netinst CD image - too big, vaguely specified?

[Richard Owlett <rowlett@pcnetinc.com>]

http://www.debian.org/CD/faq/#netinst says in part:
"This single CD contains *just the minimal amount* of 
software to start the installation and fetch the remaining 
packages over the Internet." [emphasis *added*]

I've browsed through debian-6.0.4-i386-netinst.list. It 
appears to contains files of unlikely interest to me (C 
compiler and header files, firewire, traceroute, etc).

I also did not find any description of how fine the user 
control of packages to be downloaded is.