default/places.sqlite
rm /etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/0bwoq7rk.default/cookies.sqlite
rm /etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/0bwoq7rk.default/downloads.sqlite
rm /etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/0bwoq7rk.default/formhistory.sqlite
rm /etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/0bwoq7rk.default/webappsstore.sqlite
rm /etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/0bwoq7rk.default/signons.sqlite
rm -Rf /etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/0bwoq7rk.default/thumbnails/*
rm -Rf /etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/0bwoq7rk.default/safebrowsing/*
rm /etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/0bwoq7rk.default/startupCache/*
^--- this is NOT a comprehensive list of "what all" may be safely excluded
but it's better than complete inattention to this cruft ( ala debian mozilla packagers + remastersys )
17Mb
Bear in mind that this "cleanup" (suggest wrapping it into a bash script) needs to be performed again
following each "apt-get upgrade iceweasel" operation, prior to remastering.
Also note: per stock (as configured per its package) bleachbit does not clean these paths/items

$ apt-get purge libicu48
orphaned package (per the set of currently-installed apps)
42Mb

Note: THE PREFERENCES SETTING, WITHIN SYNAPTIC, "CONSIDER RECOMMENDED PACKAGES AS DEPENDENCIES" IS TICKMARKED !
^--- quoting comedian Jeff Foxworthy: "HEREs yer sign!"

Note: "puddletag" plus its dependant (otherwise unneeded) libs, are adding 41Mb overhead to the squashfs !
(cruft CRUFT cruft)

Note: package "freepats" (midi patchsets) has no dependants and adds 34Mb overhead to the squashfs !
(i'm a fan of midi, but... cruft CRUFT cruft)

====================
====================
====================


NOTE: (caps)(yeah, i'm shouting) I PROTEST THE ABSENCE OF /usr/share/doc
EVEN IF (NOT SO, CURRENTLY) A USER CAN EASILY REINSTALL THAT CONTENT LATER, VIA A (downloadable, separately packaged) 'CLICKME'

Although the doc path does contain quite a bit of cruft (by file count), prior to performing a backup I weed most of its zero-value (to user) content by running a cleanup script
--- snip ---
cd /usr/share/doc
find  -iname AUTHORS -exec rm {} \;
find  -iname COPYRIGHT -exec rm {} \;
find  -iname LICENSE -exec rm {} \;
find  -iname THANKS -exec rm {} \;
find  -iname THANKS.gz -exec rm {} \;
find  -iname CONTRIBUTORS -exec rm {} \;
--- snip ---
Hmm, am I recommending "ship the apps, ship the docs... and withhold the (myriad) license copies and the credits"?
Gee, it sounds like I just did... so sue me.  Whatever.

Note: (counterintuitive, at a glance, but) I suggest installing packages "gnome-icon'them" and "tango-icon-theme".
At every turn, when user installs packageX  (e.g. Thunar wants tango folder icons)... those biatches are gonna get pulled in as dependencies.
Post-install, pin the packages and weed out their installed files.
If you prune the 72x72/* ... 128x128 paths, IIRC the remainder (total overhead from both icon packages) is about 6Mb.

Note: "gmusicbrowser" (lotta deps and) adds an additional 17Mb of cruft to the /etc/skel path !
("times two". At boot, same cruft immediately gets copied to /home )

[VastOne]

More deleted content

congrats -- the filesystem is approaching SQUEAKY CLEAN !

config suggestion:
within both lxterminal and xfce4-terminal (alias "xfterm"?) please consider tweaking the prefs
font = DroidSans mono (on my screen at least) it's MUCH more readable than the current default)
and
scrollback buffer = 2000 lines
(incurs a bit more buffer memory per instance/tab... but well worth it, IMO)

oops, I just noticed:
lxterminal begs the same "disable F10" preference change (same as I mentioned earlier for xfce4-terminal)

please add .bashrc alias
lxterm=lxterminal

please (because it regularly saves my ass) consider pre-installing (and enabling)
"textarea Cache" firefox addon
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/textarea-cache/

also... please, as a convenience slash safety net:
iceweasel } Edit } Preferences } General tab
"when iceweasel starts: show my windows and tabs from last time"

