Deprecated MATE-1.4-packages (mate-conf) [solved]

[py-thon]

Sparky MATE comes with several packages from MATE 1.4 which are considered deprecated for some time now, namely:

• libmateconf
• mate-conf
• mate-conf-common
• mate-conf-editor

and

• mate-corba

While mate-corba was substituted for dbus which is already installed, so the former can probably (just my guess) be purged, I am not so sure about the mate-conf-bunch. http://wiki.mate-desktop.org/mateconf_to_gsettings is very confusing for me and I don't even know whether it is meant for me or only for programmers.
Looking at the values in mate-conf-editor it seems to me that they are not used but remnants. For example /apps/control-center/appearance/more_backgrounds_url refers to art.gnome.org whereas dconf-editor in org/mate/control-center/appearance/more-backgrounds-url correctly names mate-dektop.org. My changes to the appearance of caja are to be found in dconf-editor but not in mate-conf-editor.
According to http://mate-desktop.org/blog/2013-04-02-mate-1-6-released/index.html "All other settings will be migrated if you have MateConf 1.4 installed." it should be possible to purge the mate-conf-bunch without negative side-effects.
Does anyone know for sure?

[py-thon]

I purged the five old packages and have not noticed any negative side-effects so far.

[py-thon]

After almost two weeks without problems I now consider this topic solved.

[MoroS]

After almost two weeks without problems I now consider this topic solved.

Maybe it was just some garbage packages. Things like that tend to stay installed when you install dependencies manually (even if they're not required anymore), so one might want to look at the installed package list from time to time. I don't know if we have a tool for that yet. :P

[py-thon]

The 1.4-packages are part of Sparky 3.5 MATE.

[pavroo]

APT hasn't removed the old packages during upgrading to the higher version and I missed them.
They are still in the 3.5 iso image, but I cleaned it up already so the next 3.6 iso will be free of the old 1.4 and 1.6 MATE packages.

[MoroS]

APT hasn't removed the old packages during upgrading to the higher version and I missed them.

You've probably reinstalled them manually somewhere along the road. ;) The dependencies that are installed/reinstalled manually must also be removed manually. That's just how APT rolls. Might really think about a tool for this: something that would look at the list of manually installed packages, checked if they are a dependency for something that is not installed and if so, propose cleaning of such packages (users choice goes here, as there's always a chance for a "false posivite"). :P