On Mon, 1 Feb 2016 10:37:47 +0100
Didier Kryn <kryn@???> wrote:

>      You should use --no-install-recommends in apt-get. It is
> possible to configure apt-get to proceed like this by default but
> I've no expertise in how to configure it. In synaptic, you can set
> this behaviour in config/preferences/general; there you can also
> select the upgrade policy.

florian@nulldevice:~$ cat /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/01norecommend
APT::Install-Recommends "0";
APT::Install-Suggests "0";
#APT::AutoRemove::RecommendsImportant "0";

Synaptic will override this setting, if the relevant option is checked.

Florian