Re: minimal installation questions
On Sat, Sep 18, 2004 at 08:42:40PM -0500, Pepper Orlando wrote:
> Hi, I'm new to Debian, I'm coming from the bloated world of RedHat.
> Basiclly, I'm interested in using debian to run a very basic web surfing
> machine. I would like to use a fanless VIA EPIA motherboard and keep a very
> minimal install of Debian on a CompactFlash card interfaced via an
> IDE-to-CF adapter.
>
> I would like to know if it's even possible to make a very minimal Debian +
> XFree86 + Mozilla install. If it is, then how do I go about removing
> certain unneeded packages that are installed by default? Right now my test
> machine is running a base install of Sarge (I quit out of the package
> chooser after the installer installed just the basics) plus enough packages
> to make XFree86 and Mozilla work (I am using the generic VESA driver for
> 1024x768, it seems to be fast enough). Even doing just this seems to take
> up about 235 MB according to df -h. I'm guessing there's far more installed
> than I really need.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help with this matter.
>
In Debian, it is possible to install a system that boots, and
runs the system clock, and does hardly anything more. This is
less even than you ask for. X, by itself, is bloat in the eyes
of some Debianers.
The new netinstall Debian is about as small as you get for a Unix-like
system. It has just enough stuff to be able to download Debian
packages over the internet and install them. Each package has well
documented requirements for other packages. The APT system allows you
to check at each step what you will get if you choose to install a
package. Nothing is ever installed, except that it is necessary for a
successful installation of something that you are asking for. Never
do you get stuff that seems like a good idea to the maintainer of the
package. Those good ideas are listed as "recommends" or "suggests". If
you find a case where you can get a package to work correctly without
one of the packages that the maintainer says are required, that is a
reportable bug in the package.
You may be able to do without some required packages if you are
willing to forego some of the standard functionality of a package.
Or you may find a different packages that are advertised as a project
to be a 'light weight' version of foo, or a foo without bloat.
There are a lot of possibilities for this kind of thing in Debian,
and plenty of documentation to help to get it working.
--
Paul E Condon
pecondon@mesanetworks.net
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