Why does the Ubuntu Software Center use Python 2?

Question

The Ubuntu Software Center is described as,

Utility for browsing, installing, and removing software Ubuntu Software Center lets you browse and install thousands of free and paid applications available for Ubuntu. You can view available software by category, or search quickly by name or description. You can also examine the software already installed, and remove items you no longer need. To install or remove software using USC, you need administrator access on the computer.

I'm wanting to remove Python 2. If this is the a core gui-distro utility, why is it on Python 2 (which is EOL in 1 year 1 month), why would my distro ship this?

Depends: python:any (>= 2.7)
iso-codes
app-install-data (>= 0.4.0)
aptdaemon (>= 0.40)
software-center-aptdaemon-plugins
humanity-icon-theme, gir1.2-glib-2.0 (>= 1.31)
gir1.2-gtk-3.0
gir1.2-gmenu-3.0 (>= 3.1.5)
gir1.2-webkit2-4.0
gvfs-backends
python-gi (>= 3.4.0-1ubuntu0.1)
python-gi-cairo
python-xapian
python-apt (>= 0.8.3ubuntu4)
python-aptdaemon (>= 0.40)
python-aptdaemon.gtk3widgets
python-dbus
python-defer
python-lxml
policykit-1
policykit-1-gnome | policykit-1-kde
python-xdg
ubuntu-sso-client
python-piston-mini-client (>= 0.1+bzr29)
oneconf (>= 0.2.6)
python-oneconf (>= 0.3) | oneconf (

This question is about why a piece of software is holding back Python 2 from autoremove and has nothing do to with installing software.

Possible duplicate of How do I install applications in Ubuntu? — N0rbert, Nov 02 '18 at 09:08
It is duplicate because you are trying to find GUI software manager to install software and you have ended with software-center application. — N0rbert, Nov 02 '18 at 13:49
You should not remove python2 as it is core system-wide component. — N0rbert, Nov 02 '18 at 13:50
It's actually not, which is I why asking this question. Go read something. — Evan Carroll, Nov 02 '18 at 13:52
It says any Python later than or equal to 2.7... are you sure it needs Python 2? — Zanna, Nov 02 '18 at 18:20
@Zanna yes, because python (the metapackage) is for Python 2. Depends: python2.7 (>= 2.7.15-1~), libpython-stdlib (= 2.7.15-3), python2 (= 2.7.15-3) — Evan Carroll, Nov 02 '18 at 18:32

Evan Carroll · Answer 1 · 2018-11-01T22:09:27.173

Ubuntu dropped the software center in 16.04, and it's been unmaintained since 2015. In some versions, like Ubuntu it was replaced with gnome-software. However, in Xubuntu not requiring Gnome it simply removed the dependency on the software-center and left it hanging. Your distro probably has been distupgraded since pre-16.04.

Simply remove it yourself,

sudo apt-get --purge --yes remove software-center
sudo apt-get autoremove # remove all things it required.

Optionally, if you want a gui to install packages install software-center.

Why does the Ubuntu Software Center use Python 2?

1 Answers1