Can I make apt-get always use --no-install-recommends?

I'm trying to create a minimalist debian install for my netbook. I have a clonezilla restore point that I made right after a fresh minimal debian install.

I do not have any packages other than what debian installs automatically during a minimal install. I deselected everything in taskel (no desktop environment, nothing).

I want to install some packages. Since I am creating a minimalist install, I want to always use sudo apt-get --no-install-recommends <package-name>.

Is there a way that I can create like a custom abbreviated command for this? Or is there a way that I could copy and paste a bunch of those commands into a text document and then run them all sequentially using one command? Do you know of a simpler, more elegant way to accomplish running a bunch of packages installs from a freshly installed minimal command prompt?

Chuck

Posted 2013-07-04T14:06:31.303

Reputation: 191

– kenorb – 2019-05-08T11:13:16.680

Answers

You can configure apt via apt.conf files.

Here is a command I use on my server (as root):

cat > /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/01norecommend << EOF
APT::Install-Recommends "0";
APT::Install-Suggests "0";
EOF

To see if apt reads this, enter this in command line (as root or regular user):

apt-config dump | grep Recommends

esplor

Posted 2013-07-04T14:06:31.303

Reputation: 541

And after I added the configuration for not installing recommended packages, is there a way to change this setting for one run of apt-get install? – andrybak – 2015-03-26T21:30:14.353

--install-recommends - just like you could go one step further and also --install-suggests which is already off by default – Ryan Pavlik – 2016-02-22T18:52:41.107

2If apt-config dump says your line is ignored, it could be because another file in this directory (find it with grep), say 99synaptic, overrides it, in which case you'll want to edit that file, or rename 01norecommend by increasing the leading number so it is read later. – Marc Glisse – 2014-01-21T07:31:12.927

Here is a one-liner to create /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/999norecommend file as per @esplor's answer:

apt-config dump | grep -we Recommends -e Suggests | sed s/1/0/ | sudo tee /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/999norecommend

kenorb

Posted 2013-07-04T14:06:31.303

Reputation: 16 795