Score:1

Ubuntu

Minimalist Ubuntu System

Zen99

4/19/23, 6:13 AM

I use Ubuntu mini.iso to install minimalist system deselecting all software options, then after reboot install xorg, display manager (slim) and LXDE. Is there a difference in the amount of installed packages when the install command has a different order, such as:

sudo apt --no-install-recommends install xorg slim lxde
sudo apt install xorg slim lxde --no-install-recommends
sudo apt install --no-install-recommends xorg slim lxde

If there is a difference, which command variant installs the least amount of packages?

0 + 0

command-line

apt

guiverc

4/19/23, 6:26 AM

You've provided no release details; and the commands may have different requirements for different releases (in fact I'd expect that, esp. for more modern releases given LXDE hasn't been a Lubuntu package for numerous release). The `mini.iso` is no longer produced either; as it was a by-product of a no-longer used procedure (it was never fully supported by Ubuntu or Canonical). See "*Future of MinimialCD*" at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/MinimalCD

guiverc

4/19/23, 6:29 AM

To answer your question, NO, changing the order in which they appear in the command will not have any impact IF the packages are the same & release details are the same.

user535733

4/19/23, 3:37 PM

I think you should use Science to answer this: Spin up a virtual machine, try one permutation of commands, measure and record the results. Rinse and repeat for each permutation. Then you tell us the conclusive, reproducible answer.

Score:4

Ubuntu

guiverc

4/19/23, 6:33 AM

You've provided no release details; and the commands may have different requirements if different releases are involved (in fact I'd expect that, esp. for more modern releases given LXDE hasn't been a Lubuntu package for numerous release; it's now purely Debian packages).

The mini.iso is no longer produced either; as it was a by-product of a no-longer used procedure (it was never fully supported by Ubuntu or Canonical). See "Future of MinimialCD" at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/MinimalCD

Canonical and the Ubuntu project never officially supported the mini.iso ; it was produced as a by-product of building the debian-installer. As the Ubuntu Server image now uses subiquity, the build process that built mini.iso is no longer used, thus why this installation media is now old.

To answer your question, NO, changing the order in which they appear in the command will not have any impact IF the packages are the same & release details are the same; as you appear to have the same command with just a different order of operands.

Differences in apt may need to be taken into account as no release is provided, so this advice is generic & assumes my current release.

0 + 0

matigo

4/19/23, 6:42 AM

Shame I can only award one chevron to this answer, so here are two thumbs

Zen99

4/20/23, 12:01 AM

The release is Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS. The "mini.iso" I used is here: http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/focal/main/installer-amd64/current/legacy-images/netboot/mini.iso

guiverc

4/20/23, 12:29 AM

@Zen99 fyi: that's not Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS media as that was created using only `subiquity` .. you've got 20.04 or the initial release of 20.04 (2020-April not 2021-Feb; see https://fridge.ubuntu.com/2021/02/05/ubuntu-20-04-2-lts-released/ for date of ISO release for 20.04.2). It won't make a lot of difference, as if it installs you can upgrade packages; but it's still not got upgraded security patches required to boot on some hardware (*thus it may or may not boot on all devices*)

Zen99

4/22/23, 5:10 AM

Thank you. Ubuntu is not the right distro for minimalist system, so I installed Devuan from the "devuan_chimaera_4.0.0_amd64_netinstall.iso". With fully functional LXDE desktop and all software installed it took 2.9 GB of disk space and 169 MB RAM on boot. It looks like no "systemd" makes a difference, since the same type of installation from the "debian-11.2.0-amd64-netinst.iso" uses more disk space and 212 MB RAM on boot. Devuan based Star Linux is even lighter with only 129 MB RAM on boot. I completely agree with Distrowatch ratings: Star 9.3 - Devuan 9.2 - Debian 8.8 - Ubuntu 7.6.

Score:2

Ubuntu

muru

4/19/23, 6:32 AM

The order of non-option and option arguments do not matter, except for options that conflict with each other (e.g., apt ... --no-install-recommends ... --install-recommends ... and apt ... --install-recommends ... --no-install-recommends will have different behaviour). You can test this out easily for yourself by tacking on a --simulate to each of these commands:

# sudo apt --no-install-recommends install xorg slim lxde --simulate  | grep -w and

WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts.

0 upgraded, 335 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.

# sudo apt install xorg slim lxde --no-install-recommends --simulate  | grep -w and

WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts.

0 upgraded, 335 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.

# sudo apt install --no-install-recommends xorg slim lxde --simulate  | grep -w and

WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts.

0 upgraded, 335 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.

0 + 0

Zen99

4/19/23, 11:47 PM

Great answer! Thank you! Something I'd like to clarify: I see that often apt-get is used instead of apt, however apt is newer and better than apt-get. What would be the reason to use apt-get?

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I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: Minimalist Ubuntu System

TH: ระบบ Ubuntu ที่เรียบง่าย

RO: Sistem Ubuntu minimalist

RU: Минималистская система Ubuntu

VI: Hệ thống Ubuntu tối giản

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