Arch Linux

userzero

Member

Registered: 2008-08-28

Posts: 14

The base packages

Hello!

After installing Arch I ended up removing some of the packages automatically installed by the installer.
For example vi is a program i've never used and it takes almost 30 MBs disk space when installed... though
it's not really disk space i'm worried about but rather just the idea of installing software that will never be used...
I was just wondering what others think of this and also if its possible to prevent the installer from installing these packages?

Last edited by userzero (2008-10-15 09:43:03)

lama

Member

Registered: 2008-09-28

Posts: 16

Re: The base packages

OT: vi/vim is totally great and you should not only spend the 30 MB, but also some time to learn the use of it

It's (besides Emac) one of the programs showing you how efficient GNU/Linux can be.

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cat ~/problems > /dev/null

Arkane

Member

From: Switzerland

Registered: 2008-02-18

Posts: 263

Re: The base packages

It should again be possible to select exactly which packages are installed in the next release of the installer.

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What does not kill you will hurt a lot.

userzero

Member

Registered: 2008-08-28

Posts: 14

Re: The base packages

It should again be possible to select exactly which packages are installed in the next release of the installer.

That would be great! Also it would be nice if one could skip the creation of the fallback kernel image as at least i have never used it ether...

Procyon

Member

Registered: 2008-05-07

Posts: 1,807

Re: The base packages

Maybe dial up packages, and filesystem packages you don't need.

As for lama's suggestion: check out nvi-unicode in AUR for a 1 MB vi package.

userzero

Member

Registered: 2008-08-28

Posts: 14

Re: The base packages

Maybe dial up packages, and filesystem packages you don't need.

I don't really understand what you mean by this :E

As for lama's suggestion: check out nvi-unicode in AUR for a 1 MB vi package.

Seems cool, but i don't really have any need for another editor as nano is all i need.

Kalidor

Member

Registered: 2004-06-18

Posts: 80

Re: The base packages

The point is that vi/vim almost always works (even without X), on almost every Linux and Unix system. This is especially important in case of problems, but, as has been mentioned, (g)vim is definitely worth learning for anyone who needs to edit text files efficiently!

fumbles

Member

Registered: 2006-12-22

Posts: 245

Re: The base packages

OT: vi/vim is totally great and you should not only spend the 30 MB, but also some time to learn the use of it

It's (besides Emac) one of the programs showing you how efficient GNU/Linux can be.

Real men use vi(m)

That would be great! Also it would be nice if one could skip the creation of the fallback kernel image as at least i have never used it ether...

It's useless until you need it.

Last edited by fumbles (2008-10-15 11:57:54)

bender02

Member

From: Germany

Registered: 2007-02-04

Posts: 1,328

Re: The base packages

Knowing at least vi basics is really necessary when you run into trouble: busybox (which is very often the only thing that's available when things go wrong, or when you boot into initrd, or when you boot a minimal rescue system) does have vi, but doesn't have nano.

ezzetabi

Member

Registered: 2006-08-27

Posts: 905

Re: The base packages

Well, the absolute sure minimum is actually 'ed'... In my life I had to use it in a very old ibm server...

Cosay

Member

From: United States

Registered: 2008-08-12

Posts: 82

Website

Re: The base packages

Personally, it kills me that Vi needs to be 30MBs. Nvi on NetBSD is nowhere near that big.

neotuli

Lazy Developer

From: San Francisco, CA

Registered: 2004-07-06

Posts: 1,201

Website

Re: The base packages

The installer is in a slow process of being overhauled, it will definitely be possible to select individual base packages when this work is done.

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