How to do a minimal install with minimal GNOME3

[YellowAries]

Hello everyone, I am new here and fairly new to linux but not exactly a "noob" per se.. I do have somewhat of a "noob" question, perhaps.. What I want to do is install Fedora 16 with JUST the bare requirements for it to boot to console and then install GNOME 3 with shell and all that but without any non-required stuff/apps/etc.. So basically what I need to know is the command to throw the console upon first boot to grab GNOME 3 without the extra junk.. if anyone can help me or point me to another forum post I would gladly appreciate it! Thanks, and sorry for asking this, it's probably been asked but I couldn't find an answer that I felt comfortable accepting..

[sillav]

It's the harder way to do it. Without knowing Fedora and Gnome 3 very well, it also could cause a great deal of frustration. I have the same goal, but instead I install the live cd then strip it down. I can't see how there would be any difference, with the exception that I may have a few unecessary libraries kicking around (never trust package-cleanup --leaves).

After a fresh install from the live cd I rip out about200 packages to get it around 980. Then disable any remaining unecessary services, which a default install has 39 to only about 28.

Install yumex to do this. I have found it is the easiest way to achieve the goal of a minimal system, and gives you a lot more flexibility than whatever gnome package management tool is shipped (one of the first things removed). You'll learn a lot about the packages on your system and what they do. Plus yumex will tell you right away if you're about to do something horrendously bad.

[YellowAries]

Yeah I tried that route and then by accident hit remove on an important package which screwed it all up after sitting there for about an hour and a half removing nearly all the extra junk... needless to say I was pretty pissed off about that lol... so that's why I was wondering what packages are needed for a base install of gnome3.. I would hate to have to try the strip route again..

[sillav]

Well you do your base install, or minimal, whatever it might be called. Have an ethernet connection. Then install xorg, gnome-shell, network-manager-gnome, gnome-session, gnome-terminal, gdm and yumex. That should pull in most dependencies and let you reboot into a working gnome desktop where you can fill in the missing bits. It's just a guess though. Like I said, I prefer the other way.

But there is likely stuff on the minimal install that you can get rid of as well. So some strip down is still going to be advised. You'll just have to read the warnings before hitting 'ok'.

[kkshethin]

After a fresh install from the live cd I rip out about200 packages to get it around 980. Then disable any remaining unecessary services, which a default install has 39 to only about 28.

Excellent idea. This is my list for same idea.

This is the list of packages removed from fedora16 live cd without any apparent problem. Total 150MB

yum erase anthy ibus-anthy kasumi cjkuni-uming-fonts orca flite speech-dispatcher speech-dispatcher-python festival festival-freebsoft-utils festvox-slt-arctic-hts opencc ibus-pinyin libchewing ibus-chewing brltty brlapi python-brlapi liblouis liblouis-python vlgothic-fonts festival-speechtools-libs festival-lib jomolhari-fonts espeak vlgothic-fonts-common khmeros-base-fonts khmeros-fonts-common lohit-assamese-fonts lohit-bengali-fonts lohit-kannada-fonts lohit-oriya-fonts lohit-punjabi-fonts lohit-tamil-fonts lohit-telugu-fonts sil-abyssinica-fonts sil-padauk-fonts smc-fonts-common smc-meera-fonts thai-scalable-fonts-common thai-scalable-waree-fonts un-core-dotum-fonts un-core-fonts-common lklug-fonts paktype-naqsh-fonts paktype-tehreer-fonts wqy-zenhei-fonts lohit-devanagari-fonts lohit-gujarati-fonts paratype-pt-sans-fonts

can you provide yours. What packages can be removed safely from livecd to work with gnome/gui. This can be a interesting discussion. Everybody invited.

[sillav]

Yes, all of those language packages I recognize. For us english only noobs, all the various input method programs, language packs and fonts, are an easy save in terms of disk space, upgrade bandwidth, and possibly (though unlikley) bug/attack vectors.

In addition, I prefer to file bug reports I care about. Not just every little thing that doesn't behave exactly as desired. So I remove everything *abrt*. This also let's you take out a good deal of *report-plugin* type packages (though not all!). Then you look at your video card. Mine is intel, so I remove every xorg videodrier package that doesn't say intel. Modify to your own needs.

Then do a search for "firmware" and click 'installed', under yumex. If you see something you knowyou don't have, remove it. I get rid of everything alsa, linux, and basically everything under firmware except my wireless card. (lspci -v, might help you here).

Do another search for smart card, fingerprint, and mce. You likely don't need/use these.

There is some fluff like fpaste and talk that seem silly. I getrid of those.

I find selinux works fine for me, so I remove the setrouble* everthing.

I use a basic setup (no lvm or raid), so I get rid of dmraid and the *-events packages.

I use gnome-shell and yumex, so I get rid of fall-back mode (gnome-panel and gnome-panel-libs) as well as gnome-package kit or whatever its ****** name is. Note that I would totally keep a cool program like ubuntu's software manager. But whatever that bs that fedora/gnome ships is garbage.

