Hi, Pascal Hambourg <[email protected]> wrote (Sat, 28 Feb 2026 11:36:25 +0100): > On 27/02/2026 at 11:52, Olaf wrote: > > > > In the software selection dialog, the Debian desktop environment checkbox > > doesn't seem to do anything. Unchecking it doesn't uncheck GNOME and > > it'll still install GNOME. > > Only if GNOME is checked. > > > I think it should uncheck all desktop environments. > > I am not sure if the "multiselect" debconf dialog type used by tasksel > can support this kind of hierarchical selection. > > > Checking it when no DE is checked should probably do something as well. > It does: it installs the first available desktop environment. Maybe this > is a bit unintuitive.
This all has been a long-standing issue, really. I wonder why we have this hierarchical structure for the desktops at all ??? And if we could switch from the current Debian desktop environment ... GNOME ... Xfce ... GNOME Flashback ... KDE Plasma ... Cinnamon ... MATE ... LXDE ... LXQt ... Lomiri ... Phosh web server SSH server standard system utilities Choose a Debian Blend for installation to something like GNOME desktop Xfce desktop GNOME Flashback desktop KDE Plasma desktop Cinnamon desktop MATE desktop LXDE desktop LXQt desktop Lomiri desktop Phosh mobile desktop web server SSH server standard system utilities Choose a Debian Blend for installation I have worked out a diff to achive this (that is: remove the "Parent: desktop" lines, remove the entry for the "Debian desktop environment" and adjust the "Relevance" to get the same order as before). Patch attached. Holger -- Holger Wansing <[email protected]> PGP-Fingerprint: 496A C6E8 1442 4B34 8508 3529 59F1 87CA 156E B076
>From e4a5705bbd098a96aaae6dacb851c6b0d1775635 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Holger Wansing <[email protected]> Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2026 16:36:56 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] Remove hierarchical structure for desktop environments --- tasks/blendsel | 2 +- tasks/cinnamon-desktop | 3 +-- tasks/desktop | 6 ------ tasks/gnome-desktop | 1 - tasks/gnome-flashback-desktop | 3 +-- tasks/kde-desktop | 3 +-- tasks/laptop | 2 +- tasks/lomiri-desktop | 3 +-- tasks/lomiri-tablet | 3 +-- tasks/lxde-desktop | 1 - tasks/lxqt-desktop | 3 +-- tasks/mate-desktop | 1 - tasks/phosh-desktop | 3 +-- tasks/ssh-server | 1 + tasks/standard | 2 +- tasks/web-server | 2 +- tasks/xfce-desktop | 1 - 17 files changed, 12 insertions(+), 28 deletions(-) delete mode 100644 tasks/desktop diff --git a/tasks/blendsel b/tasks/blendsel index f5dc0331..3ef56dcf 100644 --- a/tasks/blendsel +++ b/tasks/blendsel @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ Task: blendsel -Relevance: 10 +Relevance: 16 Section: user Key: task-blendsel diff --git a/tasks/cinnamon-desktop b/tasks/cinnamon-desktop index 78acab42..0d887fc3 100644 --- a/tasks/cinnamon-desktop +++ b/tasks/cinnamon-desktop @@ -1,7 +1,6 @@ Task: cinnamon-desktop -Parent: desktop Test-default-desktop: 3 cinnamon -Relevance: 6 +Relevance: 5 Section: user Key: task-cinnamon-desktop diff --git a/tasks/desktop b/tasks/desktop deleted file mode 100644 index 6b1a993f..00000000 --- a/tasks/desktop +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6 +0,0 @@ -Task: desktop -Relevance: 1 -Section: user -Test-desktop: 1 -Key: - task-desktop diff --git a/tasks/gnome-desktop b/tasks/gnome-desktop index 53caf8c6..4ca68d09 100644 --- a/tasks/gnome-desktop +++ b/tasks/gnome-desktop @@ -1,6 +1,5 @@ Task: gnome-desktop Relevance: 1 -Parent: desktop Test-default-desktop: 