Re: [solved] Re: How to uninstall Emacs?

[Emanuel Berg <embe8573@student.uu.se>]

Rodolfo Medina <rodolfo.medina@gmail.com> writes:

> Then, what about the above emacs24-common-non-dfsg
> package? Will it be also automatically upgraded to
> future Emacs versions?

The package manager is like a tree data structure.
It determines what software depend on what other
software. It does compilation order, to. If software
C depends on B and B depends on A, and you don't have
A and B but install C, you'll get A and B in the
bargain. If you then attempts to uninstall B while
under the influence, the package manager will tell you
this will break C, which will make you sober up a bit.
If you still want to do it the next day it is of
course possible, but in essence:

1) Don't worry about it.

2) Don't uninstall anything - this isn't Windoze:
   software which you don't use don't bother anyone,
   they aren't bulky on the disk and they don't run in
   the supposed "background", they are just a binary
   file mostly up to no good so just let them be.

3) Don't be conservative installing stuff for the same
   reason as (2) - whenever you think "maybe" you need
   it, it "might" be the thing you look for, that
   "sounds" interesting, etc. - that means you should
   install it (again, unless the package manager warns
   you it'll break something)

4) Be conservative with upgrades. There is no need to
   be hysterical about it. Not every piece of software
   needs to be at the most advanced version.
   Upgrade your main software once in a while.
   The rest of the software will upgrade automatically
   in time - if you do it explicitly, do it for
   a reason (e.g., you suspect you've come across
   a bug that has been fixed in a more recent
   version). Don't do it because you are hysterical
   about it.

Remember, "the only thing to fear is fear itself".

The computer is a machine which is fun to muck around
with, but it is also a tool to do useful things.
If you muck around too much, that will be all you do,
because it'll reproduce. There are nuances: Elisp
programming mucking can be educative and productive in
the long run, but being neurotic about version numbers
and inter-software dependencies is on the flip side of
it. You know what I'm saying?

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573