I don't use vpn's (look for vino, vinagre, open-connect and various network manager plugins), and get rid of openssh server, since I don't ssh into my laptop.

I looked into my history on yumex, and can't see my first few steps. Only my installs after my rip down. So if someone knows how to access all that history I can post a complete list of removed packages.


Last of all, I use 'package-cleanup --leaves' to look for additional savings. But I never, never delete something it says to. Always, always read about the package in yumex, and if it seems remotely usefull leave it. It wiil often suggest removing stuff that is actually pretty essential to installed packages.

[Colors]

The easyest way is to build a new spin, write it on USB and install from there. The advantage is an up to date installation in only 5 minutes.

The configuration file will be:

lang en_US.UTF-8
keyboard us
timezone Europe/Bucharest
auth --useshadow --enablemd5
selinux --enforcing
firewall --enabled
xconfig --startxonboot
services --disabled=avahi-daemon,dnsmasq,fcoe,ip6tables,lldpad,lvm2-monitor,mdmonitor,mdmonitor-takeover,multipathd,ntpdate,rdisc,wpa_supplicant
part / --fstype=ext4

repo --name=fedora --mirrorlist=http://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/mirrorlist?repo=fedora-16&arch=i386
repo --name=updates --mirrorlist=http://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/mirrorlist?repo=updates-released-f16&arch=i386

%packages
@core

anaconda
kernel-PAE

isomd5sum
memtest86+

grub2
#grub-efi
#efibootmgr

firstboot
ntp

yum-plugin-fastestmirror
yum-presto

gdm
gnome-panel
plymouth-theme-charge
xorg-x11-drivers

-audit
gnome-shell
nautilus
-sendmail

gnome-packagekit
NetworkManager-gnome
xdg-user-dirs-gtk

%end

%post
# FIXME: it'd be better to get this installed from a package
cat > /etc/rc.d/init.d/livesys << EOF
#!/bin/bash
#
# live: Init script for live image
#
# chkconfig: 345 00 99
# description: Init script for live image.

. /etc/init.d/functions

if ! strstr "\`cat /proc/cmdline\`" liveimg || [ "\$1" != "start" ]; then
    exit 0
fi

if [ -e /.liveimg-configured ] ; then
    configdone=1
fi

exists() {
    which \$1 >/dev/null 2>&1 || return
    \$*
}

touch /.liveimg-configured

# Make sure we don't mangle the hardware clock on shutdown
ln -sf /dev/null /etc/systemd/system/hwclock-save.service

# mount live image
if [ -b \`readlink -f /dev/live\` ]; then
   mkdir -p /mnt/live
   mount -o ro /dev/live /mnt/live 2>/dev/null || mount /dev/live /mnt/live
fi

livedir="LiveOS"
for arg in \`cat /proc/cmdline\` ; do
  if [ "\${arg##live_dir=}" != "\${arg}" ]; then
    livedir=\${arg##live_dir=}
    return
  fi
done

# enable swaps unless requested otherwise
swaps=\`blkid -t TYPE=swap -o device\`
if ! strstr "\`cat /proc/cmdline\`" noswap && [ -n "\$swaps" ] ; then
  for s in \$swaps ; do
    action "Enabling swap partition \$s" swapon \$s
  done
fi
if ! strstr "\`cat /proc/cmdline\`" noswap && [ -f /mnt/live/\${livedir}/swap.img ] ; then
  action "Enabling swap file" swapon /mnt/live/\${livedir}/swap.img
fi

mountPersistentHome() {
  # support label/uuid
  if [ "\${homedev##LABEL=}" != "\${homedev}" -o "\${homedev##UUID=}" != "\${homedev}" ]; then
    homedev=\`/sbin/blkid -o device -t "\$homedev"\`
  fi

  # if we're given a file rather than a blockdev, loopback it
  if [ "\${homedev##mtd}" != "\${homedev}" ]; then
    # mtd devs don't have a block device but get magic-mounted with -t jffs2
    mountopts="-t jffs2"
  elif [ ! -b "\$homedev" ]; then
    loopdev=\`losetup -f\`
    if [ "\${homedev##/mnt/live}" != "\${homedev}" ]; then
      action "Remounting live store r/w" mount -o remount,rw /mnt/live
    fi
    losetup \$loopdev \$homedev
    homedev=\$loopdev
  fi

  # if it's encrypted, we need to unlock it
  if [ "\$(/sbin/blkid -s TYPE -o value \$homedev 2>/dev/null)" = "crypto_LUKS" ]; then
    echo
    echo "Setting up encrypted /home device"
    plymouth ask-for-password --command="cryptsetup luksOpen \$homedev EncHome"
    homedev=/dev/mapper/EncHome
  fi

