KDE without Akonadi on Linux Mint

[lmuserx4849]

I want to run KDE without Akonadi. I like KDE without Akonadi and Desktop search. I am using other applicatiopns like thunderbird, and LibreOffice. The social stuff is superfluous for my environment too. I'd like to mark any application that uses akonadi as taboo: knotes, kcalc, kmail, korganizer ...any of the PIM stuff, as a safety-net so an app doesn't inadvertently get installed.

I am coming from suse, and two things I was able to do:

1. During the last step of the install on suse (yast) I could review all software that was going to be installed and remove or add,
2. and this allowed me to mark akonadi-runtime as taboo and it never installed. KDE ran wonderfully without Akonadi and Desktop Search.

I want to remove akonadi-runtime from Linux Mint. When I type in akonadi-runtime in Synptic Package Manager, I get kdepim-runtime and akonadi-facebook. The description for the former is "runtime components for Akonadi KDE". I'd like to totally remove both, but when I try, the package manager displays a list of packages to be removed, and the plasma-desktop is in the list... HHHmmm, oh, oh

It gets worse. I select Mark For Removal and I see at the bottom of the dialog, "plasma-netbook - KDE Plasma workspace for netbook computers" is going to be installed. I rationalize that it is a lite-KDE (I'm not too worried I'm in the testing phase and can reinstall). But when I click Apply a dialog is displayed that says "Could not apply changes! Fix broken packages first.".
Edit -> Fix Broken Packages gives me another dialog, "Unable to correct dependencies".

Is anyone else running Linux Mint with the KDE desktop without Akonadi? If so, what did you do?
Any other options?
Just wondering is there a way to "taboo" packages so they never get installed?

Environment: Linux Minut 17.1 (Rebecca), KDE 4.14.2-0ubuntu1~ubuntu14.04~ppa1

[Hoser Rob]

I used KDE until recently (I'm a cinnamon convert ... a lot of the programs I use work better in a Gnome based DE) and I always disabled desktop search. But I don't really think it's worth the effort to remove the apps involved. KDE is so integrated it's not trivial to sort out the dependencies.

What I always did was to go into settings > desktop search and then disable nepomuk.

Then go into settings > startup & shutdown and remove nepomuk from the list of apps ran at boot.

Job done.

If you're an ex SUSE user I suspect you know this, but it really seems a lot simpler. And it works fine.

[lmuserx4849]

Thank you. It's really helpful to hear how others approach an issue. My backup plan, I think, will be MATE, although I'm still on the fence... It isn't fair to Cinnamon, because it's probably due to my older kvm-qemu and video support. I'll look for a live cd option and try it.

I like KDE except for the PIM, Social, DE/Search, so that leaves I guess the Plasma desktop. I've been able to disable/remove/get rid of them so far. I don't use Activities, but rather xwindows virtual desktops. I'm probably going to use lightdm. I like the application launcher/menu and personal settings dialog. With my limited MATE usage, I found I occasionally had to use dconf for a setting; Not familiar with the tool, file layout, no doc found, it was sort of a hunt and peck method to find the applicable setting. I know that's a lot of KDE that I'm not using. The only app that I have not found a replacement for is Kate. It has been my main GUI text editor. It was super easy to create a syntax highlighting file for a markup language and basically all my text support files use it. Kate was crippled for a while, but they fixed most of the problems.

I did look for desktop search in settings, and I didn't find it. It seems Linux Mint doesn't install it by default --- which for my environment is a good thing. After the install, I went to install update (icon in tray) and saw it in the list. I unchecked it. Akonadi really seems to be stuck, but I thought if you didn't use any KDE PIM's you could get rid of it. I do use the digital clock but I turn off events.

You are right about time. I do feel I'm spending more time uninstalling stuff now than a few years ago, so I'm looking for a balance. Part of this is getting use to dpkg, apt, Synaptic, and the package philosophy. Sometimes when I looked at removing a package, the additional packages that were going to be removed included a meta package (mint-meta-kde or mint-mata-codecs). What are the ramifications down the line if those are removed?

When I installed Lightdm, the dialog said "37 packages will be held back and not upgraded", 1 will be installed. Is this information or does it require action?

In all, I am looking forward to the LTS of Linux Mint 17.1.

[Hoser Rob]

I have a hard time believing there's no setting to not run desktop search at boot. Look for nepomuk ... that's what is actually running akonadi. It's been a while since I did this. I used KDE until recently but had Kubuntu 12.04 installed for a couple of years.

If your hardware has decent speed and proper 3D hardware accelerated video in Linux, Cinnamon is actually faster than Mate.

Why do you want to install lightdm anyway? What problems are you having with what was installed?

[Two_Dogs]

https://userbase.kde.org/Akonadi#Disabl ... _subsystem is a nice read

Baloo is the next generation of semantic search
From KDE Applications 4.13 onwards, the 'Baloo' file indexing and file search framework replaces Nepomuk. Read details on the changes for Applications 4.13 here. Semantic Search no longer uses a single, big database, but separate, specialized databases for each type of data. The new search databases are in $HOME/.local/share/baloo. If you upgraded to KDE Applications 4.13 from an earlier KDE release, you can delete $KDEHOME/share/apps/nepomuk.

https://userbase.kde.org/Nepomuk

[MartyMint]

Messing with Akonadi or Nepomuk is a sure way to hose your KDE system, if not immediately, then very soon after.

