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I've been looking around for a Linux distro that is extremely basic. Literally, just the vanilla kernel with bash and basic compilation tools installed. I can't seem to find a distro that doesn't have a package manager and a GUI already installed. I took a look at Linux From Scratch, but I would hate to have to re-do everything if I lose it. I'm also expecting that the distro I'm looking for would, due to it's small size, be updated as soon as new kernel versions appear.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

EDIT: I have yet to receive the answer I was looking for. People were asking why I wouldn't want a package manager, and the reason is learning. I found that the problems I encountered in Linux were a result of a ton of packages I knew nothing about being installed, and when a problem occurred, I had no idea what was wrong or how to fix it. The number of variables in the equation were staggering. In the meantime, I will attempt to create what I was looking for, but feel free to make suggestions!

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I'm not sure why you don't want a package manager. Especially as you want to stay current on the kernel version. – dmckee Dec 1 '10 at 0:33
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This is all in the interest of learning. I have always found the best way is to do it the hard way. Once I learned the hard way, then go to the easy way. This avoids the whole "I'm not sure how it works, I just know it works" situation. When something breaks, I'm screwed. I know why distros use package managers. I understand that it's easier,b ut using a package manager robs me of the opportunity to learn how dependencies work, how to compile my hand, etc. My problem is that compiling an entire OS can be complex. I want a super basic precompiled one, at which I can start. – CamronBute Dec 1 '10 at 19:52
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10 Answers

up vote 6 down vote

ArchLinux.

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+1 though it's not quite what OP wanted, since it does come with a package manager; it's very close though. – frabjous Dec 1 '10 at 3:50
While I was hoping to compile my own software, this distro is absolutely fantastic. Very basic, not a bunch of garbage packages that make it confusing to troubleshoot. – CamronBute Dec 2 '11 at 20:49
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up vote 4 down vote

You might want to give slackware a try. You can manually select which packages are installed during the install process. It boots to a command line by default. It's not quite a "vanilla kernel" but it might do the trick for you. You might want to skim through the slackbook PDF to see if it is what you are looking for.

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up vote 4 down vote

Linux From Scratch may be the closest to what you want; though it may take things a bit further than you wanted, however. But maybe some of the subversions that automate compiling the kernel itself would be close.

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I explained in the description that this doesn't answer my problem. Thanks, though! – CamronBute Dec 3 '10 at 15:55
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up vote 3 down vote

If it's just a plain vanilla kernel with basic compilation tools installed, what do you gain from it being a distro?

Nobody makes a distro without some form of packages because having a distro without some form of packages would be a nightmare to maintain.

If you don't want particular packages, just don't have a distro's installer install them. Hell, even DSL uses a package manager.

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I want to find a pre-compiled version that I can just run without having to mess around with graphic drivers and all sorts of stuff. The reason I'm even looking for this is that I'm want to learn about how Linux works, and I've decided to start with bash and work my way up. Is there some solution that offers a pre-compiled version I can download and run? – CamronBute Nov 30 '10 at 23:35
@CamronBute: I know of no distro that doesn't use something like dpkj or rpm in order to manage what gets installed where -- trying to maintain a system is madness any other way, namely because in Unix land, when there's a shared library, programs expect it to be on the machine already, unlike in Windows land where most programs supply all their own libraries. That could make installing simple programs take many hundreds of steps (because of dependencies) without some form of package management, which is why all successful distros have package managers. Just don't install what you don't want. – Billy ONeal Dec 1 '10 at 7:32
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I'm well aware of the reasoning. I'm looking to learn how to compile programs. I want to learn how to do the things that package managers do for me. Then, when I know, I can use a package manager and understand exactly what it's doing. I do appreciate the explanation, though! – CamronBute Dec 1 '10 at 19:54
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@Camron: Why can't you compile programs if there's a package manager installed? – Billy ONeal Dec 1 '10 at 20:44
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up vote 1 down vote

Try Puppy Linux

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or DSL... damnsmalllinux.org – studiohack♦ Dec 1 '10 at 3:40
I'm confused -- both DSL and Puppy Linux (AFAIK) have package managers, which the OP explicitly says (s)he does not want. – Billy ONeal Dec 1 '10 at 3:43
It also has a hell of a lot more than just "the vanilla kernel with bash and basic compilation" – frabjous Dec 1 '10 at 3:49
digitaltools.node3000.com/blog/… – Moab Dec 10 '10 at 16:40
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up vote 1 down vote

Gentoo is source based, it can be as big or as small as you want it to be.

And you can learn a lot by understanding how portage works (Gentoo's package manager).

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up vote 1 down vote

How about Tiny Core Linux its only 10MB?

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up vote 1 down vote

If you download and install the Debian net-inst cd, and when asked what type of system you are installing make sure no boxes are checked, you'll get a very sparse system with little more than basic tools and a text editor.

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up vote 1 down vote

ricbax already suggested Tiny Core Linux, which I'd advice as well, along with Micro Core Linux, which is even smaller (6MB). I'd recommend that as a basis to create your own distro.

You might also want to take a look at fli4l as well. It's a small distro, designed to be a router, if you leave all additional packages out, you'd have a systems, with not much more, that the kernel, a shell, etc.

In case you want to take a look at basic UNIXoide systems, and not only specifically Linux, I'd advice to take a look at NetBSD. Though it doesn't really matter which of the *BSD you'd take a look at, I'd advice NetBSD, since it has the clearest structure, and is ported to many architectures, which helps when trying to understand pieces of code.

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up vote 0 down vote

CRUX

From the website ( http://crux.nu ):

There are many Linux distributions out there these days, so what makes CRUX any better than the others? The choice of distribution is a matter of taste, really. Here are a few hints about the tastes and goals of the people behind CRUX. CRUX is made with simplicity in mind from beginning to end. Making it easy to create new and update old packages is essential; updating a package in CRUX is often just a matter of typing pkgmk -d -u. The usage of ports helps keep your packages up-to-date; not the latest bleeding-edge-alpha version, but the latest stable version. Other features include creating packages optimized for your processor, eg. by compiling with -march=i686, and avoiding cluttering the filesystem with files you'll never use, eg. /usr/doc/*, etc.

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