I’ve recently heard that a discussion about Ubuntu default media player has taken place at the Karmic UDS.
News is that Banshee will likely take the place of Rhythmbox sooner or later (possibly in time for Karmic Koala).
I don’t really blame the decision, it should be taken as a big compliment to the Banshee development team.
I am equally sure, though, that many people won’t like the choice, because of the many concerns that Mono carries with it.
If you’re a mono supporter, please don’t get angry with me. It’s not really about bashing anything, as much as providing choice to those who wish it.
On a personal note, I’m still a Mono user currently, but reading flames like this doesn’t really encourage me (and yes, I challenge you to read it completely). Oh, I like Miguel’s posts by the way, but don’t ask me about the other pro-monos in such thread.
Gosh, what were we talking about ? 
Ah yes..
Strip the mono from the box
A word of warning: performing the following command will remove Mono and all the related applications from your machine. Even if it’s your intent to do so, look carefully at the list of the packages to be removed (apt will likely prompt you to make sure you’re sure).
If you’re using a clean Ubuntu Jaunty installation, prepare to loose just f-spot (which can be replaced by gthumb) and tomboy (which can be replaced by gnote).
If you have installed manually other programs, some of those may be stripped, such as banshee, gnome-do and so on.
To remove Mono, perform the following command:
sudo apt-get remove --purge mono-common libmono0 mono libmono1.0-cil libmono2.0-cil
Mono no no
Nice name. 
Mono no. Mono no no no no ! The mononono package introduces a deliberate conflict between itself and mono.
The web is full of guides that teach you how to clean your computer from Mono. Still, the problem is that Mono may be silently re-introduced as a dependency the next time you install an application.
Mononono will prevent any application requiring Mono to be installed. It will prevent the Mono to come back.
That means essentially that trying to install a Mono application (even if you don’t know it requires mono) will cause a conflict with the mononono package itself and you’ll be prompted to deal with it.
Download mononono here, then double click it to install it. (here’s the original webpage).
Update: as noted by Jo Shields, this is pretty much a ugly hack. It’s simple and it works, though.
Update: ARCH USER ? download nomono and related instructions here !
Further warnings
Really. This stuff is bloody serious, I mean.. will remove f-spot! And other stuff. You could also not be able to have sex with more than a partner at time anymore. Use it with care. I also won’t able to give you support to any issue you may experience.
The day it will require you to remove the whole gnome, instead, you’ll know we’re in big troubles.
Does anyone know similar packages for other popular distributions (Fedora, OpenSuse, Arch etc.) ?
Crazo.
You might as well just stop using gnome and switch to something sane.
Only good mono thing for me is Gnome-Do, which isn’t part of mono.
F-spot is horrible, and rhythmbox works fine for me.
@Vadim P.: it depends on mono, though, so it will be stripped as well if you strip mono.
I also don’t like f-spot, and prefer rhythmbox to banshee (which I tried for some month)
Lol ……. what a big troll the thread on ppa
Just to point out something about that “flame” :
Just to say that a programing language is just a tool …….. knowing how to use only one tool makes you an amateur (like someone that only knows how to use an electric drill) ….. Knowing how to use a lot of tools makes you an expert
Someone said to me once : it’s not the tool that is valuable, it’s the knowledge how to use the good one and the good way that is valuable.
Reading such thread as the one in ppa leads to nothing …… and you can and will find the same thing on each thing in universe. Because there will be always “pro something” people. The big standards on that are :
Pro war Pro peace
Pro star wars Pro star trek (pretty funny to see it because they mostly fight with videos ….. search death star and enterprise on youtube and you’ll find one of the most recent on that theme)
Pro windows Pro Linux
Pro proprietary Pro OpenSource
Pro Javascript Pro Vbscript
Pro Java Pro C++
etc
and the funny part is that some pro groups join together
Threads like the ppa one : there is an infinite about an unlimited theme.
Putting attention on them is giving them force …… the best thing to do is to pass it and see what the future reserves us
If it were me I wouldn’t even point out the thread.
Thanks for your thread because it’s not a “con Mono” thread but just a thread that shows what you can do and that remembers that under Linux, anyone is free to do as he wants.
@Judicator: yup, everybody’s free to do what he/she prefers. Yet, threads like that (and I found even worst things I won’t ever link) disgust me pretty much.
All that flame born out of a post announcing the creation of the Gnote PPA. Pretty amazing.
