Saturday, June 26, 2010

Remove Mono From Your Ubuntu Install

Mono is a free and open source project led by Novell and backed by Microsoft to create an Ecma standard compliant, .NET-compatible set of tools. I have written previously about my opposition of Microsoft's involvement with the free software community.

Mono is the Trojan horse Microsoft will use to embrace, extend and extinguish free software. Removing Mono and it components is the first thing I do after a new install.

To remove Mono from your Ubuntu install, in a terminal:
sudo apt-get purge libmono* libgdiplus cli-common libglitz-glx1 libglitz1

The above command removes:
cli-common* f-spot* gbrainy* libart2.0-cil* libflickrnet2.2-cil*
libgconf2.0-cil* libgdiplus* libglade2.0-cil* libglib2.0-cil* libglitz-glx1*
libglitz1* libgmime2.4-cil* libgnome-keyring1.0-cil* libgnome-vfs2.0-cil*
libgnome2.24-cil* libgnomepanel2.24-cil* libgtk2.0-cil*
liblaunchpad-integration1.0-cil* libmono-addins-gui0.2-cil*
libmono-addins0.2-cil* libmono-cairo2.0-cil* libmono-corlib2.0-cil*
libmono-data-tds2.0-cil* libmono-i18n-west2.0-cil* libmono-posix2.0-cil*
libmono-security2.0-cil* libmono-sharpzip2.84-cil* libmono-sqlite2.0-cil*
libmono-system-data2.0-cil* libmono-system-runtime2.0-cil*
libmono-system-web2.0-cil* libmono-system2.0-cil* libmono2.0-cil*
libndesk-dbus-glib1.0-cil* libndesk-dbus1.0-cil* libnunit2.4-cil*
mono-2.0-gac* mono-gac* mono-runtime* tomboy*

This completely removes f-spot, gbrainy and Tomboy. Tomboy has a mono-free replacement, Gnote and f-spot is being replaced by the mono-free Shotwell in future Ubuntu releases.

To install Gnote, in a terminal type:
sudo apt-get install gnote

To install Shotwell, in a terminal type:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yorba/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install shotwell

I don't have a decent replacement for gbrainy.

Removing Mono will also remove any 3rd party programs you have installed that rely on Mono like Banshee, Gnome-Do and Docky.

Kupfer is an excellent replacement for Gnome-do and Avant Window Manager for Docky. Both are available in the official repositories, but I would recommend using their PPAs to get the latest updated versions.

Have a question or problem that this article doesn't cover? Ask our Ubuntu Mini 9 Google Group for help.

8 comments:

Don R Maxwell said...

Removing Mono also caused banshee to be removed, but that's OK.

Don R Maxwell said...

Removing Mono also caused banshee to be removed, but that's OK.

redDEAD said...

Sorry Don. Edited the article. Good to see your still reading. I've been gone for too long.

Unknown said...

While I appreciate the zeal I think this is a bit extreme. Trojan horse? The code is open so take a peak - I doubt there is anything there.

I understand your frustration with MS - but the people behind Mono are about creating great software, not killing open software.

The beauty here is you are free to remove/replace at will. I don't think its bad to have options - that is one reason I do run Ubuntu. That being said, try evaluating the software for what it is. I think there are some great Mono apps out there - but you will miss out for political reasons rather that real world reasons.

redDEAD said...

riffrete,

Thank you for the comment bit it is a tad shortsighted.

Mono's code isn't the issue, it's license is.

http://www.mono-project.com/Licensing

On July 6, 2009, Microsoft announced that it was placing their ECMA 334 and ECMA 335 specifications under their Community Promise pledging that they would not assert their patents against anyone implementing, distributing, or using alternative implementations of .NET[35]. However, their position regarding the non-ECMA components like ASP.NET, ADO.NET, and Windows Forms (which are the bone of contention) remains unclarified.

"Embrace, extend and extinguish," also known as "Embrace, extend, and exterminate," is a phrase that the U.S. Department of Justice found was used internally by Microsoft to describe its strategy for entering product categories involving widely used standards, extending those standards with proprietary capabilities, and then using those differences to disadvantage its competitors.

Unknown said...

Here, here RedDEAD. In australia we have a retailer called Harvey Norman. I live in the state of Western Australia and HN is an Eastern States company. He let slip a slogan in his advertising calling himself "the category Killer".

I will never purchase a single thing from him in my Life EVER, unless i'm forced to to get a benefit. Microsoft has the same attitude, krush, kill or destroy everything from other people, companies, communities, etc... that you can until you go down.

Their "work" for the Free software and Open Source communities is nothing but a smoke screen for selling more of THEIR software. We, as the not suckers that we are, are not fooled by the machinations of this Goliath.

David is going to kill him. Microsoft give's me the CRAPS. P.S. i've just removed Mono last night because I don't use anything that uses it. Good work All, esp. redDEAD.

Anonymous said...

Agreed.
Red's Trojan Horse comment was used in the classic, non-malware sense I believe. MS may use Mono, while free, to lure us into using more of their code. Not that mono has malicious code in and of itself.

Mark S. said...

It should be noted that as of Lucid LTS, Shotwell is located in Universe - no PPA required. http://packages.ubuntu.com/lucid/shotwell