While I'm thinking about it, here are a couple additional (tiny) ff addons I'll nominate as canditates for inclusion:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab-mix-plus/
^--- install it, but leave disabled (for user to discover).
It really needs to be configured by the user to suit his/her own prefs

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/colorfultabs/
^--- again, i recommend preinstalling but leave disabled.
It enables wonderful tweaks, but each user will probably have personal prefs

[VastOne]

More deleted content

/home/vsido/Desktop contains an "install" launcher but I see zero icons displayed to desktop.
I created a txt file in the Desktop dir, and that didn't cause an icon displayed to the desktop.

Is some "welcome" app supposed to autostart with the fluxbox session?
I didn't see anything during the session.
Hmm, I forget to check home dir (i'm on a different box atm so can't check now)
but I noted the presence of /etc/skel/.config/autostart/VSIDO-Welcome.desktop


In application finder, the "customize look and feel" is absent.
Need to edit   /usr/share/applications/lxappearance.desktop
and remove the line
NotShowIn=GNOME;XFCE;
(or at least remove the reference to xfce in that line)
There may be other .desktop files that are similarly affected.
grep -i "NotShowIn" /usr/share/applications/*.desktop

^---- that, as well as problems with other .destop file will be a recurring nuisance
(one of the things "Mint Update Packs" for LMDE targeted)
If you edit any /usr/share/applications/*.desktop file (to insert a more meaningful "name" or "desc", or to fix a prob),
upon update of its associated package, your edits WILL be overwritten.
(emphasis on "will" b/c chmod to write-only is ignored. I'm fairly dpkg even ignores stickybitit:immutable )
If you workaround/override by placing edited .desktops in home + skel
...those may, or may not, be autodetected by a particular menuing component (fluxmenu, xfce4-applicationfinder)


Application finder is displaying dual, seemingly redundant entries "SpFM" and "SpaceFM"
I guess one of 'em is supposed to be "SpaceFM (as Root)"
as well as
dual, identically labeled, entries "Xfce terminal" within SYSTEM category


As shipped, there's a keybind conflict between xfce4-terminal and run "htop" utility.
keybind to quit htop is F10, but that conflicts with the xfce4-terminal "open toolbar:File dropdown" keybind
to fix:
xfce4-terminal toolbar }} Edit }} Preferences }} Advanced tab.
Checkmark "disable menu shortcut keys"
(this setting ONLY only affects F10 keybind.  Alt+f , Alt+e, Alt+v etc still callup the toolbar, in case it has been set hidden)


i didn't do a THOROUGH check for orphaned pkgs, but here are a few:
gamin
libxfce4util-bin
xfce4-notify
xfxe4-volumed

...and here's a related observation (and request)
typing "lxterm" in applicationFinderator launched "uxterm" (ugh)
please consider adding lxterminal
(its pkg is a tiny  355Kb and adds no new dependencies)


synaptic prefs:
"treat recommended as dependencies" is (still) checkmarked
"show package properties in main window is (still) UNchecked"
please PLEASE please change (and ensure the change makes it into /skel )
Also, if it's not already present, create
/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/00recommends
and paste in the following 2 lines, plus a trailing blank line:
APT::Install-Recommends "false";
Aptitude::Recommends-Important "false";


Notes regarding synaptic (may want to document these in userguide):
--------
If you click toolbar "Settings" button }} Repositories....
selecting an item on the list and clicking "delete" will cause synaptic to crash
--------
(probably related to, or the cause of, the above)
In some distros, when running synaptic you'll see a "quick search" (drilldown as you type) textbox in the toolbar
...yet, in other distros (the current vsido release, for example), that searchbox is absent. What's up with that?
If you install the "apt-xapian-indexer" debian package (via the commandline, without synaptic or aptitude running, please)
a "quick search" box will automagically appear next time you launch synaptic.
Bear in mind that the searchable database created by the indexer will occupy 100Mb (or more) of drive space.


