I have multiple GNOME environments on fedora 41 (sway). How do i remove them?(SOLVED)


I am using fedora 41(sway) I have 4 GNOME DE’s & i want to uninstall them. The only thing i remember installing is GNOME-software.
I ran this to see the DE’s i had.


pat@porkchop ~> dnf environment list |grep desktop
Updating and loading repositories:
Repositories loaded.
basic-desktop-environment         Basic Desktop                               no
budgie-desktop-environment        Budgie Desktop                              no
cinnamon-desktop-environment      Cinnamon Desktop                            no
cosmic-desktop-environment        COSMIC Desktop                              no
deepin-desktop-environment        Deepin Desktop                              no
i3-desktop-environment            i3 desktop                                  no
kde-desktop-environment           KDE Plasma Workspaces                       no
lxde-desktop-environment          LXDE Desktop                                no
lxqt-desktop-environment          LXQt Desktop                                no
mate-desktop-environment          MATE Desktop                                no
miraclewm-desktop-environment     Miracle WM Desktop Environment              no
phosh-desktop-environment         Phosh Desktop                               no
sugar-desktop-environment         Sugar Desktop Environment                   no
sway-desktop-environment          Sway Desktop                               yes
sway-desktop-environment          Sway Desktop                                no
xfce-desktop-environment          Xfce Desktop                                no

This is what dnf environment info workstation-product-environment shows:

$ dnf environment info workstation-product-environment
Updating and loading repositories:
Repositories loaded.
Id                   : workstation-product-environment
Name                 : Fedora Workstation
Description          : Fedora Workstation is a user friendly desktop system for laptops and PCs.
Order                : 2
Installed            : False
Repositories         : fedora, updates
Required groups      : core
                     : networkmanager-submodules
                     : hardware-support
                     : fonts
                     : multimedia
                     : guest-desktop-agents
                     : printing
                     : firefox
                     : libreoffice
                     : desktop-accessibility
                     : base-graphical
                     : gnome-desktop
                     : container-management
                     : workstation-product
Optional groups      : domain-client

A this is what dnf group info gnome-desktop shows:

$ dnf group info gnome-desktop
Updating and loading repositories:
Repositories loaded.
Id                   : gnome-desktop
Name                 : GNOME
Description          : GNOME is a highly intuitive and user friendly desktop environment.
Installed            : no
Order                : 
Langonly             : 
Uservisible          : no
Repositories         : fedora, rpmfusion-free, rpmfusion-free-updates, updates
Mandatory packages   : dconf
                     : gdm
                     : gnome-boxes
                     : gnome-connections
                     : gnome-control-center
                     : gnome-initial-setup
                     : gnome-session-wayland-session
                     : gnome-settings-daemon
                     : gnome-shell
                     : gnome-software
                     : gnome-text-editor
                     : nautilus
                     : polkit
                     : ptyxis
                     : yelp
Default packages     : ModemManager
                     : NetworkManager-adsl
                     : NetworkManager-openconnect-gnome
                     : NetworkManager-openvpn-gnome
                     : NetworkManager-ppp
                     : NetworkManager-pptp-gnome
                     : NetworkManager-ssh-gnome
                     : NetworkManager-vpnc-gnome
                     : NetworkManager-wwan
                     : PackageKit-command-not-found
                     : PackageKit-gtk3-module
                     : adobe-source-code-pro-fonts
                     : avahi
                     : baobab
                     : evince
                     : evince-djvu
                     : fprintd-pam
                     : glib-networking
                     : gnome-backgrounds
                     : gnome-bluetooth
                     : gnome-browser-connector
                     : gnome-calculator
                     : gnome-calendar
                     : gnome-characters
                     : gnome-classic-session
                     : gnome-clocks
                     : gnome-color-manager
                     : gnome-contacts
                     : gnome-disk-utility
                     : gnome-epub-thumbnailer
                     : gnome-font-viewer
                     : gnome-logs
                     : gnome-maps
                     : gnome-remote-desktop
                     : gnome-system-monitor
                     : gnome-user-docs
                     : gnome-user-share
                     : gnome-weather
                     : gvfs-afc
                     : gvfs-afp
                     : gvfs-archive
                     : gvfs-fuse
                     : gvfs-goa
                     : gvfs-gphoto2
                     : gvfs-mtp
                     : gvfs-smb
                     : librsvg2
                     : libsane-hpaio
                     : loupe
                     : mesa-dri-drivers
                     : mesa-libEGL
                     : rygel
                     : sane-backends-drivers-scanners
                     : simple-scan
                     : snapshot
                     : sushi
                     : systemd-oomd-defaults
                     : totem
                     : tracker
                     : tracker-miners
                     : xdg-desktop-portal
                     : xdg-desktop-portal-gnome
                     : xdg-desktop-portal-gtk
                     : xdg-user-dirs-gtk

I’m running Sway and the only gnome-* packages I have installed are these:

$ rpm -qa | grep '^gnome'
gnome-abrt-1.4.3-3.fc41.x86_64
gnome-disk-utility-46.1-1.fc41.x86_64
gnome-themes-extra-3.28-20.fc41.x86_64

I suspect I installed those somewhat unintentionally. I’d suggest running dnf remove --no-autoremove gnome-\* and that would probably get most of it without removing anything you might want to keep.

Edit: I do not use GDM (or any other DM), however. So my installation might be somewhat atypical.

libgnomekbd-3.28.1-6.fc41.x86_64
pat@porkchop ~> rpm -qa | grep '^gnome'
gnome-icon-theme-3.12.0-24.fc41.noarch
gnome-menus-3.36.0-12.fc41.x86_64
gnome-desktop3-44.1-2.fc41.x86_64
gnome-desktop4-44.1-2.fc41.x86_64
gnome-session-47.0.1-1.fc41.x86_64
gnome-abrt-1.4.3-3.fc41.x86_64
gnome-bluetooth-libs-47.1-1.fc41.x86_64
gnome-bluetooth-47.1-1.fc41.x86_64
gnome-keyring-46.2-2.fc41.x86_64
gnome-keyring-pam-46.2-2.fc41.x86_64
gnome-tour-47.0-1.fc41.x86_64
gnome-autoar-0.4.5-1.fc41.x86_64
gnome-color-manager-3.36.0-13.fc41.x86_64
gnome-session-wayland-session-47.0.1-1.fc41.x86_64
gnome-app-list-1.0-1.fc41.noarch
gnome-session-xsession-47.0.1-1.fc41.x86_64
gnome-themes-extra-3.28-20.fc41.x86_64
gnome-disk-utility-46.1-1.fc41.x86_64
gnome-settings-daemon-47.2-2.fc41.x86_64
gnome-shell-extension-appindicator-59-2.fc41.noarch
gnome-shell-47.3-1.fc41.x86_64
gnome-remote-desktop-47.3-1.fc41.x86_64
gnome-software-47.4-1.fc41.x86_64
gnome-online-accounts-3.53.0-1.fc41.x86_64
gnome-control-center-filesystem-47.3-1.fc41.noarch
gnome-control-center-47.3-1.fc41.x86_64
gnome-software-fedora-langpacks-47.4-1.fc41.x86_64

so i ran

dnf remove --no-autoremove gnome-\*

and it look like it removed it! now i’ll reboot and see if its still there. thanks!

FYI, if removing those packages took out your login manager, you can launch Sway without one. It is in the documentation:

That is good to know!
Luckily my sway login manager was still functioning. :slight_smile:

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