  # and finally do the mount
  mount \$mountopts \$homedev /home
  # if we have /home under what's passed for persistent home, then
  # we should make that the real /home.  useful for mtd device on olpc
  if [ -d /home/home ]; then mount --bind /home/home /home ; fi
  [ -x /sbin/restorecon ] && /sbin/restorecon /home
  if [ -d /home/liveuser ]; then USERADDARGS="-M" ; fi
}

findPersistentHome() {
  for arg in \`cat /proc/cmdline\` ; do
    if [ "\${arg##persistenthome=}" != "\${arg}" ]; then
      homedev=\${arg##persistenthome=}
      return
    fi
  done
}

if strstr "\`cat /proc/cmdline\`" persistenthome= ; then
  findPersistentHome
elif [ -e /mnt/live/\${livedir}/home.img ]; then
  homedev=/mnt/live/\${livedir}/home.img
fi

# if we have a persistent /home, then we want to go ahead and mount it
if ! strstr "\`cat /proc/cmdline\`" nopersistenthome && [ -n "\$homedev" ] ; then
  action "Mounting persistent /home" mountPersistentHome
fi

# make it so that we don't do writing to the overlay for things which
# are just tmpdirs/caches
mount -t tmpfs -o mode=0755 varcacheyum /var/cache/yum
mount -t tmpfs tmp /tmp
mount -t tmpfs vartmp /var/tmp
[ -x /sbin/restorecon ] && /sbin/restorecon /var/cache/yum /tmp /var/tmp >/dev/null 2>&1

EOF

# bah, hal starts way too late
cat > /etc/rc.d/init.d/livesys-late << EOF
#!/bin/bash
#
# live: Late init script for live image
#
# chkconfig: 345 99 01
# description: Late init script for live image.

. /etc/init.d/functions

if ! strstr "\`cat /proc/cmdline\`" liveimg || [ "\$1" != "start" ] || [ -e /.liveimg-late-configured ] ; then
    exit 0
fi

exists() {
    which \$1 >/dev/null 2>&1 || return
    \$*
}

# read some variables out of /proc/cmdline
for o in \`cat /proc/cmdline\` ; do
    case \$o in
    ks=*)
        ks="\${o#ks=}"
        ;;
    xdriver=*)
        xdriver="\${o#xdriver=}"
        ;;
    esac
done

# if liveinst or textinst is given, start anaconda
if strstr "\`cat /proc/cmdline\`" liveinst ; then
   plymouth --quit
   /usr/sbin/liveinst \$ks
fi
if strstr "\`cat /proc/cmdline\`" textinst ; then
   plymouth --quit
   /usr/sbin/liveinst --text \$ks
fi

# configure X, allowing user to override xdriver
if [ -n "\$xdriver" ]; then
   cat > /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/00-xdriver.conf <<FOE
Section "Device"
	Identifier	"Videocard0"
	Driver	"\$xdriver"
EndSection
FOE
fi

touch /.liveimg-late-configured

EOF

chmod 755 /etc/rc.d/init.d/livesys
/sbin/restorecon /etc/rc.d/init.d/livesys
/sbin/chkconfig --add livesys

chmod 755 /etc/rc.d/init.d/livesys-late
/sbin/restorecon /etc/rc.d/init.d/livesys-late
/sbin/chkconfig --add livesys-late

%end

%post
cat > /root/chkconfig.sh << EOF
#!/bin/bash
/sbin/chkconfig --del netconsole
/sbin/chkconfig --del netfs
/sbin/chkconfig --del network

EOF

/bin/chmod u+x /root/chkconfig.sh
/bin/bash /root/chkconfig.sh

%end

%post --nochroot
cp $INSTALL_ROOT/usr/share/doc/*-release-*/GPL $LIVE_ROOT/GPL

# only works on x86, x86_64
if [ "$(uname -i)" = "i386" -o "$(uname -i)" = "x86_64" ]; then
  if [ ! -d $LIVE_ROOT/LiveOS ]; then mkdir -p $LIVE_ROOT/LiveOS ; fi
  cp /usr/bin/livecd-iso-to-disk $LIVE_ROOT/LiveOS
fi
%end

Name the file f16-minimal.cfg,
and having livecd-tools installed give the command as root:

# llivecd-creator --config /home/your_name/f16-minimal.cfg --cache=/home/your_name/16/i686/ --fslabel=f16

Write the image on a stick and boot from it:

# livecd-iso-to-disk --format --reset-mbr --noverify --overlay-size-mb 512 --unencrypted-home --home-size-mb 2140 f16.iso /dev/sdb

home-size-mb 2140 is only an example. You will have in no time a minimal (window-ish) only GUI installation, network ready and graphical booting. The ”on hdd” installation script is in the Desktop folder.

[kurtdriver]

If you install from the installation DVD, which is a 3.4Gb download, you can choose the custom configuration and choose which packages will be installed, unclick the ones you don't want and click the ones you do. Anaconda will tell you if there are dependency problems.