Uninstalling Thunderbird removes needed Packages

[Stifflersmum]

Qubes OS version:

4.0rc-4

Affected TemplateVMs:

fedora-26

---

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

sudo dnf remove thunderbird

Expected behavior:

The command uninstalls thunderbird

Actual behavior:

While thunderbird is indeed uninstalled, it also removes the following packages needed:

Removing dependent packages:
nftables x86_64 1:0.7-3.fc26 @fedora
459 k
python-backports-ssl_match_hostname noarch 3.5.0.1-4.fc26 @fedora
18 k
python-systemd-doc x86_64 234-1.fc26 @fedora
750 k
python2-crypto x86_64 2.6.1-14.fc26 @fedora
2.2 M
python2-cryptography x86_64 2.0.2-2.fc26 @updates
2.6 M
python2-jinja2 noarch 2.9.6-1.fc26 @fedora
3.6 M
python2-numpy x86_64 1:1.12.1-1.fc26 @fedora
16 M
python2-pillow x86_64 4.1.1-1.fc26 @fedora
1.9 M
python2-pyOpenSSL noarch 16.2.0-6.fc26 @updates
523 k
python2-qubesimgconverter x86_64 4.0.15-1.fc26
@qubes-builder-vm-r4.0-current-testing

40 k
python2-requests noarch 2.13.0-1.fc26 @fedora
409 k
python2-tornado x86_64 4.4.2-3.fc26 @fedora
3.9 M
python2-urllib3 noarch 1.20-2.fc26 @updates
536 k
python2-zmq x86_64 16.0.2-3.fc26 @fedora
1.6 M
qubes-core-agent-dom0-updates x86_64 4.0.20-1.fc26
@qubes-builder-vm-r4.0-current-testing

4.9 k
qubes-core-agent-network-manager x86_64 4.0.20-1.fc26
@qubes-builder-vm-r4.0-current-testing

2.4 k
qubes-core-agent-networking x86_64 4.0.20-1.fc26
@qubes-builder-vm-r4.0-current-testing

20 k
qubes-mgmt-salt-vm-connector noarch 4.0.6-1.fc26
@qubes-builder-vm-r4.0-current-testing

5.3 k
qubes-pdf-converter x86_64 2.1.3-1.fc26
@qubes-builder-vm-r4.0-current-testing

15 k
qubes-vm-recommended noarch 4.0.1-1.fc26
@qubes-builder-vm-r4.0-current-testing

0
salt noarch 2017.7.3-1.fc26 @updates
36 M
salt-ssh noarch 2017.7.3-1.fc26 @updates
3.8 k
thunderbird-qubes x86_64 1.2.9-1.fc26
@qubes-builder-vm-r4.0-current-testing

11 k
zeromq x86_64 4.1.6-3.fc26 @fedora
671 k
Removing unused dependencies:
PyYAML x86_64 3.12-3.fc26 @fedora
646 k
ethtool x86_64 2:4.13-1.fc26 @updates
386 k
fakeroot x86_64 1.22-1.fc26 @updates
188 k
fakeroot-libs x86_64 1.22-1.fc26 @updates
107 k
iptables x86_64 1.6.1-2.fc26 @fedora
1.5 M
js-jquery noarch 3.2.1-1.fc26 @fedora
508 k
libnetfilter_conntrack x86_64 1.0.6-2.fc26 @fedora
143 k
libnfnetlink x86_64 1.0.1-9.fc26 @fedora
46 k
libnftnl x86_64 1.0.7-2.fc26 @fedora
220 k
libtomcrypt x86_64 1.17-31.20160123git912eff4.fc26
@updates
824 k
libtommath x86_64 1.0-8.fc26 @updates
106 k
libvpx x86_64 1.6.1-2.fc26 @fedora
2.0 M
libyaml x86_64 0.1.7-2.fc26 @fedora
121 k
mozilla-filesystem x86_64 1.9-15.fc26 @fedora
0
openpgm x86_64 5.2.122-8.fc26 @fedora
317 k
pciutils x86_64 3.5.5-1.fc26 @updates
205 k
pciutils-libs x86_64 3.5.5-1.fc26 @updates
71 k
poppler-utils x86_64 0.52.0-11.fc26 @updates
507 k
pulseaudio-qubes x86_64 4.0.8-1.fc26
@qubes-builder-vm-r4.0-current-testing

