Updated Jan 22nd, 2024 - Simple command to remove all "bloatware" from ubuntu

ubuntu-bloat-removal.sh

sudo apt-get remove                   \
aisleriot                             \
brltty                                \
duplicity                             \
empathy                               \
empathy-common                        \
example-content                       \
gnome-accessibility-themes            \
gnome-contacts                        \
gnome-mahjongg                        \
gnome-mines                           \
gnome-orca                            \
gnome-screensaver                     \
gnome-sudoku                          \
gnome-video-effects                   \
landscape-common                      \
libreoffice-avmedia-backend-gstreamer \
libreoffice-base-core                 \
libreoffice-calc                      \
libreoffice-common                    \
libreoffice-core                      \
libreoffice-draw                      \
libreoffice-gnome                     \
libreoffice-gtk                       \
libreoffice-impress                   \
libreoffice-math                      \
libreoffice-ogltrans                  \
libreoffice-pdfimport                 \
libreoffice-style-galaxy              \
libreoffice-style-human               \
libreoffice-writer                    \
libsane                               \
libsane-common                        \
python3-uno                           \
rhythmbox                             \
rhythmbox-plugins                     \
rhythmbox-plugin-zeitgeist            \
sane-utils                            \
shotwell                              \
shotwell-common                       \
telepathy-gabble                      \
telepathy-haze                        \
telepathy-idle                        \
telepathy-indicator                   \
telepathy-logger                      \
telepathy-mission-control-5           \
telepathy-salut                       \
totem                                 \
totem-common                          \
totem-plugins                         \
printer-driver-brlaser                \
printer-driver-foo2zjs                \
printer-driver-foo2zjs-common         \
printer-driver-m2300w                 \
printer-driver-ptouch                 \
printer-driver-splix

That "code" should be good for now.
I too stopped using Ubuntu some time ago. Too much bloat. 😃
So I won't be able to contribute to this project anymore either.

I use 20.04 mini.iso + sudo apt install xorg lxde-core lxterminal.
Tried The Remove List out on ubuntu-20.04, keeping libreoffice-calc and rhythmbox.
The list needs updating.
I would like to see an English-only version, Australia-only locale, no printers, no wifi, no bluetooth, no updates cache, no screensavers, no games, one theme only (with a YELLOW active title bar), one icon theme, no eye candy, only 3 fonts.
Is it possible to drop all the drivers not being used? Just looping down all these lists of things I never use must waste a lot of cpu cycles.
Does another Linux distro take this approach ?

@davekimble2 At that point, I would just install Arch Linux because Ubuntu is not at all about saving resources or caring what you use or not as it tries to be a distro for everyone. When you boot into the Arch ISO, you can do ‘wget archfi.sf.net/archfi’. Then do ‘sh archfi’ and install and set up everything from there. It’s a script that makes the install progress fast and easy. It is great if you’re like me and always are changing between computers, (Make sure you have Ethernet when you use this). Also, you ONLY select what you need so that’s big plus. Here is a video on this too.

https://youtu.be/GUtpHFI-vjg

Thanks for that. The last time I looked at ArchLinux the main script was withdrawn.
So I tried archfi in Virtualbox, soon became extremely lost, but got as far as loading grub.This got into a loop, complained about a disk being full. My .vdi file was only 1.7 GB of 8 GB allocated, so I guess the sda partition (within .vdi) is too small. It might even have worked, I don't know.
My main concern is that I don't know what installation I have got and what "features" it has/hasn't got. The video was far too fast and assumes I am already an expert. I don't need to be told "its fast and easy", I need to have the choices/options explained to me like I'm a beginner. "Not well documented" is a killer.

After about another 24 hours of work, I still haven't got it installed.
ArchLinux from CD works every time.

wget archfi.sf.net/archfi && sh archfi -  never works
pacman -Sy xorg - never works, fails mostly with retrieve errors and gpgme errors.
pacman -Sy wayland - works usually.
pacman -S lxde - never works - files found in filesystem
pacman -S openbox - works sometimes but reboot fails

This is getting very boring.

Went to the Archlinux Forum and asked there, my first post was consigned to the Dustbin because it mentioned archfi, and archfi IS NOT Arch !!! My second post went on for 20 posts or so, before being consigned to the Dustbin. I was asking about the differences between Arch and Ubuntu, which no one wanted to answer, NOT about how I couldn't install it. I started a third post, but was banned. What a friendly bunch.

Archfi is not Arch because it automates half the job for you.
And Arch is about understanding Linux.
Rule #1 of Arch is RTFM. And if you have to install Arch using a custom made script and especially if you do not understand said script, then you obviously haven't read the manual.
Arch is not for newbies. If you wish to dip your toes into the world of Arch, then Manjaro might be a great starting distro.
But don't expect the Arch forums to help you out with Manjaro. Because Manjaro is just as much Arch as Ubuntu is Debian.
The only thing they have in common is the core base.

Everytime i use this basic script it breaks my settings application. So to repair it i just used Sudo apt install gnome-control-center.
btw im on Ubuntu 18.04

Everytime i use this basic script it breaks my settings application. So to repair it i just used Sudo apt install gnome-control-center.
btw im on Ubuntu 18.04

Thats because alot of these are gnome-settings dependencies.

If you're on KDE or another window manager/desktop then you don't need them.

Has anyone tested this code

Yes. Rebooted and everything's okay.