another note for userguide:
spacefm, in certian cases (not ours) can interact with the desktop to assign a wallpaper image.
(in other words, if you attempt to set wallpaper via spacefm and it has no effect, it's not a bug)


=======
cruft report: only found about 85Mb this time 'round.

had not launched browser yet, and noticed:
/home/vsido/.mozilla/firefox/0bwoq7rk.default/places.sqlite      10Mb
/home/vsido/.mozilla/firefox/0bwoq7rk.default/adblockplus/patterns-backup*.ini       1Mb
/home/vsido/.mozilla/firefox/0bwoq7rk.default/signons.sqlite
/home/vsido/.mozilla/firefox/0bwoq7rk.default/cookies.sqlite
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/0bwoq7rk.default/signons.sqlite
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/0bwoq7rk.default/places.sqlite         10Mb
^------ each of these, if absent, will be autogenerated on first run

/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/0bwoq7rk.default/adblockplus/patterns-backup*.ini   1Mb
^------ chump change, but hey... cross the t's and dot the i's

/home/vsido/.mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so       18Mb
/etc/skel/.mozilla/plugins/libflasplayer.so                18Mb
^------ placing ONE instance pathed within /usr/local/share and symlinks to it @ home and /etc
will free 18Mb

/etc/skel/gmusicbrowser/.git         9Mb
^--- dunno what this is. it's not present due to installation of the debian pkg

rm /etc/skel/gmusicbrowser/po/*.po          2Mb
/etc/skel/.config/gmusicbrowser/layouts/gmb-art_skins/arkanoid_skin
this somebodees favorite skin, eh
Well, the imagefiles could be optimized. For starters, 2Mb for an "aint got no cover" image?!?
/etc/skel/.config/gmusicbrowser/layouts/gmb-art_skins/arkanoid_skin/no-cover.xcf      1.8Mb
^---v
2x. The imagefiles represents a double-whammy ~~ present in both skel and in home.
Nixing the translation files and optimizing the imagefiles would free about    10Mb

rm /boot/grub/locale/*.mo   ~3Mb
^---- UNTESTED (i doubt boot will fail in the absence of these locale-specific helptexts, but let it ride, for now)

rm -Rf /usr/share/wallpapers/joy
rm -Rf /usr/share/wallpapers/joy_inksplat
3.6Mb

rm -Rf /root/.thumbnails/*          1Mb
rm /var/cache/cups/ppds.dat              11Mb

rm /var/cache/debconf/*.old   4Mb

rm /usr/share/tcltk/tcl8.5/msgs/*.msg
rm /usr/share/gnupg2/help.*.txt                 3Mb

[VastOne]

End of deleted content

openbox is TINY. Dropping it would be pointless.
lxappearance is available an alternate package, "lxappearance-obconf", which provides a configuation GUI for both openbox and fluxbox users. The themes package Debian provides for openbox contains "too many choices to wade through" IMO, and too few of them are outstanding (stand out from the other themes).

Have you booted livearp? ( arpinux.org )
It provides an excellent startx chooser menu ~~ for a given session, user can choose fluxbox, or awesome, or... several other choices.
linuxbbq also has a build in which the user can select from multiple (dozens!) of various wm's.
I mention these to underscore my opinion that "a distro" doesn't need to identify with / stand behind / rally 'round a single wm.

In its current form, vsido isn't "a fluxbox distro", at least not noticeably. 'Cept for menu entries labled "fluxbox settings" etc, how would a user even recognize whether or not it's a fluxbox environment? I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I'm just sayin'.

