Minimalist ISO

Some advice for creating minimalist ISO images. The official user guide included this topic back in 2012. Now this topic is part of the tutorials.

Contents

List of advice

1. Don't install recommended packages
2. Purge unnecessary locales
3. Delete boot files before creating the filesystem.squashfs
4. Install minimal X
5. Don't use full desktop environment
6. Install and run BleachBit
7. Install only native applications
8. Forget about 'eye candy'

Beyond this list

List of advice

1. Don't install recommended packages

Whenever using APT to install packages from Terminal, run the following.

apt-get install [package] --no-install-recommends

If you want APT to do this always without above command, type the following.

cat > /etc/apt/apt.conf << EOF
APT::Install-Recommends "false";
APT::Install-Suggests "false";
EOF

This will reduce the number of packages to be installed, thus less amount of disk space in use. However, some features might not work or missing.

2. Purge unnecessary locales

Install the tool to purge unused locales and optional man-pages.

apt-get install localepurge dialog

You will be asked which locales to “keep and preserve” and few more questions. Then run the following to purge the rest.

localepurge
mandb

This will reduce at least 20 MB, up to 100 MB of disk usage. If you wish to limit number of supported languages, this is a convenient way to do.

3. Delete boot files before creating the filesystem.squashfs

Unless you know what you are doing, this is not advisable at all.

This will reduce from 5 to 20 MB of disk space. However, deleting the boot files can do more harm than good. Read this comment under issue #29, for example.

4. Install minimal X

Don't install the Xorg meta package. Instead, you can choose to install minimal X using selective packages. To install minimal X-server, open Terminal and run the following.

apt-get install xserver-xorg xinit

This will reduce significant amount of disk space. However, some hardware may not function properly on your machine. If so, install the necessary driver only.

5. Don't use full desktop environment

Avoid GNOME, KDE, GNOME Shell or Unity in your remix. Full desktop environment (DE) and shell environment provides rich features but consumes more disk space.

Quoted from @fluxer:

I've stopped using those bloated DEs long ago, however if I have to choose a DE it will be XFCE - very minimalist, yet functional. If you know your way around, I would recommend Openbox or Fluxbox. Both are very good choices for Window Manager - lightweight and configurable.

Quoted from @clearkimura:

While working on my first remix, I found GNOME 2.x takes less than 67 MB disk space and 62 MB RAM at bare. Depending on package selection made, GNOME is not as bloated as the one in official releases.

This will reduce significant amount of disk space. But if you are used to a full Desktop Environment, you might find some features are missing in lightweight counterparts.

6. Install and run BleachBit

If you have enabled "universe" repository, install Bleachbit. It can delete locales like localepurge, with more filters to clean thoroughly, with selective options.

apt-get install bleachbit

This will reduce at least 20 MB or more amount of disk space. However, using Bleachbit for building Live CD may pose problems, such as incorrect config rendering.

7. Install only native applications

For example, you can install KDE applications in GNOME desktop environment. But this requires you to install KDE and Qt dependencies, which are usually not used by applications in GNOME. Hence, this also applies to other cases below:

• Install only GTK+ applications in GNOME, Xfce, LXDE environment
• Install only Qt applications in KDE environment
• Avoid applications based on Java
• Avoid applications based on Mono

Unity is the default interface since Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal). If you choose to install Unity as your desktop environment, you will most likely need both GTK+ and Qt dependencies. More recent Unity releases depend only on Qt.

This will reduce at least 20 MB for removing Mono and more than 100 MB for removing Java. However, it can be difficult to give up popular but non-native applications.

8. Forget about 'eye candy'

Eye candy is the pleasing feature that displays animations and effects. Notably, Compiz provides these features in some distribution releases. But these features are extravagant thus, only wastes extra disk space and increases resource consumption.

This will reduce some amount of disk space and resource usage. However, expect limited animations and effects; No turning desktops and such.

Beyond this list

While the listed advice are never exhausive, these are good places to start for most users. Ultimately, the key to creating minimalist ISO images is being selective.