On 06/25/2021 04:06 PM, Andrew M.A. Cater wrote:
On Fri, Jun 25, 2021 at 08:48:47AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:One paragraph of "Debian GNU/Linux Installation Guide"[1] causes me grief. It is part of "6.3.5. Installing the Base System"[2]. That paragraph states:When packages are installed using the package management system, it will by default also install packages that are recommended by those packages. Recommended packages are not strictly required for the core functionality of the selected software, but they do enhance that software and should, in the view of the package maintainers, normally be installed together with that software.I like the MATE Desktop. If the package mate-desktop-environment is in stalled *WITHOUT* "recommended" packages I get my desired skeletal Debian system. I believe changing one screen of the standard would give me what I want and likely satisfy the maintainers mentioned above. In the screen titled "Software selection", change the first line from "Debian desktop environment" to "Install the desktop selected below with all recommended utilities". If that option and the Gnome option are selected by default the effect would be the same as the current installer. If I deselect the first line and select MATE, I get my desired system.Everything you need is already in the Debian installer: use an expert instaLL and text mode to install it.
I've been doing that for years. In fact I got so accustomed to expert mode that when I switched from purchasing install DVDs I got disoriented by the vendor's concealment of expert mode.
Do not select Debian desktop environment: select only Mate - job done.
No it is *NOT*. All the excess baggage I wish to avoid is installed, e.g. LibreOffice, Firefox etc. etc.
I'll have to leave this sub-thread for a while.While looking for a related thread on my machine I discovered a >3yr old post that suggests a round-about way to deal with my problem that installing from flash media is experientially *NOT* the same as installing from DVD.
Later.
Use what's already there: you may have noted that I often give the advice on -user for a minimal install to start out with a text mode expert install and sort out _exactly_ what you want. Start with a text mode only - command line environment - then add mate-desktop-environment. Optionally, you can configure apt to ignore recommends.Does such an installer already exist? TIA [1] https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/index.en.html [2] https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/ch06s03.en.htmlAll best, as ever, Andy Cater