[HOW-TO] Avoid installing GUI packages?

[mikkelam]

According to the readme:

If you do not want the GUI dependencies, use

sudo apt install -y python3-picamera2 --no-install-recommends

However, doing that i get:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo apt install -y python3-picamera2 --no-install-recommends
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
  fontconfig libass9 libasyncns0 libavc1394-0 libavcodec59 libavdevice59 libavfilter8 libavformat59 libavutil57 libblas3 libbluray2 libbs2b0 libcaca0 libcairo-gobject2 libcairo2 libcdio-cdda2 libcdio-paranoia2 libcdio19 libchromaprint1 libcjson1 libcodec2-1.0 libdc1394-25 libdecor-0-0 libdrm-amdgpu1
  libdrm-nouveau2 libdrm-radeon1 libepoxy0 libflite1 libgbm1 libgdk-pixbuf-2.0-0 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-common libgfortran5 libgl1 libgl1-mesa-dri libglapi-mesa libglvnd0 libglx-mesa0 libglx0 libgme0 libgraphite2-3 libgsm1 libharfbuzz0b libhwy1 libiec61883-0 libimagequant0 libjack-jackd2-0 libjxl0.7 liblapack3
  liblcms2-2 liblilv-0-0 libllvm15 libmbedcrypto7 libmp3lame0 libmpg123-0 libmysofa1 libnorm1 libopenal-data libopenal1 libopenjp2-7 libopenmpt0 libopus0 libpango-1.0-0 libpangocairo-1.0-0 libpangoft2-1.0-0 libpgm-5.3-0 libpixman-1-0 libplacebo208 libpocketsphinx3 libpostproc56 libpulse0 librabbitmq4 libraqm0
  libraw1394-11 librist4 librsvg2-2 librubberband2 libsdl2-2.0-0 libsensors-config libsensors5 libserd-0-0 libshine3 libsnappy1v5 libsndfile1 libsndio7.0 libsord-0-0 libsoxr0 libspeex1 libsphinxbase3 libsratom-0-0 libsrt1.5-gnutls libssh-gcrypt-4 libswresample4 libswscale6 libtheora0 libturbojpeg0 libtwolame0
  libudfread0 libva-drm2 libva-x11-2 libva2 libvdpau1 libvidstab1.1 libvorbisenc2 libvorbisfile3 libvpx7 libvulkan1 libwayland-client0 libwayland-cursor0 libwayland-egl1 libwayland-server0 libwebpdemux2 libwebpmux3 libx11-xcb1 libx264-164 libxcb-dri2-0 libxcb-dri3-0 libxcb-glx0 libxcb-present0 libxcb-randr0
  libxcb-render0 libxcb-shape0 libxcb-shm0 libxcb-sync1 libxcb-xfixes0 libxcursor1 libxfixes3 libxi6 libxkbcommon0 libxrandr2 libxrender1 libxshmfence1 libxss1 libxv1 libxvidcore4 libxxf86vm1 libz3-4 libzimg2 libzmq5 libzvbi-common libzvbi0 ocl-icd-libopencl1 python3-av python3-kms++ python3-libcamera
  python3-numpy python3-pidng python3-piexif python3-pil python3-prctl python3-simplejpeg python3-v4l2 x11-common
Suggested packages:
  libbluray-bdj jackd2 liblcms2-utils libportaudio2 opus-tools pulseaudio libraw1394-doc librsvg2-bin xdg-utils lm-sensors serdi sndiod sordi speex opencl-icd gfortran python3-dev python3-pytest python-pil-doc
Recommended packages:
  libaacs0 libdecor-0-plugin-1-cairo | libdecor-0-plugin-1 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-bin pocketsphinx-en-us librsvg2-common va-driver-all | va-driver vdpau-driver-all | vdpau-driver mesa-vulkan-drivers | vulkan-icd python3-pyqt5 python3-opengl python3-olefile
The following NEW packages will be installed:

Which includes a ton of GUI related packages such as packages including the word wayland and x11 and nouveau.

Correct me if i'm wrong, but those should not be necessary for headless installation right?

Note: I'm on raspberry pi bookworm

Thank you for this amazing project 🙏

[davidplowman]

I think the problem may stem from the fact that Bookworm always includes FFmpeg libraries, and these drag in all this other stuff. It's something we'll have to look out down the line, but I'm not aware of any workarounds at this point.

[darksidelemm]

Has there been any update on this? It sure would be nice to be able to install this library from apt without bringing in so much extra...

(I should note that --no-install-recommends does decrease the amount of extra packages installed...)

[davidplowman]

Hi, I'm afraid but there hasn't been any work done on this. So far as I'm aware, the root problem where FFmpeg drags in tons and tons of stuff is unchanged. Sorry not to have better news.