> Tim wrote:
> >
> > Bolan Meek wrote:
> > > What's your partitioning look like? What's the output of `df`?
> > > If you use cfdisk, are there any partitions you don't see in `df`,
> > > i.e. not have mounted?
> >
> > I have 104MB as root and 16MB swap there is 1% unuseable, presumably
> > something to do with the drive geometry.
>
> Is this from a `df` report? I don't remember X% Unusable in that...
>
> Only a single root partition, everything going into it? OK, you can
> run with 104MB, but you don't have much room. You'll have to be really
> choosy about what you install, and only install a few packages at a
> time, remembering to "hold" (if you're using dselect, which I recommend)
> Up To Date packages so that when they're updated, they won't
> automatically get installed, clogging up your limited space for /var/cache...
I recently had a need to do the same thing (install in almost no space)...
in my case, because a friend is using a FlashDisk instead of a standard hard
drive so to have lots less power consumption for his libretto.
You *could* install minimum only by using the "debinst" option of the Linuxcare
bootable business card. It drops in only base for slink (well, updated kernel
though) and configures the bootup.
However, we got a fairly usable day-to-day config by the following means.
If anyone wants to turn into a mini-HOWTO or add it to one, I'm cool with
that :)
Forget using the installer.
mount the drive temporarily on another system.
format a small swap, the rest one-big-slash. (you did)
don't forget a hibernate volume if you need it!
(In our case, this is why we are so cramped.)
drop in the base tarball.
drop in a kernel package of your choice. plus modules.
delete modules you expect to not need, if it's
not a custom build.
perform steps the installer would have done to make it bootable
create an /etc/fstab which mounts /tmp as a ramdisk.
set /etc/hostname, create /etc/hosts with 127.0.0.1 localhost
if you don't things will complain a lot.
"missing neighbor table" -> you have to setup the
localhost interface!
mv /sbin/uncofigured.sh to somewhere else
doctor /etc/syslog.conf so that all fluff is logged
to VCs only. critical stuff still hits disk.
I didn't, but you could, have it log to ramdisk.
anyways this is crucial otherwise bootup babble
will nail your free space.
create an /etc/lilo.conf correct for the environment
it will become. Do Not Yet run LILO!
umount it and install it in the correct system.
boot a rescue disk of some sort; tomsrtbt or linuxcare BBC
are my preference.
chroot /dev/hda1 or whatever your / is.
/sbin/lilo
adjust /etc/rcN.d sequence so it only boots things you really
want. if you stay with default /etc/inittab, it's
enough to fixup /etc/rcS.d (should be ok) and /etc/rc2.d
exit chroot and umount
At this point anyone is welcome to tell me what else the installer normally
does for us, that I've skipped and which might affect something.
boot the machine "normally"
check your /etc/apt/sources.list (tempoarily goto woody)
apt-get update
apt-get install console-apt
this offers the ability to Hold and Purge things such as
dselect does but Muuuch nicer interface. huge stacks of
good things use curses so the extra library is not bad.
(switch sources.list back to your own preference if not woody)
pick a text editor, Purge all the others.
I don't know whose drugs thought ae was best default.
vim + vim-rt was my pick though I had to install them.
I got rid of tiny-elvis, ae, there are some others in base.
if you won't do mail switch your MTA to Masqmail. because of its
focus it's much smaller than the others, and cron inists
on an MTA for its scripts, but since you need it to
keep a tight leash on diskspace you can't toast it. *sigh*
in other words, install Masqmail, then purge exim, then
tweak the cron setup so it doesn't -need- mail.
equivs can be used to defeat this and even get rid of the MTA? I haven't
tried it.
Purge all other base packages you don't want. If console-apt won't let
let you, you can exit and use apt-get remove <package>
to see what its complaint is -- maybe get rid of 3 things
at once. It may seem huge but no, you can't get rid of perl.
Good time to backup a tar.gz of your trimmed results to another system!
Add things you want in small chunks. move their /usr/[share/]doc
to some other system or toast the docs.
I think it's possible to remove the locales whose languages you won't be using.
Unfortunately you have to do this as you go because messages are in each app's
package.
Tomsrtbt saves space by turning all the man pages it does use into rawtext
instead of troff.
I can tell you, maybe you can get X, but if so, a very tight fit. (look at
the BBC for a good minimum X kit, they use Amaya as browser which is way
crashy.) You can get okay functionality by installing mc, lynx-ssl (from
international), and sticking to curses apps. We had a little more space to
play with than you do (more like 150 Mb) and succeeded at squishing X and
netscape in. (you might prefer links which can deal with tables, to lynx
which can't, but I don't think links does SSL.) I know you can get a fairly
small kit but haven't measured the size it results without hurculean efforts
to trim fat first.
Does apm still require X to satisfy its xlibs-for-xapm problem?
* Heather Stern * star@ many places
