I'm looking for a distro ..

AstarothMastemaRavenclaw

I'm looking for a functional distro that does not ship with pre-determined software which you can uninstall as many times as you want but it will still be reinstalled every few updates .

I want to pick and choose my own software, and I only want updates for what I have installed .

Is there a distro that can help me accomplish this ?

jabirali

Yes, there are several distributions that let you choose all your software packages yourself. Here are some examples:
[ul] [li]ArchLinux[/li] [li]Debian[/li] [li]Slackware[/li] [li]Gentoo[/li] [/ul]
ArchLinux, Gentoo and Debian Unstable are rolling-release distributions, which means that new packages are being released into the repositories as soon as they're available upstream. Debian Testing, Debian Stable and Slackware instead make stable releases from time to time, where package versions are frozen and only bugfixes and security updates are released during the lifespan of that release.

ArchLinux and Debian are primarily based around binary software packages fetched from online repositories, with automatic dependency-fetching and so on. Slackware uses binary packages without dependency checking, but there are multiple third-party package managers for Slackware that adds support for online repositories and dependency fetching. Gentoo is based around an automated build system called Portage, that compiles each program for your machine, and let's you customize everything with USE-flags and MAKE-flags. This requires some time for maintenance, though.

They each have a bit different philosophies, so it's up to you to choose the best one for your use.

marc

AstarothMastemaRavenclaw wrote:

I'm looking for a functional distro that does not ship with pre-determined software which you can uninstall as many times as you want but it will still be reinstalled every few updates .
I want to pick and choose my own software, and I only want updates for what I have installed .
Is there a distro that can help me accomplish this ?

If you really want to control what's installed on your system go for Gentoo although it has its drawbacks.

For simplicity... Debian or Archlinux (KISS philosophy!!!)

Regards

AstarothMastemaRavenclaw

Thank you . I am currently taking studious notes on installing and configuring Arch, as the last time I tried I was left completely dumbfounded when it came to manual configuration of text files .

I personally don't like Debian all that much, because the install is too automated ..
Which is why I am going the Arch way as soon as I learn how to get around a few learning curves .

Goineasy9

Many distros offer a "Base" install, even fedora, which I use, can be installed without a DE or other misc. packages. Starting from there, you can add what you want. Back in my Debian days, I always started with a base install.

AstarothMastemaRavenclaw

Really ? When I tried Fedora the other day it was a disaster in a box . O_O

I am starting to get Arch, but even with my persistent studying of every.single.document.out.there. I failed to properly edit the /etc/rc.conf file and as a result, could not continue with post-install operations .

Now I am considering what you told me about base installs .. Might completely change my views on most distros that worked for me but always had a particular flaw to turn me off . Interesting . Thanks . ^^

marc

AstarothMastemaRavenclaw wrote:

Really ? When I tried Fedora the other day it was a disaster in a box . O_O

I am starting to get Arch, but even with my persistent studying of every.single.document.out.there. I failed to properly edit the /etc/rc.conf file and as a result, could not continue with post-install operations .

Now I am considering what you told me about base installs .. Might completely change my views on most distros that worked for me but always had a particular flaw to turn me off . Interesting . Thanks . ^^

What were you changing?

I only change LOCALE, TIMEZONE, HARDWARECLOCK and the KEYMAP. you are pretty much ready to go from there!

Regards

AstarothMastemaRavenclaw

Well, for one I did not understand the layout of the file; I expected to write out the entire file, which for me would have been easier instead of struggling to find out where to put what . If it should be commented out or not, where the "examples" end and your configuration starts .. I still to this point have no clue as to how to properly edit the NETWORKING section so as to have a working LAN connection upon bootup .
E.g. Do I put my configurations in the "HOSTNAME" at the top of the document, or in the little section directly under the static and dhcp examples ?

I bodged the bootloader but at least for this one I know what I did wrong .

The rest of the install process went by very fast and very smooth .
I only had issues with the /etc/rc.conf file .

AstarothMastemaRavenclaw

Even just putting a little "~" in front of the lines I should edit in the following rc.conf file would help me ENORMOUSLY .