33 k
pycairo x86_64 1.10.0-6.fc26 @fedora
1.0 M
python-backports x86_64 1.0-9.fc26 @fedora
638
python-chardet noarch 2.3.0-3.fc26 @fedora
1.1 M
python-enum34 noarch 1.1.6-1.fc26 @fedora
232 k
python-ipaddress noarch 1.0.16-4.fc26 @fedora
227 k
python-xpyb x86_64 1.3.1-7.fc26 @fedora
1.2 M
python2-asn1crypto noarch 0.23.0-1.fc26 @updates
924 k
python2-babel noarch 2.3.4-5.fc26 @fedora
20 M
python2-backports_abc noarch 0.5-3.fc26 @fedora
30 k
python2-futures noarch 3.1.1-1.fc26 @fedora
91 k
python2-idna noarch 2.5-1.fc26 @fedora
563 k
python2-markupsafe x86_64 0.23-13.fc26 @fedora
83 k
python2-msgpack x86_64 0.4.8-3.fc26 @fedora
272 k
python2-nose noarch 1.3.7-13.fc26 @fedora
1.1 M
python2-olefile noarch 0.44-2.fc26 @fedora
3.5 M
python2-psutil x86_64 5.4.3-2.fc26 @updates
2.2 M
python2-pysocks noarch 1.6.7-1.fc26 @updates
79 k
python2-singledispatch noarch 3.4.0.3-7.fc26 @fedora
46 k
python2-systemd x86_64 234-1.fc26 @fedora
262 k
pytz noarch 2016.10-4.fc26 @fedora
185 k
qubes-core-agent-nautilus x86_64 4.0.20-1.fc26
@qubes-builder-vm-r4.0-current-testing

11 k
qubes-core-agent-passwordless-root x86_64 4.0.20-1.fc26
@qubes-builder-vm-r4.0-current-testing

2.5 k
qubes-gpg-split x86_64 2.0.27-1.fc26
@qubes-builder-vm-r4.0-current-testing

58 k
qubes-img-converter x86_64 1.2.4-1.fc26
@qubes-builder-vm-r4.0-current-testing

6.6 k
qubes-input-proxy-sender x86_64 1.0.10-1.fc26
@qubes-builder-vm-r4.0-current-testing

18 k
qubes-usb-proxy noarch 1.0.15-1.fc26
@qubes-builder-vm-r4.0-current-testing

General notes:

---

Related issues:

missing functions in templates like pdf-converter

[taradiddles]

You probably have the 'qubes-vm-recommended' "meta" rpm installed.
This rpm doesn't provide any file, its role is to pull dependencies that Qubes developpers think are needed in order to get a functional VM. You can see in the spec file that one of those dependencies is 'thunderbird-qubes', which depends on Thunderbird. So trying to remove Thunderbird will remove 'thunderbird-qubes' which in turn will remove 'qubes-vm-recommended' and all its dependencies.

One solution to remove thunderbird is to remove the 'qubes-vm-recommended'; as you see this will remove a bunch of rpms, but you can reinstall them after they're removed.

[taradiddles]

You probably have the 'qubes-vm-recommended' "meta" rpm installed.
This rpm doesn't provide any file, its role is to pull dependencies that Qubes developpers think are needed in order to get a functional VM. You can see in the spec file that one of those dependencies is 'thunderbird-qubes', which depends on Thunderbird. So trying to remove Thunderbird will remove 'thunderbird-qubes' which in turn will remove 'qubes-vm-recommended' and all its dependencies.

One solution to remove thunderbird is to remove the 'qubes-vm-recommended'; as you see this will remove a bunch of rpms, but you can reinstall them after they're removed.

[andrewdavidwong]

I'm provisionally labeling this a bug, but it's unclear whether this should actually be considered one, both for the reasons @taradiddles points out and because we have fedora-minimal specifically for cases in which users want a Fedora template without extra packages like Thunderbird.

CC: @marmarek

[andrewdavidwong]

I'm provisionally labeling this a bug, but it's unclear whether this should actually be considered one, both for the reasons @taradiddles points out and because we have fedora-minimal specifically for cases in which users want a Fedora template without extra packages like Thunderbird.

CC: @marmarek

[taradiddles]

A workaround would be to build the default fedora template without the qubes-vm-recommended package and have the dependencies installed with a script. That way users could remove whatever rpm they want without going through re-installing all the deleted packages afterwards.
Kind of defeats the idea of the meta package though.

[taradiddles]

A workaround would be to build the default fedora template without the qubes-vm-recommended package and have the dependencies installed with a script. That way users could remove whatever rpm they want without going through re-installing all the deleted packages afterwards.
Kind of defeats the idea of the meta package though.