This may be my ignorance talking, but I think if you go to Ubuntu server, you have a choice of a very minimal install, and then you have access to ubuntu/devian updates via apt-get and maybe also aptitude, and you can install additional packages to your heart's content.<div>
<br></div><div>It has been a while since I installed it - I simply update/upgrade now - so I am not 100% in what I am saying, but I think it lets you select a number of options, from the very basic set that has next to nothing installed, to email server, http server, dns server, and a host of other options. After you install, you can always add more packages, or even turn it into a desktop if you like, with one line command.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Z.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 10:08 AM, Oron Peled <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:oron@actcom.co.il">oron@actcom.co.il</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
On Wednesday, 27 בOctober 2010 13:44:27 Nadav Har'El wrote:<br>
> On Wed, Oct 27, 2010, Elazar Leibovich wrote about "Small debian based<br>
server distribution":<br>
> > I'm looking for a debian compatible distribution (so that I'll be able to<br>
> > use debian's security updates, and enjoy the breadth of packages etc)<br>
which<br>
> > will be small and will contain only the bare minimum for a functional<br>
server<br>
> I once did something like this for Redhat.<br>
><br>
> Basically, I took all the redhat RPMs and wrote a script which takes a list<br>
> of RPMs and opens them up in a directory, which I later copied to the target<br>
> machine. Choosing the right set of RPMs took some experimentation, but<br>
wasn't<br>
> too difficult. I ended up with a Linux system with sshd, busybox, httpd,<br>
> and not much more, in much less than 100 MB.<br>
<br>
Hmmm.... you actually did a BadThing(tm) -- totally bypassing the package<br>
management mechanisms:<br>
* No dependency tracking -- you selected the packages by trial and error.<br>
You cannot be sure you didn't miss some dependencies:<br>
- Maybe some runtime dependency which you'll hit only when the<br>
dependent software pass via some (maybe rarely used) code path.<br>
- Maybe the an updated package would have new dependencies.<br>
are you going to do a regression testing every time?<br>
<br>
* No pre/post install/uninstall scripts are run:<br>
- Sometimes it's critical (e.g: adding a specific user)<br>
- On embedded systems, should be run on the target, not the<br>
development host.<br>
- Debian's packages support it (separate install and configure stages)<br>
[Debian's debootstrap(1) use this feature: look for the --foreign<br>
options]<br>
<br>
* After debootstraping, you can always chroot into the generated<br>
tree and use APT to install/remove *with* dependency information<br>
* All of this is pretty trivial to script.<br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
Oron Peled Voice: +972-4-8228492<br>
<a href="mailto:oron@actcom.co.il">oron@actcom.co.il</a> <a href="http://users.actcom.co.il/~oron" target="_blank">http://users.actcom.co.il/~oron</a><br>
A train stops at a trainstation, a bus stops at a bustation,<br>
what happens at a workstation?"<br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Linux-il mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Linux-il@cs.huji.ac.il">Linux-il@cs.huji.ac.il</a><br>
<a href="http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il" target="_blank">http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il</a><br>
</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Check out my web site - <a href="http://www.words2u.net">www.words2u.net</a><br>
</div>