On Sat 26 Jun 2021 at 04:49:08 (-0500), Richard Owlett wrote: > On 06/25/2021 04:06 PM, Andrew M.A. Cater wrote: > > On Fri, Jun 25, 2021 at 08:48:47AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote: > > > One paragraph of "Debian GNU/Linux Installation Guide"[1] causes me grief. > > > It is part of "6.3.5. Installing the Base System"[2]. > > > > > > That paragraph states: > > > > When packages are installed using the package management system, it will > > > > by default also install packages that are recommended by those packages. > > > > Recommended packages are not strictly required for the core > > > > functionality > > > > of the selected software, but they do enhance that software and should, > > > > in the view of the package maintainers, normally be installed together > > > > with > > > > that software. > > > > > > I like the MATE Desktop. If the package mate-desktop-environment is in > > > stalled *WITHOUT* "recommended" packages I get my desired skeletal Debian > > > system. > > > > > > I believe changing one screen of the standard would give me what I want > > > and > > > likely satisfy the maintainers mentioned above. In the screen titled > > > "Software selection", change the first line from "Debian desktop > > > environment" to "Install the desktop selected below with all recommended > > > utilities". If that option and the Gnome option are selected by default > > > the > > > effect would be the same as the current installer. If I deselect the first > > > line and select MATE, I get my desired system. > > > > > > > Everything you need is already in the Debian installer: use an expert > > instaLL and text mode to install it. > > I've been doing that for years. In fact I got so accustomed to expert > mode that when I switched from purchasing install DVDs I got > disoriented by the vendor's concealment of expert mode. > > > Do not select Debian desktop environment: select only Mate - job done. > > No it is *NOT*. All the excess baggage I wish to avoid is installed, > e.g. LibreOffice, Firefox etc. etc.
I thought we had established last year that you need to install the initial system without Recommends: https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2020/09/msg00436.html and one possible answer was: https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2020/09/msg00441.html I don't remember your ever reporting doing that. Did you try it, and what was the result? It would be nice to put this problem to bed, rather than revisiting it ever year. > I'll have to leave this sub-thread for a while. > While looking for a related thread on my machine I discovered a >3yr > old post that suggests a round-about way to deal with my problem that > installing from flash media is experientially *NOT* the same as > installing from DVD. > > Later. > > > Use what's already there: you may have noted that > > I often give the advice on -user for a minimal install to start out with a > > text mode expert install and sort out _exactly_ what you want. > > > > Start with a text mode only - command line environment - then add > > mate-desktop-environment. Optionally, you can configure apt to ignore > > recommends. > > > > > Does such an installer already exist? Were this to be my own priority in building a system, I'd be tempted to test its feasibility by hacking the d-i itself. Looking at bin/apt-install, I can see the following two sections just waiting to be hacked: --with-recommends) WITH_RECOMMENDS=1 OPTS="$OPTS $1" ;; early on, and: apt_opts="-q -y" if [ -z "$ALLOW_REMOVE" ]; then apt_opts="$apt_opts --no-remove" fi if [ "$WITH_RECOMMENDS" ]; then apt_opts="$apt_opts -o APT::Install-Recommends=true" elif [ "$NO_RECOMMENDS" ]; then apt_opts="$apt_opts -o APT::Install-Recommends=false" fi towards the end. The latter looks particularly like the section that constructs the d-i's command line: Commandline: apt-get -o APT::Status-Fd=4 -o APT::Keep-Fds::=5 -o APT::Keep-Fds::=6 -q -y -o APT::Install-Recommends=true -o APT::Get::AutomaticRemove=true -o APT::Acquire::Retries=3 install task-print-server task-ssh-server … blah blah If changing the two strings WITH_RECOMMENDS=1 and APT::Install-Recommends=true has the desired effect, then it would obviously be worth finding the elegant way of setting these options (assuming that's not precisely what Felix's suggestion does). You'd have to edit bin/apt-install early on, from a shell, to try this experiment. Cheers, David.
