Possible to install packages without recommends?

[Snowhog]

It was possible, using apt-get, to install a package without including any recommended packages: sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends

This option doesn't seem to be included using the newer apt command. Is this the case? Are recommends always going to be installed now?

[Rog131]

By Difference Between apt and apt-get Explained - https://itsfoss.com/apt-vs-apt-get-difference/

Bottom line: apt=most common used command options from apt-get and apt-cache.

If you don't want to use the apt-get there is an option to edit the config files: ReduceDebian - https://wiki.debian.org/ReduceDebian -> https://wiki.debian.org/ReduceDebian...ional_packages

Reconfigure apt so that it does not install additional packages
Add the following entries to the /etc/apt/apt.conf configuration file:

APT::Install-Recommends "0" ; APT::Install-Suggests "0" ;

Alternatives from the Ubuntu repositories:
- aptitude: https://packages.ubuntu.com/cosmic/aptitude
- wajig: https://packages.ubuntu.com/cosmic/wajig

[Snowhog]

Thank you Rog. That however suggests an 'all or nothing' solution; controlling whether recommends/suggests are or are not installed "all the time". When the --no-install-recommends was available, you were able to use it or not use it for any package(s) you wanted to install from the CLI. That flexibility is what I would like to have in 18.10, if it's possible.

[claydoh]

I have used the flag with apt in the past

Lemme check:

gus@gus-HP-Compaq-Elite-8300-SFF:~$ sudo apt install evolution
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libllvm7 libllvm7:i386
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following additional packages will be installed:
  bogofilter bogofilter-bdb bogofilter-common bubblewrap evolution-common evolution-data-server evolution-data-server-common
  evolution-plugin-bogofilter evolution-plugin-pstimport evolution-plugins gcr gnome-desktop3-data gnome-keyring gnome-keyring-pkcs11 libcamel-1.2-62
  libcanberra-gtk3-0 libcanberra-gtk3-module libchamplain-0.12-0 libchamplain-gtk-0.12-0 libclutter-1.0-0 libclutter-1.0-common libclutter-gtk-1.0-0
  libcogl-common libcogl-pango20 libcogl-path20 libcogl20 libebackend-1.2-10 libebook-1.2-19 libebook-contacts-1.2-2 libecal-1.2-19
  libedata-book-1.2-25 libedata-cal-1.2-29 libedataserver-1.2-23 libedataserverui-1.2-2 libevolution libgail-3-0 libgck-1-0 libgcr-base-3-1
  libgcr-ui-3-1 libgdata-common libgdata22 libgeocode-glib0 libgnome-autoar-0-0 libgnome-autoar-gtk-0-0 libgnome-desktop-3-17 libgoa-1.0-0b
  libgoa-1.0-common libgtkspell3-3-0 libgweather-3-15 libgweather-common liboauth0 libpam-gnome-keyring libphonenumber7 libprotobuf10 libpst4
  libyelp0 libytnef0 p11-kit p11-kit-modules pinentry-gnome3 python3-distro yelp yelp-xsl
Suggested packages:
  db5.3-util doc-base evolution-ews evolution-plugins-experimental pinentry-doc
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  bogofilter bogofilter-bdb bogofilter-common bubblewrap evolution evolution-common evolution-data-server evolution-data-server-common
  evolution-plugin-bogofilter evolution-plugin-pstimport evolution-plugins gcr gnome-desktop3-data gnome-keyring gnome-keyring-pkcs11 libcamel-1.2-62
  libcanberra-gtk3-0 libcanberra-gtk3-module libchamplain-0.12-0 libchamplain-gtk-0.12-0 libclutter-1.0-0 libclutter-1.0-common libclutter-gtk-1.0-0
  libcogl-common libcogl-pango20 libcogl-path20 libcogl20 libebackend-1.2-10 libebook-1.2-19 libebook-contacts-1.2-2 libecal-1.2-19
  libedata-book-1.2-25 libedata-cal-1.2-29 libedataserver-1.2-23 libedataserverui-1.2-2 libevolution libgail-3-0 libgck-1-0 libgcr-base-3-1
  libgcr-ui-3-1 libgdata-common libgdata22 libgeocode-glib0 libgnome-autoar-0-0 libgnome-autoar-gtk-0-0 libgnome-desktop-3-17 libgoa-1.0-0b
  libgoa-1.0-common libgtkspell3-3-0 libgweather-3-15 libgweather-common liboauth0 libpam-gnome-keyring libphonenumber7 libprotobuf10 libpst4
  libyelp0 libytnef0 p11-kit p11-kit-modules pinentry-gnome3 python3-distro yelp yelp-xsl
0 upgraded, 64 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 11.4 MB of archives.
After this operation, 62.4 MB of additional disk space will be used.

