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Fist of all, I have no idea how all these separate concerns (email, calendar, phone and physical address directory) all got rolled into one program, or why that program was then made a critical component of the desktop system. Evolution is broken for me in a variety of ways (yay large feature sets :/), and I would like to remove it and replace it's features one at a time, as needed, with single-purpose software.

Unfortunately, due to said tight coupling, removing Evolution is sketchy. apt-get remove evolution-data-server also wants to remove Unity! Surely, Unity is capable of running without Evolution? I really want that server gone, it keeps opening browser windows asking me to authenticate Evolution (The local program instance, or the organization that develops it? Huge difference!)

So, suggestions for solutions? I have an idea, but I'm not sure about some of the details.

  1. Generate a .deb file for Unity using dpkg-repack
  2. Remove any references to Evolution
  3. Replace the current local Unity apt file with the one I just edited, wherever Ubuntu stores the APTs of installed programs. apt-get will read those, and not just read some cache somewhere, right?
  4. Try again: apt-get remove evolution*

Similar questions, that may have helped, but didn't lead to a solution:

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  • The Evolution application itself is not even installed by default in Ubuntu. You can remove it just fine. No, you cannot remove the back-end which many applications use. – dobey Mar 14 '17 at 21:43
  • Use for what, though? If I'm not using the features it provides, then those other applications might never notice it missing. Assuming I even use any of those other applications. – Dan Ross Mar 14 '17 at 21:45
  • Use for calendar and contacts storage. This is how the time and date indicator in Unity shows upcoming events and such. It's how event reminder notifications work. It is a core part of Unity. – dobey Mar 14 '17 at 21:46
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    Are you sure that apt-get remove evolution-data-server wants to remove Unity? I seem to remember doing it dozens of times and Unity survived unharmed... – AlexP Mar 14 '17 at 21:48
  • I only use Unity as a window / desktop manager. I have disabled everything that would communicate over the network, when I am trying to find local files or commands. I do not need it to use those features; if I want them, I will find software that provides them in a simpler manner. – Dan Ross Mar 14 '17 at 21:48
  • Yes, apt-get remove evolution-data-server wants to remove address-book-service evolution-data-server gnome-contacts libfolks-eds25 qtcontact5-galera qtdeclarative5-ubuntu-telephony0.1 and our friend unity8. – Dan Ross Mar 14 '17 at 21:49
  • Oh! Perhaps Unity itself is only a meta package? If that were the case, then removing Unity should leave me with a working Unity. Although it would break as soon as the devs factored out anything important into a new dependency of the Unity meta package. – Dan Ross Mar 14 '17 at 21:55

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