> Since net-install can give you a minimal base system without a network > then yes, all base debs will be there. You could just look at the list > of debs supplied on the netinst.iso.
Thank you Douglas! I did just that, and the following few lines distill the difference between the debs list of grml-medium (a 160meg distro, from grml.org) and the packages found in the netinstall Debian base, minus again anything X- or sound related and anything grml-specific I could find and very few other things I see no use for (e.g. jed): acpi-support acpi-support-base agrep ash atftp atftpd bc bing bridge- utils bsdutils buffer chntpw console-data console-terminus cpp cpp-4.2 curl dante-client dash dctrl-tools ddrescue debconf-utils deborphan dhcp3-client dhcp3-common dhcp3-server dmsetup dns2tcp e3 ethtool file- rc finger firmware-ipw3945 fnord fuse-utils gawk genisoimage gpgv gpm groff-base guessnet hdparm htop hwinfo ifplugd inetutils-inetd info initscripts ipcalc iproute ipsec-tools iptstate iputils-ping ipw3945d ipw-firmware keychain klibc-utils knockd less links live-initramfs localepurge lockfile-progs login lrzsz lsb-base lsb-release lsof md5deep memtest86+ memtester menu mercurial mgetty mime-support mkisofs most mount mpack mtools mtr-tiny multitail ncftp ncurses-base ncurses-bin net-tools nfs-common ntfsprogs ntpdate nvclock nvi openssh- client openssh-server passwd patch perl-base perl-modules policyrcd- script-zg2 portmap postfix powermgmt-base powernowd ppp pppoeconf prism54-firmware procinfo pump python python2.4 python2.4-minimal python2.5 python2.5-minimal python-apt python-central python-minimal python-support radeontool readline-common realpath resolvconf rsync rungetty screen scsiadd ser2net setserial sharutils smartmontools socket squashfs-tools ssl-cert statserial symlinks syslinux syslog-ng sysutils sysvinit-utils tcpd tcpdump telnet timeout tofrodos toshset unp unzip unzoo vbetool vim-tiny vlan vlock w3m whiptail wipe wpasupplicant zip zsh -------------------------------------------------------------- Can anyone spot something obviously USELESS in or MISSING from a service-testing-rescue mini-install? -------------------------------------------------------------- Next, I'll do a base install, run the above through apt-get and report here on what else, if anything, is already included and what won't install. I hope to reach the point where a single shot (of apt-get, debfoster, or a metapackage) does it all.