On Tue 04 Nov 2025 at 10:31:00 (-0500), Greg Wooledge wrote: > On Tue, Nov 04, 2025 at 13:46:12 -0000, Bigsy Bohr wrote: > > On 2025-11-04, Greg Wooledge <[email protected]> wrote: > > > If "Debian Desktop" is selected, then the installer will choose a Desktop > > > Environment *for* you. If the installer is the standard one, it will > > > choose GNOME. In theory, this selection could change some day, but > > > it has been GNOME for a very long time. > > > > No, I believe I ticked Desktop Environment (?) and LXDE in the > > installer. How this differs from only ticking LXDE, I don't know. But I > > know I'm not running Gnome. > > *Sigh* > > Apparently I wasn't verbose enough. > > If "Debian Desktop" is selected AND NONE OF THE OTHER DESKTOPS ARE > SELECTED, then the installer will choose a Desktop Environment *for* you. > If the installer is the standard one, it will choose GNOME. In theory, > this selection could change some day, but it has been GNOME for a very > long time. > > Again, this part of the installer is confusing as hell, and I truly > do not know why they designed it this way, though I suspect it has > something to do with supporting the "Live" installer. Unfortunately, > none of us are in a position to do anything about it.
And to set Bigsy's mind at rest: on my system, which has none of this desktop stuff installed, the list of packages that would need to be installed by APT is identical when you use any of: apt-get install task-lxde-desktop apt-get install task-lxde-desktop task-desktop apt-get install task-desktop task-lxde-desktop for LXDE (~260 new packages to add), or else either of: apt-get install task-desktop apt-get install task-gnome-desktop for GNOME (~525 new packages). So '[*] Debian desktop environment' has no effect in itself when any of the ... "sub"-collections below it are selected. Cheers, David.
