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Or just ditch the kernel and initrd entirely. If you're trying to save a few MB on an Ubuntu image, you're almost certainly working in a container environment w

by subway 9y ago

Or just ditch the kernel and initrd entirely. If you're trying to save a few MB on an Ubuntu image, you're almost certainly working in a container environment where you don't need a kernel inside the fs. If you really do need a kernel, and the few extra MB required by modules is a problem, you should probably be using Buildroot or Yocto for your bootloader/kernel.

gerdesj 9y ago
I don't think everyone is working within a container when they boot a Ubuntu minimal, unless your containers happen to have a BIOS or similar. These things are a full OS installer ie put it on a USB key, CDROM, PXE boot or whatever. These are a minimal installer and not a minimal installation, although that is a side effect - you don't get much out of the box but you can add everything later. You could, for example, do a minimal install and then do "# apt install libreoffice" and with luck (not too sure) get the whole lot - X etc - to run it. You might have to add a Window Manager and a few other things.
- subway 9y ago
  I agree -- there are plenty of reasons to use a minimal Ubuntu install. My point was that if size constraints are so tight that you feel trimming kernel modules out is a reasonable use of effort, then Ubuntu starts to be a more awkward fit. If you constantly have to trim away bits left by the package manager (man pages, examples, extra kernel modules), your time is probably better spent with a distro that allows you to avoid ever laying those into the rootfs to begin with. Also worth noting:these images are full minimal root filesystems. "installer" images refer to the images containing software --the debian/ubuntu installer for bootstrapping a root filesystem onto a mounted volume. The minimal images from thearticle do not contain this installer, and are stanalone root filesystems.
  - secabeen 9y ago
    Yeah. To be more clear, you can install a "minimal" system of Ubuntu on bare metal by just installing the "required" packages only, although I think the default if you don't select any tasks in the installer is to install "required" + "standard", which is a small amount more than just "required". Either way, it doesn't include much. I have to install openssh-server on my "nothing-but-standard" systems, before chef comes in and drags along another 1000 packages. The installs the OP is talking about are images that don't even have a kernel, and don't use the traditional installer.

by subway 9y ago

gerdesj 9y ago

I don't think everyone is working within a container when they boot a Ubuntu minimal, unless your containers happen to have a BIOS or similar. These things are a full OS installer ie put it on a USB key, CDROM, PXE boot or whatever. These are a minimal installer and not a minimal installation, although that is a side effect - you don't get much out of the box but you can add everything later. You could, for example, do a minimal install and then do "# apt install libreoffice" and with luck (not too sure) get the whole lot - X etc - to run it. You might have to add a Window Manager and a few other things.

subway 9y ago
I agree -- there are plenty of reasons to use a minimal Ubuntu install. My point was that if size constraints are so tight that you feel trimming kernel modules out is a reasonable use of effort, then Ubuntu starts to be a more awkward fit. If you constantly have to trim away bits left by the package manager (man pages, examples, extra kernel modules), your time is probably better spent with a distro that allows you to avoid ever laying those into the rootfs to begin with. Also worth noting:these images are full minimal root filesystems. "installer" images refer to the images containing software --the debian/ubuntu installer for bootstrapping a root filesystem onto a mounted volume. The minimal images from thearticle do not contain this installer, and are stanalone root filesystems.
- secabeen 9y ago
  Yeah. To be more clear, you can install a "minimal" system of Ubuntu on bare metal by just installing the "required" packages only, although I think the default if you don't select any tasks in the installer is to install "required" + "standard", which is a small amount more than just "required". Either way, it doesn't include much. I have to install openssh-server on my "nothing-but-standard" systems, before chef comes in and drags along another 1000 packages. The installs the OP is talking about are images that don't even have a kernel, and don't use the traditional installer.