A helpful script for installing Ubuntu minimal
Wishing you a harmonious minimalist experience
I’ve blogged before about how cool Ubuntu minimal is.
The one problem is that you have to know exactly what packages to install to get your system set up. So i’ve written a script that should take some of the guess work out of it and make installing a useful Ubuntu desktop from the minimal ISO as simple as answering a series of yes/no questions.
The script is a modified version of Robbie Ferguson’s Perfectbuntu script. Perfectbuntu is designed to be run once you’ve installed the default system, and adds a lot of useful software.
I’ve left all that in, so you can go from a command-line system, to a fully up-to-date and usable Ubuntu desktop in one step. Or you could use it to install a bare-bones system with a variety of desktop environments such as Gnome, KDE, XFCE, or LXDE. You can also install Myth TV. All of this from a single 13MB disk image!
How to use the script
- Install a command line-only system using the Minimal ISO
- Download the script:
wget www.andyduffell.com/perfectminimal
- Make it executable:
sudo chmod +x perfectminimal
- Run it:
./perfectminimal
- Profit!
Ubuntu Minimal project page, comments and suggestions welcome.
Tags: category 5, minimal, minimal.iso, perfectbuntu, perfectminimal, script, Ubuntu
[...] From there, use the command line to add packages until you get the system you want. To do this really easily, you can use my Perfectminimal script. [...]
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Andy Duffell. Andy Duffell said: A helpful script for installing Ubuntu minimal http://bit.ly/a6NnWK [...]
Great script worked flawlessly. Thanks
Hi, thanks for this. So after your script I can go ahead and apt-get dependencies for E17 then compile enlightenment desktop?
Yep This script won’t install the actual E17 desktop like it will for other desktops like LXDE or KDE But you can definitely use it to get all the other packages you might want such as Synaptic, web browsers, multimedia codecs, etc. Just pick the “keep current desktop environment” option when asked what DE you want to install.
Thanks for the response Andy and for keeping the script updated for Lucid support. Just one more question; Assuming one doesn’t plan on using Gnome at all, will the script avoid excess & unnecessary gnome related packages?
That really depends on what packages you install Shaine.
I’ve tried to keep things relatively modular, by doing things like separating all the Gnome-dependent package management tools (eg: Synaptic) out into their own category, so you can say no to installing them. The way i’ve done the multimedia codecs is also pretty DE-agnostic. However, a lot of the extra desktop packages (things like Back In Time or Miro) might pull in all sorts of dependencies.
If you want to check what an individual package will pull in, you can check packages.ubuntu.com, or check the author’s website for software from outside the repos. I’ve tried to strike a balance between ease-of-use and lightness, but sometimes it’s a bit of a compromise.
OK, thanks for the reply. Just one more clarification; Assuming I’ve installed Ubuntu minimal and installed E17 from svn, I then run your script choosing to keep current DE. Will I avoid piles of unnecessary Gnome related packages? Thanks in advance
Yes. The only dependencies it will install are those that are actually required for the packages you choose.
Awesome script! Thanks so much!
A couple of suggestions:
- In the alternative browsers item, please make a note that “Mozilla Firefox 3.6″ is a trunk build. This is not readily apparent.
- Adding a hack to make the sudo timeout disappear for the duration of the script. This would be nice so you don’t have to sit at the screen for a long install when you have slow internet (like I do). I haven’t tested it, but here’s code that should work:
# hacking sudo timeout — Add at beginning
echo “Defaults passwd_timeout=360″ | sudo tee -a /etc/sudoers > /dev/null
## restoring sudo timeout — Add at end
sudo sed -i -e “s/Defaults passwd_timeout=360//g” /etc/sudoers
I found the code here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1379511
Thanks again!
Thanks MonkeyWrench, that’s a good idea. I’ve included it in the latest version of the script.
thanks !:)
Dude,
sweet script! I was thinking it might be a cool idea to do something like this, but rather than selecting things from prompts during the install, let the user select what they want through a web interface beforehand which then gives them a custom link to wget their script…
I guess the interface could be kind of like this Distro chooser http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/; there would be steps for each question in your current script; DE’s, browsers, email, all that kind of stuff; at each step the user is presented a series of choices and can browse the websites, look at pictures, etc.
The site backend then builds the script, provides a link to the correct mini.iso or alternate.iso and a link to the script with instructions.
Interesting idea, and wouldn’t be too hard to do. I’m not really gripped up enough on PHP to make it happen, but i’d be happy to help out with testing or the Bash side.