From Bugzilla Helper: User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041217 Description of problem: Would be nice for a server-no-x11 install, for eg servers. At the moment this is impossible. No matter how much stuff you omit, the installer always seems to want to install x11 and a bunch of related packages. It would be nice to have an install option for 'everything EXCEPT x11'. No gnome, no kde, no qt, no gtk, nothing which depends on x11 at all. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): How reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1.Try to install a system without x11. 2.Fail. 3.Shake fists and curse. Actual Results: A bunch of x11 crap gets installed. Expected Results: No x11 and no x11 dependent packages should get installed. Additional info: This may require changing some packages, as there are packages which "require" x11 for no good reason at all, or could at least have their x11-dependent components split out into subpackages. At least openssh has been split up into x11 and non-x11 dependent parts. There are some others which need to be split up as well.
everything-except-x11 install is too much of a pain to implement, but attach a patch here for comps.xml that adds a desired server-without-x11 group, and I'll merge it in.
i made a minimal install of fedora onto a 1gb compactflash card, then pared it down until I got the smallest list of packages I could and still get a reasonably bootable system: Fedora Core release 3 (Heidelberg) acl-2.2.23-5 ash-0.3.8-20 attr-2.4.16-3 basesystem-8.0-4 bash-3.0-18 bc-1.06-17.1 beecrypt-3.1.0-6 bind-libs-9.2.5-1 bind-utils-9.2.5-1 binutils-2.15.92.0.2-5 bzip2-1.0.2-13.FC3.1 bzip2-libs-1.0.2-13.FC3.1 checkpolicy-1.17.5-1.2 chkconfig-1.3.11.1-1 comps-3-0.20041103 coreutils-5.2.1-31 cpio-2.5-7 cracklib-2.7-28 cracklib-dicts-2.7-28 crontabs-1.10-7 cyrus-sasl-2.1.19-3 cyrus-sasl-md5-2.1.19-3 cyrus-sasl-plain-2.1.19-3 db4-4.2.52-6 device-mapper-1.00.19-2 dhclient-3.0.1-42_FC3 diffutils-2.8.1-12 e2fsprogs-1.36-1.FC3.1 ed-0.2-36 elfutils-0.96-1 elfutils-libelf-0.96-1 ethtool-1.8-4 fedora-logos-1.1.29-1 fedora-release-3-8 file-4.12-1.FC3.1 filesystem-2.3.0-1 findutils-4.1.20-7 gawk-3.1.3-9 gdbm-1.8.0-24 gettext-0.14.1-12 glib2-2.4.8-1.fc3 glibc-2.3.5-0.fc3.1 glibc-common-2.3.5-0.fc3.1 gmp-4.1.4-3 gpg-pubkey-1cddbca9-3f9da14c gpg-pubkey-30c9ecf8-3f9da3f7 gpg-pubkey-4f2a6fd2-3f9d9d3b gpg-pubkey-897da07a-3c979a7f gpg-pubkey-db42a60e-37ea5438 gpg-pubkey-e418e3aa-3f439953 grep-2.5.1-31.4 groff-1.18.1.1-3 grub-0.95-3 gzip-1.3.3-13 hdparm-5.7-2 hotplug-2004_04_01-8.1 