What are the core packages for a desktop's Linux desktop distribution 3936

Artificer snip

Installing Linux from scratch and using pre-compiled applications are two things you don't usually see together. If you go to the trouble to install from scratch, it is buttumed that your applications will be compiled from source too. If you download and install ready-made binaries, you're asking for trouble. There *will* be differences between the libraries you have installed and those used by whomever packaged the software. You will also be solely responsible for dependancy checking. E.g. if you wish to install binary package foo, and it depends on bar, you're on your own as far as making sure that you have an appropriate version of bar installed---and that you keep it installed. (Distrubtion package management tools have complex dependancy checking and tracking mechanisms to avoid this problem. You won't have that benefit with stuff installed from scratch.)

That comment shows a lack of experience with Linux. Most everything (outside the realm of distro packages) is distributed as tar.gz archives, for which you need gzip and tar both to extract it. Anyone with any knowledge-experience knows that.

Perhaps you should start with a more realistic project: take a good distro and only install the components you need. Debian is (IMHO) an excellent candidate. If you work through their installation instructions as found at:

you can stop at section 7.2.5. You will then have a minimally functional system with no (or very, very few) extraneous packages. From there you can use the Debian package management facilities to install only those packages which you need. (The system will automatically pull in any dependancies those package may have, but nothing extra. It only installs what is needed to run the applications you've selected.)

IMHO, that is easier than going the total "from scratch" routine. (Your questions in the orignal post *strongly* suggest you're not ready for that.) But it still gives the advantage of not having extra, unneeded stuff installed.

(Other distros almost certainly provide similar mechanisms to stop after a base install. I'm not familiar enough with them to comment on that. Debian is the one I use myself so that's what I've commented on, but that should in no way exclude other distros from consideration.)