Trying to make my install as small as possible

[pawRoot]

Hi

I do a minimal install of Buster and have like 240 packages after installation, when i install some programs i end up with about 1000 packages, maybe someone has some tips how could i reduce it ? like installing core xorg only ? i have no idea...

All i install is this:

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sudo apt install -y xorg rsync pulseaudio alsa-utils pavucontrol \
                    scrot curl wget feh neofetch unar \
                    mpv xfce4-power-manager udevil vim mc ncdu htop \
                    fonts-roboto rxvt-unicode-256color xclip rofi mksh \
                    zip unzip rsync ristretto mupdf \
                    python3-pip fontconfig fonts-liberation cmus \
                    fonts-font-awesome compton fonts-noto ttf-dejavu

Also while installing Debian in tasksel i deselect everything.

[stevepusser]

"Some programs" can bring in a lot of dependencies. Are you installing the recommended packages as is the apt default in Debian? Not installing those will bring the package count down, at the possible loss of some functionality in the program.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Avoid metapackages like the plague.

Anyway, why are the package numbers such a problem? I'm sure you have plenty of space on the drive

EDIT: also:

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# apt install --no-install-recommends foo

[pawRoot]

Anyway, why are the package numbers such a problem? I'm sure you have plenty of space on the drive

My Arch install was about 500-600 packages so i wanted to see if i can do the same on Debian
I installed everything with

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--no-install-recommends

and now my system is at 700 packages.

[stevepusser]

Probably because the Debian packagers have a tendency to split programs up into more separate packages than Arch. VLC gets cut up into around eight for a base install, for example, but also creates even optional more plugins from the same source.

[debiman]

unfortunately, with a long list like from post #1, you will always have this sort of problem.
you need to go through that list 1 by 1 and see what each package would pull in, then consider using alternate packages that have more dependencies already in common with the rest of your system.

a few things to consider:

• a small command line utility can be built on a framework that is not yet present on your computer and will pull in a lot if extra stuff. maybe you can find something with identical functionality that is written in perl or python, and not go (just an example)?
• GUI toolkits and desktop dependencies. try to reduce the number of gui toolkits (gtk, qt) and avoid packages that pull in desktop environments as dependencies (gnome, kde, also xfce to some extent
• the number of packages is not so important; it's the size of the packages that really matters.