Tested on a default install of 20.04 LTS. After dropping a few missing packages, the rest worked fine

sudo apt-get remove aisleriot brltty duplicity empathy empathy-common example-content gnome-accessibility-themes gnome-contacts gnome-mahjongg gnome-mines gnome-orca gnome-screensaver gnome-sudoku gnome-video-effects landscape-common libreoffice-avmedia-backend-gstreamer libreoffice-base-core libreoffice-calc libreoffice-common libreoffice-core libreoffice-draw libreoffice-gnome libreoffice-gtk libreoffice-impress libreoffice-math libreoffice-ogltrans libreoffice-pdfimport libreoffice-style-galaxy libreoffice-style-human libreoffice-writer libsane libsane-common python3-uno rhythmbox rhythmbox-plugins rhythmbox-plugin-zeitgeist sane-utils shotwell shotwell-common telepathy-gabble telepathy-idle telepathy-indicator telepathy-logger telepathy-mission-control-5 totem totem-common totem-plugins printer-driver-brlaser printer-driver-foo2zjs printer-driver-foo2zjs-common printer-driver-m2300w printer-driver-ptouch printer-driver-splix

Thanks I only use ubuntu for bash scripting. No need the other useless app.

is it ok to use in 20.04?

@spacysky322

Tested on a default install of 20.04 LTS. After dropping a few missing packages, the rest worked fine

Two comments above yours

sorry didn't read it, thanks

I could see it freed 40 MB of valuable space. I can confirm this is absolutely okay.

After this operation, 22.7 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]

😔 This is so far away from my expectation 😞
I know im install non GUI ubuntu but still meh.. 😒

I think that it's safe to say if you want a de-bloated Ubuntu, do not install Ubuntu.
"Bloat" is very subjective. To me, bloat means telemetry tools, printer / scanner tools and drivers as well as Snap.
With distros such as Linux Mint, most of this stuff have been stripped out.

Please excuse the luddite question, but would this work on Lubuntu you think?
Trying to get the minimum OS possible on an old AMD notebook. Thanks in advance!

@pepe-verde Lubuntu is roughly speaking Ubuntu server with the LXDE environment. It should work, although maybe there are some packages in this line of code that will be missing.

Having used Linux on an old netbook (Asus EEEPC 901) a year ago, my recommendation (personal one, probably a lot of people here will get into the discussion and recommend other stuff, which is completely fair, but I went with this because of the balance of convenience vs lightness) would be to go with ArchLinux32 and install some very lightweight window manager like i3 or DWM (those are tiling window managers that are used through the keyboard, which has some learning curve, as an alternative you can use LXDE which is what Lubuntu comes with).

Arch has currently the biggest package repository (SteamDeck OS is based on Arch), although for the 32bit version you will have to compile some stuff and although it looks intimidating, by following the steps in the installation guide it is very straightforward to install, just takes some time.

Due to life priorities I'm currently between MacOS and Windows, so not really maintaining this, but feel free to ask me anything

@pepe-verde Lubuntu is roughly speaking Ubuntu server with the LXDE environment. It should work, although maybe there are some packages in this line of code that will be missing.

Thank you so much Nick! I'll try the sudo apt-get remove option first and if not then consider switching to ArchLinux. Wish me luck :)

Maybe add mines majong and sudoku as this was not removed on 22.04 and this was top google result.

the remaing pakets :
aisleriot brltty cheese deja-dup duplicity gnome-accessibility-themes
gnome-mahjongg gnome-mines gnome-sudoku gnome-video-effects

Thanks

If someone wants to make a full command here that works, I'll happily replace the one above so its updated :)

This command works in bash on ubuntu 22.04LTS as of 4th of jan 2024, I split it into multiple lines for easy removal/addition in future:

sudo apt-get remove                   \
aisleriot                             \
brltty                                \
duplicity                             \
empathy                               \
empathy-common                        \
example-content                       \
gnome-accessibility-themes            \
gnome-contacts                        \
gnome-mahjongg                        \
gnome-mines                           \
gnome-orca                            \
gnome-screensaver                     \
gnome-sudoku                          \
gnome-video-effects                   \
landscape-common                      \
libreoffice-avmedia-backend-gstreamer \
libreoffice-base-core                 \
libreoffice-calc                      \
libreoffice-common                    \
libreoffice-core                      \
libreoffice-draw                      \
libreoffice-gnome                     \
libreoffice-gtk                       \
libreoffice-impress                   \
libreoffice-math                      \
libreoffice-ogltrans                  \
libreoffice-pdfimport                 \
libreoffice-style-galaxy              \
libreoffice-style-human               \
libreoffice-writer                    \
libsane                               \
libsane-common                        \
python3-uno                           \
rhythmbox                             \
rhythmbox-plugins                     \
rhythmbox-plugin-zeitgeist            \
sane-utils                            \
shotwell                              \
shotwell-common                       \
telepathy-gabble                      \
telepathy-haze                        \
telepathy-idle                        \
telepathy-indicator                   \
telepathy-logger                      \
telepathy-mission-control-5           \
telepathy-salut                       \
totem                                 \
totem-common                          \
totem-plugins                         \
printer-driver-brlaser                \
printer-driver-foo2zjs                \
printer-driver-foo2zjs-common         \
printer-driver-m2300w                 \
printer-driver-ptouch                 \
printer-driver-splix

Thanks @mdemerson

@NickSeagull just a heads up, I will be including this command in a blog post here soon. Was trying to get an Ubuntu VM up and running for a Workshop I hosted and your command came in handy when dealing with performance issues.
The blog will be up sometime next week on my LinkedIn page: LinkedIn.com/in/CalvinWorst

Edit: typo

Lovely, glad that this has been useful @CalvinWorst :)

for 24.04 LTS?