tint2... is lame. That's both a (my) opinion and a feature-wise assessment, when comparing it to fbpanel, lxpanel, et al. At first boot into vsido I groaned (seriously, I did) "oh no, notta nudder WBAR distro!" 3/4inch tall icons, no autohide... if I were a WXGA laptop user, I would have IMMEDIATELY bailed. {--- That first impression, along with hating the half-inch tall, BADLY rendered, jittery conky display (wider, narrower, changing as the digits in the "uptime" counter change)... alriiiiiighty, then. Largest default fonts sizes I've seen since, um kindergarten ~~ I'm left guessing the distromaker sits at a HIGH-resolution display (and presumes that I do too). Woohoo! Opacity! No! I'm not enthusiastic about staring through a transparent-background terminal and spend my first several minutes trying to  figure out how to turn compositing off (compton MuSt dIe!) Hey, guess what? lxappearance is installed (and it can't be called up via "application finder"). Back to tint2. No right-click interactivity with the icons, no mouseover/hover tooltip to clue my ol' brain into the fact that "the thing that looks like a safe" (to my tired eyes) is a file cabinet, and launches spacefm. By the way, what the heck is that top-right panel (the one which covers and blocks the X needed to close a maximized window!) is that a tint2 instance also?!?  IMO, the sole tint2 applealing feature (if you're into using multiple workspaces) is per-worspace iconification. As I recall, fbpanel lacks this (maybe it's an optional setting?) and (again, as I recall) lxpanel does support per-workspace iconification. I'm keen on using the best collection of individual tools/components for the job, rather than fanboi chanting "all fluxorbox, allatime!" or whatever.

Taking a step back, why Plymouth? To impress someone's mommy? Because it's part of the remasterfasterrsys template? As for remmmersys, it is EOL as far as I'm concerned. vsido is using v3.0.0.1 and that's the last-ever free version, eh. The 'buntu crowd has modded it, now up to 3.0.4.2 ...but if you peek under the hood, I think you'll find that both the refractasnapshot (refer to github, not the deb package) and antixsnapshot remastering utilities are superior to the takemytoysandgohomesys utility. By the way, those of us arriving via unetbootin for a test drive never see the purdy gfxboot screen during live session.

Moving on: Why lightdm? Consider its dependencies and consider which of its features (if any) other than login vsido is using and, yeah.

Spacefm is my current favorite among file manager GUI apps ("design mode", baby!)... but I'm unwilling to put all my eggs into ONE basket. Y'know the spacefm author is POOF! incommunicado since this past spring, right? The only spacefm-related progress lately has been by a frenchie hailing as 'jpfleury' (see github) who has built several plugins for spacefm. Down the road (if necessary), with Thunar's "custom actions", it's a suitable alternative.

obenbox bred lxde.
lxde developed (and is hung up on promoting) pcmanfm.
pcmanfm bred spacefm.
one of the xfce devs is also the author of (or has close ties with) both catfish and midori (gagging noise)
What's a non-K, non-G luddite fanboi to do?
(shop around for the best piecemeal assemblage of interoperable components, THATs what)

geany vs medit: howabout BOTH (I suggest) and for good measure, the "tea" editor (suh-weet!) as well.

terminal emulator apps: can't think of any features I need, beyond those provided by "xfce4-terminal" or "lxterm"
(when both are installed, I lean toward using lxterm but can't put my finger on WHY)(shorter commandname?)

lxtask vs xfce4-taskmanager: wtf those xfce devs smokin? I ain't gonna type all that!
the xfce app can, optionally, display "full commandline" for each process... but lxtask cannot
(an important feature to have available, in my usage)
Just use "htop"? Yeah, lets all be hardcore(?) C'mon, eating pizza using chopsticks is retarded.
vsido, visudo. Whatever. I'm not a tile clicker, but I certainly prefer nano to vim.
(gimme 2 sticks and a pice of string... an' I'll vim and sed and awk my way to inventing duct tape?)

Among the current, linux desktop DEs, I believe fluxbox has the most configurable menu.
Among the current fluxbox-menued, debian-derived distros... I believe antix has the best fluxbox menu+conf implementation.
It's trivial to install antix, then switch to using debian sid repos.
A potential vsido user must (will) wonder: What value-add does vsido intend to bring to the table?

[lwfitz]

^ yep, I still feel annoyed when I read most of that

thanks for the hard work VastOne