I am running Ubuntu 21.10/Gnome. I was browsing packages using Synaptic when I discovered libmp3splt. I selected to install it when I got a dialog showing me all the packages (e.g., alsa-base, linux-sound-base, ubuntu-desktop, ubuntu-desktop-minimal, and ubuntu-gnome-desktop) that will be removed in order to install it.
Reading the description of libmp3splt gives me no clue as to WHY these packages will be removed. Until now, I had thought that the package being installed provided alternatives to those being removed. But, removing ubuntu-* concerns me... I don't see how ubuntu-specific packages might also be in an mp3 package.
My question is: Will the removal of so many packages (in order to accommodate installing a single package) cause my system to malfunction?
If you should run into a situation like this one, it's prudent to do a
sudo apt updatefollowed by asudo apt upgrade(not really necessary when using Synaptic because, once you've pulled it up, you have an option to tell it to do upgrades in addition to installing the packages you choose).Once you've pulled up Synaptic again (after the update/upgrade), verify by choosing the package of interest and inspecting what actions (i.e., install, remove) it reports.
In my case, once I ran the update/upgrade, it reported 1 install and no removals... So glad for this forum; I was on the verge of corrupting my system. Thanks to archisman-panigrahi and user535733 for sharing their wisdom and sparing me grief.