

KDE

WARNING

Before removing a Desktop Environment like KDE, you have to keep a few things in mind; it will remove tons and tons of stuff, probably more than you want to be removed. Removing too much might leave your system unusable. * Be sure to have an alternative DM installed. (gdm or lightdm) That said, unless you are running out of hard drive space or have limited bandwidth for updates,there is no real harm in having kde installed. If you don't use it, it won't hinder performance.

Preparation

For this to work, the best way of doing this is to first install a alternative Desktop Environment.

In this tutorial KDE will be replaced with XFCE.

open a console/terminal and become root. (of course you can also do this with Rigo install your alternative Desktop Environment:

#   equo install @xfce --ask

from Rigo: enter:xfce4-meta in the searchbox, select the package, and click install,

or install directly using a shortcut in the searchbox: do:install xfce4-meta accept the licence agreement. logoff, and logon again into the fresh installed Environment. (NOT KDE)

Removing KDE

So now we're logged in with XFCE. open your favourite terminal, and become root. enter following in the terminal:

equo remove kdelibs --ask --deep

check the package list before proceeding.

NOTICE

It might very well be possible, that Entropy wants to remove vital packages for XFCE as well.,

so chances are that after a reboot the system is unusable.

In that case, when KDE is removed., before rebooting, (just in case) simply reinstall your new DE, eg.: equo install @xfce

Final Steps

When done, a few final steps, enter equo conf update to check if configuration files needs to be updated, manually.

perform a equo deptest and equo libtest.

and remove the .kde4 directory in your home folder...

rm -rf /home/your-username/.kde4

and .kderc:

rm -rf /home/your-username/.kderc

Gnome

WARNING

Before removing any Desktop Environment such as Gnome, you have to keep a few things in mind: Many libraries are shared with other DE's, so you don't want them to be removed. Removing too much might leave your system unusable. * Be sure to have an alternative DM installed. (lightdm)

That said, unless you are running out of hard drive space or have limited bandwidth for updates, There is no real harm in having Gnome installed. If you don't use it, it won't hinder performance.

Preparation

For this to work, the best way of doing this is to first install a alternative Desktop Environment.

In this tutorial Gnome will be replaced with XFCE.

open a console/terminal and become root. (of course you can also do this with Rigo install your alternative Desktop Environment: this can be KDE (plasma-meta), mate, etc. We're using xfce for this demonstration.

# equo install @xfce --ask

from Rigo: enter:xfce4-meta in the searchbox, select the package, and click install,

or install directly using a shortcut in the searchbox: do:install xfce4-meta accept the licence agreement.

GDM will also be removed, so install a alternative LoginManager: (in this case, i choose lightdm, it works with everything)

# equo install lightdm

Switching DMs

Remove from boot entry starting GDM:

# systemctl disable gdm.service

Now enable new LoginManager to start at boot:

# systemctl enable lightdm.service

When done, logoff, and logon again into the fresh installed Environment. (NOT Gnome)

Removing Gnome

WARNING

Don't forget --nodeps

without the "--nodeps", KDE, XFCE, important libraries, and even nvidia-drivers get pulled. This can wreck your system!

So now we're logged in with XFCE. install and open your favorite terminal (except Gnome-terminal), and become root. enter following in the terminal:

equo install gentoolkit
equery list "*" | grep 'gnome|evolution|folks|evince|deja-dup|brasero|totem|mutter|shotwell|eog|cheese|gedit|libgdata|geocode-glib|gnote|baobab|caribou|rhythmbox|grilo|libgweather|alacarte' | xargs equo remove --nodeps

WARNING

Do NOT Reboot! Do NOT reboot until you've performed the final steps!

Final Steps

Now we need to check for possible broken dependencies and libraries that may pull something back in.

# equo deptest
# equo libtest
# equo conf update
# reboot

MATE

NOTICE

Before removing a Desktop Environment, you have to keep a few things in mind; Removing too much might leave your system unusable. Be sure to have an alternative DM installed. (gdm or lightdm) That said, unless you are running out of hard drive space or have limited bandwidth for updates,

there is no real harm in having Mate installed. If you don't use it, it won't hinder performance.

Preparation

For this to work, the best way of doing this is to first install a alternative Desktop Environment.

In this tutorial Mate will be replaced with KDE.

open a console/terminal and become root. (of course you can also do this with Rigo install your alternative Desktop Environment:

#   equo install kde-meta --ask

from Rigo: enter:kde-meta in the searchbox, select the package, and click install,

or install directly using a shortcut in the searchbox: do:install kde-meta.

Removing Mate

So now we're logged in with KDE. open your favourite terminal, and become root. enter following in the terminal:

equo query installed mate | xargs equo remove --nodeps

ignore all the warnings

NOTICE

without the "--nodeps", "sys-auth/pambase-20101024-r2" got pulled, and aborts the mission.

Also, don't use the --deep flag here

Final Steps

NOTICE

before rebooting, you must reinstall "sys-apps/dbus" and "x11-apps/scripts"

otherwise the system becomes unusable.

equo install sys-apps/dbus x11-apps/scripts

When done, a final step, enter equo conf update to check if configuration files needs to be updated, manually.

XFCE

NOTICE

Before removing a Desktop Environment like XFCE, you have to keep a few things in mind; Removing too much might leave your system unusable. Be sure to have an alternative DM installed. (gdm or lightdm) That said, unless you are running out of hard drive space or have limited bandwidth for updates,

there is no real harm in having XFCE installed. If you don't use it, it won't hinder performance.

Preparation

For this to work, the best way of doing this is to first install a alternative Desktop Environment.

In this tutorial XFCE will be replaced with Mate.

open a console/terminal and become root. (of course you can also do this with Rigo install your alternative Desktop Environment:

#   equo install mate --ask

from Rigo: enter:mate in the searchbox, select the metapackage, and click install,

or install directly using a shortcut in the searchbox: do:install mate. With removing XFCE, lightdm stays untouched, so we don't have to install a alternative LoginManager. When done, logoff, and logon again into the fresh installed Environment. (NOT XFCE)

Removing XFCE

So now we're logged in with Mate. open your favourite terminal, and become root. enter following in the terminal:

equo remove libxfce4util xfconf --ask

check the package list before proceeding.

NOTICE

In contrary with removing KDE, DON'T use the "--deep" flag here.

With the "--deep" flag enabled, it removes also some system files, which deptest and libtest don't recover, so chances are that after a reboot the system is unusable.

WARNING

The packages "mate-base/mate" and "virtual/notification-daemon" are going to be removed as well !!!

Before you reboot, you MUST first reinstall those packages., please see Final steps.

Final Steps

When done, a few final steps.

In the terminal, as root type:

#   equo install mate

and:

#   equo install notification-daemon

from Rigo: enter:mate in the searchbox, select the metapackage, and click install,

and repeat the same steps for the daemon, replacing mate with: notification-daemon or install directly using a shortcut in the searchbox: do:install mate / do:install notification-daemon

Enter equo conf update in the terminal to check if configuration files needs to be updated, manually.

You could perform a equo deptest and equo libtest., although not really needed.

and eventually you could remove the packages "gtk-engines-xfce" and "xfce4-taskmanager"

equo remove gtk-engines-xfce xfce4-taskmanager