Small linux

[Piotr Kirklewski]

Hi guys

I know that there are some distributions that are very small : DSL for example.

But the idea is to learn how to strip existing distribution from not needed stuff.

How to get rid of xwindows, package manager etc.

What else should I get rid of ?

Essentially - the new Linux needs only to be able to connect to the internet and take IO commands.

Reagrds

Peter

[Ivan Ferreira]

The question is, ¿do you really to do it yourself? ¿Why don't you just use some of the many linux distro availables for each purpose and focus on the deployment of the solution?

You can see this article if you are interested on an easy way to build your own distro:

http://hehe2.net/linuxhowto/create-your-own-linux-distro/

[Steven E. Protter · Accepted solution]

Shalom,

Even RHEL has an install mode that does not include X.

Minimal install is what its called in 4.x RHEL.

Exclude the graphic server option when installing RHEL 5.x and you get the same results.

Pretty small, pretty reliable.

yum -grouplist

This will show you the groups. You can use groupremove to remove from a running system software groups like X Windows and have a pretty small, hard core, command line system.

SEP

[Piotr Kirklewski]

We have the system already installed - I was curious if anyone of you have the experience on stripping down the live system without braking it.

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom,

Taking out X will break a live system that needs it. Any browsers need X to allow interactive browsing.

Post this:

yum -grouplist

I will provide you then the commands to trim the system down.

No guarantee's. What I tell you to do MIGHT break something. But its pretty easy to fix.

To be sure, you may wish to take a backup.

SEP

[dirk dierickx]

depends how far you want to go with this. you can have linux in a very small image by removing things. easy way to go is to make a list of what you really need.

do you need perl? do you need python? do you need tcl? do you need all of the utils that are installed by default? do you need all those daemons (you might just run ssh and nothing else). remove documentations, a lot of libs are not needed either, etc.

you can do a simple installed packages list and then check what that package does for you, if you don't need it, remove it.

take a look at the LFS, it builds a very small base, but even there are already pakcages that can be excluded.