#
# /etc/rc.conf - Main Configuration for Arch Linux
#

#

---

# LOCALIZATION
#

---

#
# LOCALE: available languages can be listed with the 'locale -a' command
# DAEMON_LOCALE: If set to 'yes', use $LOCALE as the locale during daemon
# startup and during the boot process. If set to 'no', the C locale is used.
# HARDWARECLOCK: set to "UTC" or "localtime", any other value will result
# in the hardware clock being left untouched (useful for virtualization)
# Note: Using "localtime" is discouraged.
# TIMEZONE: timezones are found in /usr/share/zoneinfo
# KEYMAP: keymaps are found in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps
# CONSOLEFONT: found in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts (only needed for non-US)
# CONSOLEMAP: found in /usr/share/kbd/consoletrans
# USECOLOR: use ANSI color sequences in startup messages
# VERBOSE: Verbose level (from 1 to 8). man 3 syslog for level info
#
LOCALE="en_US.UTF-8"
DAEMON_LOCALE="no"
HARDWARECLOCK="UTC"
TIMEZONE="Canada/Pacific"
KEYMAP="us"
CONSOLEFONT=
CONSOLEMAP=
USECOLOR="yes"
VERBOSE="3"

#

---

# HARDWARE
#

---

#
# MODULES: Modules to load at boot-up. Blacklisting is no longer supported.
# Replace every !module by an entry as on the following line in a file in
# /etc/modprobe.d:
# blacklist module
# See "man modprobe.conf" for details.
#
MODULES=()

# Udev settle timeout (default to 30)
UDEV_TIMEOUT=30

# Scan for FakeRAID (dmraid) Volumes at startup
USEDMRAID="no"

# Scan for BTRFS volumes at startup
USEBTRFS="no"

# Scan for LVM volume groups at startup, required if you use LVM
USELVM="no"

#

---

# NETWORKING
#

---

#
# HOSTNAME: Hostname of machine. Should also be put in /etc/hosts
#
HOSTNAME="myhost"

# Use 'ip addr' or 'ls /sys/class/net/' to see all available interfaces.
#
# Wired network setup
# - interface: name of device (required)
# - address: IP address (leave blank for DHCP)
# - netmask: subnet mask (ignored for DHCP)
# - gateway: default route (ignored for DHCP)
#
# Static IP example
# interface=eth0
# address=192.168.0.2
# netmask=255.255.255.0
# gateway=192.168.0.1
#
# DHCP example
# interface=eth0
# address=
# netmask=
# gateway=

interface=
address=
netmask=
gateway=

# Setting this to "yes" will skip network shutdown.
# This is required if your root device is on NFS.
NETWORK_PERSIST="no"

# Enable these netcfg profiles at boot-up. These are useful if you happen to
# need more advanced network features than the simple network service
# supports, such as multiple network configurations (ie, laptop users)
# - set to 'menu' to present a menu during boot-up (dialog package required)
# - prefix an entry with a ! to disable it
#
# Network profiles are found in /etc/network.d
#
# This requires the netcfg package
#
#NETWORKS=(main)

#

---

# DAEMONS
#

---

#
# Daemons to start at boot-up (in this order)
# - prefix a daemon with a ! to disable it
# - prefix a daemon with a @ to start it up in the background
#
# If something other takes care of your hardware clock (ntpd, dual-boot...)
# you should disable 'hwclock' here.
#
DAEMONS=(hwclock syslog-ng network netfs crond)

Goineasy9

You may or may not have seen this link:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Rc.conf
It's almost like it's an initiation for Arch, getting through the rc.conf file is a right of passage. When I tried Arch a few years back I couldn't get the network running, so I took a step back and continued with other distros. I haven't tried Arch lately, I'm happy with Fedora KDE.
There are Arch users here, so if you wait, someone might be able to give you some hints.

AstarothMastemaRavenclaw

The rc.conf example I pasted is directly from that Arch wiki . xD
I have suspicions that I am supposed to edit the lines with no crunch (#) in front of them .
But thanks . xD

I will just keep trying every now and then until I get it right .
I am sure it will be worth it in the end .

AstarothMastemaRavenclaw

I finally got Arch up and running, and I have to say I am thoroughly pleased . ^^

marc

Arch is changing the way they setup the network connections. The rc.conf only allows you to configure one cabled interface. If you must use more than one you should use more advanced programs like net-tools, wicd or networkmanager.

Anyhow... the beauty of it is that you must learn how to set up the interface/network by hand!