Small debian based server distribution

[Steve G.]

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.

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.

Z.

On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 10:08 AM, Oron Peled <oron at actcom.co.il> wrote:

> On Wednesday, 27 בOctober 2010 13:44:27 Nadav Har'El wrote:
> > On Wed, Oct 27, 2010, Elazar Leibovich wrote about "Small debian based
> server distribution":
> > > I'm looking for a debian compatible distribution (so that I'll be able
> to
> > > use debian's security updates, and enjoy the breadth of packages etc)
> which
> > > will be small and will contain only the bare minimum for a functional
> server
> > I once did something like this for Redhat.
> >
> > Basically, I took all the redhat RPMs and wrote a script which takes a
> list
> > of RPMs and opens them up in a directory, which I later copied to the
> target
> > machine. Choosing the right set of RPMs took some experimentation, but
> wasn't
> > too difficult. I ended up with a Linux system with sshd, busybox, httpd,
> > and not much more, in much less than 100 MB.
>
> Hmmm.... you actually did a BadThing(tm) -- totally bypassing the package
> management mechanisms:
>  * No dependency tracking -- you selected the packages by trial and error.
>   You cannot be sure you didn't miss some dependencies:
>   - Maybe some runtime dependency which you'll hit only when the
>     dependent software pass via some (maybe rarely used) code path.
>   -  Maybe the an updated package would have new dependencies.
>      are you going to do a regression testing every time?
>
>  * No pre/post install/uninstall  scripts are run:
>    - Sometimes it's critical (e.g: adding a specific user)
>    - On embedded systems, should be run on the target, not the
>      development host.
>    - Debian's packages support it (separate install and configure stages)
>      [Debian's debootstrap(1) use this feature: look for the --foreign
>      options]
>
>  * After debootstraping, you can always chroot into the generated
>      tree and use APT to install/remove *with* dependency information
>  * All of this is pretty trivial to script.
>
>
> --
> Oron Peled                                 Voice: +972-4-8228492
> oron at actcom.co.il                  http://users.actcom.co.il/~oron
> A train stops at a trainstation, a bus stops at a bustation,
> what happens at a workstation?"
>
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