sudo pacman -Rns discover outputs the following:
checking dependencies...
error: failed to prepare transaction (could not satisfy dependencies)
:: removing discover breaks dependency 'discover' required by plasma-meta
What is the proper way to remove this without breaking the system, and ensuring it doesn’t get reinstalled in future updates?
The answer is…don’t use plasma-meta. A meta package forces all it’s dependencies to stay installed. When you use a meta package, that is what you are asking for.
To solve this problem, remove plasma-meta and then mark all it’s dependencies as explicitly installed using pacman.
In the future, if you decide to install plasma manually on another install, use the group plasma instead of the meta package.
I’m facing this on my vanilla Arch machine. Discover was installed by default on a clean installation. I tried to remove it and was met with that output.
So I run sudo pacman -R plasma-meta
What do you exactly mean by “mark its dependencies as explicitly installed using pacman”?
Excuse my ignorance. First time coming across this.
Yes.
>>> pacman -Si plasma-meta
Repository : extra
Name : plasma-meta
Version : 6.1-1
Description : Meta package to install KDE Plasma
Architecture : any
URL : https://kde.org/plasma-desktop/
Licenses : None
Groups : None
Provides : None
Depends On : bluedevil breeze-gtk discover drkonqi kde-gtk-config kdeplasma-addons kgamma kinfocenter krdp kscreen ksshaskpass kwallet-pam kwrited ocean-sound-theme oxygen oxygen-sounds plasma-browser-integration plasma-desktop plasma-disks plasma-firewall plasma-nm
plasma-workspace-wallpapers plasma-pa plasma-systemmonitor plasma-thunderbolt plasma-vault plasma-welcome powerdevil print-manager sddm-kcm xdg-desktop-portal-kde
Optional Deps : breeze-grub: Breeze theme for GRUB
breeze-plymouth: Breeze theme for Plymouth
flatpak-kcm: Manage Flatpak applications from systemsettings
plymouth-kcm: Configure Plymouth from systemsettings
plasma-sdk: Development tools
Conflicts With : None
Replaces : None
Download Size : 6.46 KiB
Installed Size : 0.00 KiB
Packager : Antonio Rojas <arojas@archlinux.org>
Build Date : Fri 24 May 2024 03:15:33 PM CDT
Validated By : SHA-256 Sum Signature
That shows you the dependencies.
Then you can use:
sudo pacman -D --asexplicit bluedevil breeze-gtk drkonqi kde-gtk-config kdeplasma-addons kgamma kinfocenter krdp kscreen ksshaskpass kwallet-pam kwrited ocean-sound-theme oxygen oxygen-sounds plasma-browser-integration plasma-desktop plasma-disks plasma-firewall plasma-nm plasma-workspace-wallpapers plasma-pa plasma-systemmonitor plasma-thunderbolt plasma-vault plasma-welcome powerdevil print-manager sddm-kcm xdg-desktop-portal-kde
If you don’t do that, the entirety of plasma will become orphaned packages.
That is why most installers avoid using meta packages to install a DE.
Thank you sir.
Good riddance to discover.
I’m surprised discover isn’t removed from a vanilla Arch KDE install by default. Seems like a no-brainer IMO and highlights that EOS is doing it right by canning it on a clean installation.
Did you use the script archinstall to install the “vanilla” Arch?
One can argue that a vanilla install of Arch is what is described in the wiki which in reality install a bese system and log you in a TTY.
From there, it’s up to the user what packages to install.
Yes, sir, I did. I should’ve been more clear.
I’ve done the manual install enough times to earn my stripes, but much prefer the archinstall script when time is of the essence.
There’s not enough hours in a day to do everything you want 
If you write down the steps to install Arch once, the time it takes to install is significantly reduced in subsequent installs. 
Better yet, script the install steps in bash and reduce the install time and eliminate possible typos.
On the other hand, simply having it installed is not a bad thing. It won’t automatically run over and erase your hard drive. Just don’t use it.
The question was not about to see if you have gained your BTW badge of honor or not. I am sure you have.
I just wondered about the reason of your surprise over having discover installed in your system which is pulled in among other packages, dependencies of plasma-meta package.
The ArchWiki page on archinstall is clear about the ways archinstall differs from the regular installation:
archinstall offers different defaults than the regular installation process.
Profiles
archinstall includes profiles, or sets of packages and pre-configured options which can be installed next to the base system.
Warning: Shipped profiles are specific to archinstall and not supported by package maintainers. Users are advised to check the details of each profile before using it.
And the Plasma profile mentions clearly “plasma-meta” among the packages to be installed:
from typing import List, Optional, Any, TYPE_CHECKING
from archinstall.default_profiles.profile import ProfileType, GreeterType
from archinstall.default_profiles.xorg import XorgProfile
if TYPE_CHECKING:
_: Any
class PlasmaProfile(XorgProfile):
def __init__(self):
super().__init__('KDE Plasma', ProfileType.DesktopEnv, description='')
@property
def packages(self) -> List[str]:
return [
"plasma-meta",
"konsole",
"kwrite",
"dolphin",
"ark",
"plasma-workspace",
"egl-wayland"
]
@property
def default_greeter_type(self) -> Optional[GreeterType]:
return GreeterType.Sddm
So it shouldn’t come as a surprise and why I couldn’t understand your further remark
In all honestly, one has to admit that EnOS’ makes quite a few choices on behalf of the users both when it comes to the packages installed and other tweaks and automation which places it at a distance from the “regular” Arch installation referred to in the ArchWiki article.
Then what should be called Vanilla and what not is another story.
I agree. I feel like the term “vanilla Arch” is very commonly used, but does not actually have any significant meaning.
The term “vanilla” is meant to refer to the original, unmodified version of a given piece of software. If someone is running “vanilla Gnome” or “vanilla Ubuntu,” they mean the standard, official version of Gnome or Ubuntu without any customization or additional features added by the user or third parties.
So what is “vanilla Arch”? It seems like it would be just a TTY with no applications installed. Almost certainly it would not be a full-blown desktop environment with all the bells and whistles.
In this topic, everywhere it says “vanilla Arch” it could just say “Arch” instead and no substantive meaning would be lost.
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