3 gnome Section: user Key: diff --git a/tasks/gnome-flashback-desktop b/tasks/gnome-flashback-desktop index b7875ea3..94d1dd6a 100644 --- a/tasks/gnome-flashback-desktop +++ b/tasks/gnome-flashback-desktop @@ -1,6 +1,5 @@ Task: gnome-flashback-desktop -Relevance: 5 -Parent: desktop +Relevance: 3 Test-default-desktop: 3 gnome-flashback Section: user Key: diff --git a/tasks/kde-desktop b/tasks/kde-desktop index f0f01cda..5e2c01b9 100644 --- a/tasks/kde-desktop +++ b/tasks/kde-desktop @@ -1,6 +1,5 @@ Task: kde-desktop -Relevance: 5 -Parent: desktop +Relevance: 4 Test-default-desktop: 3 kde Section: user Key: diff --git a/tasks/laptop b/tasks/laptop index c2cd8e12..96fefb32 100644 --- a/tasks/laptop +++ b/tasks/laptop @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ Task: laptop Section: user Test-laptop: 1 -Relevance: 9 +Relevance: 12 Key: task-laptop diff --git a/tasks/lomiri-desktop b/tasks/lomiri-desktop index 571293dd..5d7e6515 100644 --- a/tasks/lomiri-desktop +++ b/tasks/lomiri-desktop @@ -1,6 +1,5 @@ Task: lomiri-desktop -Relevance: 8 -Parent: desktop +Relevance: 9 Test-default-desktop: 3 lomiri Section: user Key: diff --git a/tasks/lomiri-tablet b/tasks/lomiri-tablet index b15fe24b..70d1ca28 100644 --- a/tasks/lomiri-tablet +++ b/tasks/lomiri-tablet @@ -1,6 +1,5 @@ Task: lomiri-tablet -Relevance: 8 -Parent: desktop +Relevance: 10 # Only perform one test, the tablet one (i.e. no Test-default-desktop here): Test-tablet: true Section: user diff --git a/tasks/lxde-desktop b/tasks/lxde-desktop index 1541f411..cc798097 100644 --- a/tasks/lxde-desktop +++ b/tasks/lxde-desktop @@ -1,6 +1,5 @@ Task: lxde-desktop Relevance: 7 -Parent: desktop Test-default-desktop: 3 lxde Section: user Key: diff --git a/tasks/lxqt-desktop b/tasks/lxqt-desktop index 53087299..196bb0cc 100644 --- a/tasks/lxqt-desktop +++ b/tasks/lxqt-desktop @@ -1,6 +1,5 @@ Task: lxqt-desktop -Relevance: 7 -Parent: desktop +Relevance: 8 Test-default-desktop: 3 lxqt Section: user Key: diff --git a/tasks/mate-desktop b/tasks/mate-desktop index 5117cf0d..7207e079 100644 --- a/tasks/mate-desktop +++ b/tasks/mate-desktop @@ -1,6 +1,5 @@ Task: mate-desktop Section: user -Parent: desktop Relevance: 6 Test-default-desktop: 3 mate Key: diff --git a/tasks/phosh-desktop b/tasks/phosh-desktop index 7620e957..a41de9e6 100644 --- a/tasks/phosh-desktop +++ b/tasks/phosh-desktop @@ -1,6 +1,5 @@ Task: phosh-desktop -Relevance: 8 -Parent: desktop +Relevance: 11 Test-default-desktop: 3 phosh Section: user Key: diff --git a/tasks/ssh-server b/tasks/ssh-server index f30408f0..d746376f 100644 --- a/tasks/ssh-server +++ b/tasks/ssh-server @@ -1,4 +1,5 @@ Task: ssh-server +Relevance: 14 Section: server Test-server: 1 Key: diff --git a/tasks/standard b/tasks/standard index 7c92cfbc..8e02cdf5 100644 --- a/tasks/standard +++ b/tasks/standard @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ Task: standard -Relevance: 9 +Relevance: 15 Section: user Description: standard system utilities This task sets up a basic user environment, providing a reasonably diff --git a/tasks/web-server b/tasks/web-server index 774a016b..5f5f156a 100644 --- a/tasks/web-server +++ b/tasks/web-server @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ Task: web-server -Relevance: 3 +Relevance: 13 Section: server Key: task-web-server diff --git a/tasks/xfce-desktop b/tasks/xfce-desktop index 3b6826fe..6d15a19b 100644 --- a/tasks/xfce-desktop +++ b/tasks/xfce-desktop @@ -1,6 +1,5 @@ Task: xfce-desktop Relevance: 2 -Parent: desktop Test-default-desktop: 3 xfce Section: user Key: -- 2.39.5