[lmuserx4849]

I have a hard time believing there's no setting to not run desktop search at boot. Look for nepomuk ... that's what is actually running akonadi. It's been a while since I did this. I used KDE until recently but had Kubuntu 12.04 installed for a couple of years.

"dpkg -l |grep -iE 'nepomuk|baloo' shows 8 libraries. I do not see any process (ps) running with those names either. In System Settings/Configure Desktop, I did not find any icon "Desktop Search" app or any options. And in Startup and Shutdown, I didn't see anything related. I know libraries are almost impossible to get rid of, but it doesn't appear that any program is building the index DB either. Nepomuk is dead and it's now Baloo, this may explain why there is no "Desktop Search" option in System Settings (??).
https://community.kde.org/Baloo

If your hardware has decent speed and proper 3D hardware accelerated video in Linux, Cinnamon is actually faster than Mate.

I am not a big fan of Gnome, I currently do not have descent hardware acceleration on my virtual machines (tried, VM hung on a screen displaying garbage, whereas Mate worked right away w/Marco --- Compwiz later messed it up.), not a fan of a lot animations, transitions so that isn't a big sell. Most folks I know, that could share their wisdom, are using Mate. Linux magazine reviewed both: http://www.linuxpromagazine.com/Issues/2014/166

Why do you want to install lightdm anyway? What problems are you having with what was installed?

When I installed MATE on the previous release of opensuse, the steps were to install a minimal X system and install lightdm. I liked lightdm.
When I installed 17.1 of Linux Mint, I learned MDM does not support XDMCP any longer and lightdm was recommended as a solution.
http://segfault.linuxmint.com/2013/09/m ... 10-pounds/
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=169425

I have some notes on stopping akonadi, setting options (StartServer=false). Now when I go to System Settings/Configure Desktop -> Personal Information it says Akonadi is not running.

If I can run KDE without Akonadi and turn-off desktop search and social, that would be good.
If I can uninstall them and prevent them from installing, that would be great.

[lmuserx4849]

Messing with Akonadi or Nepomuk is a sure way to hose your KDE system, if not immediately, then very soon after.

I don't doubt you are correct. When I'm sure of what I have, I'll install on a new drive and dual-boot. I prefer having one of something on my desktop. But I don't like all of KDE..., so I have KDE something and the something that I actually use.
A good thing is, Linux Mint is running on a VM with a daily backup so I can revert.

[raptir]

My past experience with KDE has been that it is possible to install KDE without all of that, but nearly impossible to remove it from an installed system. I have used Debian or Ubuntu minimal installs to build up to a KDE environment in the past. I do not think Linux Mint offers a minimal install, though.

[Hoser Rob]

Messing with Akonadi or Nepomuk is a sure way to hose your KDE system, if not immediately, then very soon after.

I don't doubt you are correct. When I'm sure of what I have, I'll install on a new drive and dual-boot. I prefer having one of something on my desktop. But I don't like all of KDE..., so I have KDE something and the something that I actually use.
A good thing is, Linux Mint is running on a VM with a daily backup so I can revert.

I agree with the first quote. KDE is very integrated. It's not something you want to mess with unless you're very, very good.

If you really want a lighter KDE experience install openbox. It's not 100% trivial to set up kde with openbox as the window manager but it's not that bad. I've done it before and actually liked it but it's been a while. Here's a start:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/262888/h ... ow-manager

though that's for 12.04 it's probably not that different. Search engines are your friend.

[lmuserx4849]

If you really want a lighter KDE experience install openbox.

If I have my parts correct, the window manager is one of the things I like about KDE It's the PIMs, search and social stuff that are superfluous because I don't use them and they become a distraction in my environment.

I've uninstalled the PIM packages. I've kept libraries and runtimes. I don't know what this will mean in Linux Mint when there is an update. Will they all be installed again..., will nothing be installed. I know things are controlled through meta packages and I've been trying to walk my way through them as an exercise to increase my understandable of how things work. At this moment, those components are not running and uninstalled where possible.

[raptir]

If you really want a lighter KDE experience install openbox.

If I have my parts correct, the window manager is one of the things I like about KDE It's the PIMs, search and social stuff that are superfluous because I don't use them and they become a distraction in my environment.

I've uninstalled the PIM packages. I've kept libraries and runtimes. I don't know what this will mean in Linux Mint when there is an update. Will they all be installed again..., will nothing be installed. I know things are controlled through meta packages and I've been trying to walk my way through them as an exercise to increase my understandable of how things work. At this moment, those components are not running and uninstalled where possible.

If you successfully have them all uninstalled, they shouldn't be re-installed. If a metapackage Depends on a package, the metapackage will be uninstalled if you uninstall the dependency. If it only Recommends the package, then you can remove it and the metapackage will stay without re-installing the recommended package.

[millpond]

Messing with Akonadi or Nepomuk is a sure way to hose your KDE system, if not immediately, then very soon after.

I've done it for years, and it allows KDE to run on ancient machines.

Disable the calendar portion of the clock widget.
Disable all the Personal Information entries in System Settings.
Google: removing Akonadi Baloo Nepomuk KDE 4 (or 4.13 - baloo replaces nepomuk at 4.13)
Move /usr/bin akonadi* files elsewhere.

Only update what is needed from Synaptic. Else pin the relevant utils in Synaptic.

Keep in mind that any widgets added to *any* DE/WM will slow the system down somewhat. Processing better used for actual apps.

Besides, there is better mail/pim software out there.