Quoting fsmithred (fsmithred@???):

> Rick, I don't understand your reasoning here. What I see is that gvfs
> can do something when the real libsystemd0 is installed that it can't
> do without libsystemd0 - that is, it shows removable drives on the
> desktop. The presence of systemd itself is not required for this -
> it's not installed.
>
> Gnome probably has nothing at all to do with this. The only gnome
> packages installed here are gnome-accessibility-themes, gnome-icons,
> libgnome-keyring and libsoup-gnome. I'm running xfce desktop.

You know why, some years back, I stepped carefully away from XFCE4?
Because it uses (shares) a very great deal of GNOME's core software
infrastructure.

You know what 'gvfs' is short for? GNOME virtual file system. Now you
know. (Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.)

I'm sorry that the GNOME brittle software used in your DE breaks a bit
when you kick away a piece of what it checks for, but that's
unfortunately exactly what I have come to expect it to do, even when the
label on the tin says 'XFCE'.

I wish you luck with your experiment, but I'd honestly recommend trying
something else, instead. LXQt seems promising for people who like DEs,
or Enlightenment. (Personally, I'm just not a DE person.)

Above is of course entirely my opinion. You'll do what you wish, and
'Good on ya!' as the Aussies say.