vs

gus@gus-HP-Compaq-Elite-8300-SFF:~$ sudo apt install evolution --no-install-recommends
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libllvm7 libllvm7:i386
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following additional packages will be installed:
  bubblewrap evolution-common evolution-data-server evolution-data-server-common gcr gnome-desktop3-data gnome-keyring libcamel-1.2-62
  libcanberra-gtk3-0 libchamplain-0.12-0 libchamplain-gtk-0.12-0 libclutter-1.0-0 libclutter-gtk-1.0-0 libcogl-pango20 libcogl-path20 libcogl20
  libebackend-1.2-10 libebook-1.2-19 libebook-contacts-1.2-2 libecal-1.2-19 libedata-book-1.2-25 libedata-cal-1.2-29 libedataserver-1.2-23
  libedataserverui-1.2-2 libevolution libgail-3-0 libgck-1-0 libgcr-base-3-1 libgcr-ui-3-1 libgdata-common libgdata22 libgeocode-glib0
  libgnome-autoar-0-0 libgnome-autoar-gtk-0-0 libgnome-desktop-3-17 libgoa-1.0-0b libgoa-1.0-common libgtkspell3-3-0 libgweather-3-15
  libgweather-common liboauth0 libphonenumber7 libprotobuf10 libytnef0 p11-kit p11-kit-modules pinentry-gnome3
Suggested packages:
  evolution-ews evolution-plugins-experimental pinentry-doc
Recommended packages:
  evolution-plugins evolution-plugin-bogofilter | evolution-plugin-spamassassin evolution-plugin-pstimport yelp libpam-gnome-keyring
  gnome-keyring-pkcs11 libcanberra-gtk3-module libclutter-1.0-common libcogl-common
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  bubblewrap evolution evolution-common evolution-data-server evolution-data-server-common gcr gnome-desktop3-data gnome-keyring libcamel-1.2-62
  libcanberra-gtk3-0 libchamplain-0.12-0 libchamplain-gtk-0.12-0 libclutter-1.0-0 libclutter-gtk-1.0-0 libcogl-pango20 libcogl-path20 libcogl20
  libebackend-1.2-10 libebook-1.2-19 libebook-contacts-1.2-2 libecal-1.2-19 libedata-book-1.2-25 libedata-cal-1.2-29 libedataserver-1.2-23
  libedataserverui-1.2-2 libevolution libgail-3-0 libgck-1-0 libgcr-base-3-1 libgcr-ui-3-1 libgdata-common libgdata22 libgeocode-glib0
  libgnome-autoar-0-0 libgnome-autoar-gtk-0-0 libgnome-desktop-3-17 libgoa-1.0-0b libgoa-1.0-common libgtkspell3-3-0 libgweather-3-15
  libgweather-common liboauth0 libphonenumber7 libprotobuf10 libytnef0 p11-kit p11-kit-modules pinentry-gnome3
0 upgraded, 48 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 9,848 kB of archives.
After this operation, 55.8 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]

This was the only thing I could think of to check with.
There is also a possibility some packaging is not using recommends as much as was used in the past, maybe?

[Snowhog]

Thank you. I think I see my mistake. I was attempting: sudo apt install --no-install-recommends package_name. The auto-completion (pressing Tab) wasn't showing me anything (sudo apt install --no-[tab]), so I 'assumed'....

Nice to know this functionality is still present.