“mononono” is not a package, which is why the RFP was rejected from Debian – it is an input file for a package called “equivs”, which even if it were prepared properly as a package, still violates Debian rules on archive integrity (and on equivs packages not being allowed)
On top of that, the guy who made it simply does not understand what he’s conflicting – There’s no “mono” package in Debian or Ubuntu, and libmono{1,2}.0-cil are packages containing non-ECMA Free libraries such as support for Gettext translations. The core libraries are libmono-corlib{1,2}.0-cil.
The CORRECT way to achieve the same result is with /etc/apt/preferences and pinning things as uninstallable.
Hi Stefano,
from my investigations I think that there is an even more succinct command required to remove Mono from a default install:
sudo apt-get purge libmono0 mono-common
That’s all you need.
I really hope Karmic doesn’t increase its dependence on Mono apps. But if it does, as long as the user can remove it and replace the apps with decent alternatives then I don’t see it as much of a problem.
SABDFL clearly understands the debate: http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2009/04/23/how-to-remove-mono-from-ubuntu-904-jaunty-jackalope/
Ciao
@Alan: thanks for your comment. By the way what SABDFL really thinks or fears is known only to himself. He recenlty claimed in an IRC session that ‘Microsoft promised to not sue’. The source of that promise, is unknown and that’s probably unfounded claim.
Karmic (or karmic+1) will probably increase mono-dependency and that’s it.
Yes, not much of a problem, not for end users as well. As I noted in the Mono Crusade, though, the issue is more about the (future) market you want to shape. Which is not one where anyone can sell any kind of IP peace of mind to anyone.
Removing Mono as a end user is choosing not to foster a development platform which may lead to that.
Sorry it’s a little outside the subject but :
With the same logics that there is against Mono :
How about Oracle buying Sun ?
1 – Must we replace all MySql based projects ? (because it’s a little foolish to think that Oracle will keep something that is competition to his own main product ….. plus his creator began to work a redo of MySql)
2 – Must we replace all Java based aplications ?
all to say that the Mono Debate is a false debate based on presumptions and hatred about Microsoft ….. That there is worse theme (like MySql one) that must be quickly resolved.
Microsoft is loosing control with his actual form of business …… The selling of windows is weakening in favor of alternatives (MacOs, Linux, etc). Company and People are tired of microsoft ……… Plus it’s old politic of changing of windows each 2 year will not work anymore.
About the presumptions, they may be true …. or false …… only the facts will validate this.
And, by the way, if you still wondering why Apple has only one button on his mouse : Microsoft has the patent that describe the contextual menu and the one that corresponds to the double click. So if you want to be Microsoft patent free ……. first clear those two patents
Best regards,
Actually Judicator, there is a lot of reasons to be concerned about Mono. I don’t know if you heard, but Sam Varghese at IT Wire attempted to purchase a royalty-free patent licence for Mono. They are supposed to exist, but Sam was unable to find out where he could get one:
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/25215/1090/
You might think that this is not a big deal. Microsoft has said that they won’t sue. There’s several problems with this. The promise is somewhat vague as to what they will or won’t sure about. And companies have changed their minds before. The Microsoft of tomorrow may decide to. Lastly, Java was released under a free software license by it’s owner. While Mono is free software, it wasn’t even produced by the supposed “Intellectual Monopoly” holder. So the free software license is no protection if Microsoft decides that it’s no longer in their interest not to sue.
Since the legal status of Mono is problematic, I think it should be removed from every Distro that uses it, including Ubuntu and Fedora (yes, Fedora Gnome has Mono), until Microsoft gives concrete evidence that they approve of the project, and that approval is checked by a good FOSS lawyer (Lawrence Lessig comes to mind), or a good FOSS lawyer signs off on the current situation.
Basically it’s the same as with VLC. It’s a great package, but it can’t be included in distributions that are downloaded into the USA and certain other jurisdictions, because it uses codecs that are supposedly covered by patents in those jurisdictions.
Well, nice to see a method for “blocking” mono on Debian based distros. I have created something similar for Arch Linux. Find it here: http://www.hanckmann.net/?q=node/41
I just wanted to mention it, maybe someone is looking for something like this.
@Patrick Hanckmann: thank you ! updated my post to include your link !
Thanks SO much for covering this topic, I was contemplating changing distros, but can live with mono-free Ubuntu for as long as that remains possible.
Scott,
Changing distros is actually a good idea. It gives you a look at other options, and there is some really neat stuff out there. For example I switched to Moon OS a while back, and it’s really nice. I also would recommend trying Crunch Bang, it’s also really nice.
And the learning curve is very low. Both are based on Ubuntu, Moon OS uses Enlightenment, and Crunch Bang uses Open Box.