Tip: Tell apt-get not to install “recommends” packages in Debian Linux
Preview:
Purpose: If you are using Debian Lenny and are installing software packages using apt-get then you might have noticed the new version of apt-get in Lenny installs the “recommends” packages automatically thus increasing the number of packages installed on your computer. The “apt-get” in Debian Etch (4.0) did not use to install “recommends” packages. In this post, we will see how we can permanently tell apt-get NOT to install “recommends” packages. For those of you who are not sure about Debian’s “depends”, “recommends” and “suggested” packages, please refer to this doc. This is important if you have limited storage space on your system, say for example an embedded system.