hwdata-0.145-1 info-4.8-2.1 initscripts-7.93.7-1 iproute-2.6.9-3 iptables-1.2.11-3.1.FC3 iptstate-1.3-4 iputils-20020927-16 kbd-1.12-2 kernel-2.6.11-1.27_FC3 kernel-2.6.9-1.667 krb5-libs-1.3.6-5 less-382-4 libacl-2.2.23-5 libattr-2.4.16-3 libgcc-3.4.3-22.fc3 libselinux-1.19.1-8 libsepol-1.1.1-2 libstdc++-3.4.3-22.fc3 libtermcap-2.0.8-39 libuser-0.52.5-1 libxml2-2.6.16-3 libxml2-python-2.6.16-3 lockdev-1.0.1-4.1 logrotate-3.7.1-2 lvm2-2.00.25-1.01 m4-1.4.1-16 make-3.80-5 MAKEDEV-3.13-1 man-1.5o1-7 man-pages-1.67-3 mingetty-1.07-3 mkinitrd-4.1.18-2 mktemp-1.5-10 module-init-tools-3.1-0.pre5.3 nano-1.2.4-1 ncurses-5.4-13 net-tools-1.60-37.FC3.1 newt-0.51.6-5 ntsysv-1.3.11.1-1 openldap-2.2.13-2 openssh-3.9p1-8.0.1 openssh-clients-3.9p1-8.0.1 openssh-server-3.9p1-8.0.1 openssl-0.9.7a-42.1 pam-0.77-66.2 parted-1.6.15-5 passwd-0.68-10 pciutils-2.1.99.test8-3 pcre-4.5-3 pdksh-5.2.14-30 perl-5.8.5-12.FC3 perl-Filter-1.30-6 policycoreutils-1.18.1-2.12 popt-1.9.1-21 prelink-0.3.3-0.fc3 procps-3.2.3-5.2 psmisc-21.4-4 python-2.3.4-13.1 rdate-1.4-2 readline-4.3-13 reiserfs-utils-3.6.18-1 rootfiles-8-1 rpm-4.3.2-21 rpm-libs-4.3.2-21 rpm-python-4.3.2-21 sed-4.1.2-4 selinux-policy-targeted-1.17.30-3.9 setarch-1.6-1 setools-1.4.1-5 setup-2.5.36-1 shadow-utils-4.0.3-56 slang-1.4.9-13 sudo-1.6.7p5-30.2 symlinks-1.2-22 sysklogd-1.4.1-26_FC3 SysVinit-2.85-34 tar-1.14-4 tcp_wrappers-7.6-37.2 tcsh-6.13-10.FC3.1 termcap-5.4-3 tmpwatch-2.9.1-1 tzdata-2005f-1.fc3 udev-039-10.FC3.7 unzip-5.51-4 usbutils-0.11-6.1 usermode-1.74-1 utempter-0.5.5-5 util-linux-2.12a-24.2 vim-minimal-6.3.054-0.fc3.1 wget-1.9.1-17 words-3.0-2.3 yum-2.2.1-0.fc3 zip-2.3-26.3 zlib-1.2.1.2-1
here's a barebones install of FC4 on a 1gb compactflash card. note that it was quite a PITA to install into 1gb despite the installer claiming it would only take ~500mb. acl-2.2.23-8 audit-libs-0.8.2-1 basesystem-8.0-5 bash-3.0-31 beecrypt-4.1.2-8 binutils-2.15.94.0.2.2-2 bzip2-1.0.2-16 bzip2-libs-1.0.2-16 checkpolicy-1.23.1-1 chkconfig-1.3.20-1 comps-4-0.20050606 coreutils-5.2.1-48 cpio-2.6-7 cracklib-2.8.2-1 cracklib-dicts-2.8.2-1 cyrus-sasl-2.1.20-5 cyrus-sasl-md5-2.1.20-5 db4-4.3.27-3 device-mapper-1.01.02-1.0 dhclient-3.0.2-12 dhcpv6_client-0.10-13 diffutils-2.8.1-15 e2fsprogs-1.37-4 elfutils-0.108-1 elfutils-libelf-0.108-1 ethtool-3-1 expat-1.95.8-6 fedora-logos-1.1.31-1 fedora-release-4-2 filesystem-2.3.4-1 findutils-4.2.20-1 gawk-3.1.4-5.2 gdbm-1.8.0-25 gettext-0.14.3-1 glib2-2.6.4-1 glibc-2.3.5-10 glibc-common-2.3.5-10 glibc-headers-2.3.5-10 glibc-kernheaders-2.4-9.1.94 gpg-pubkey-4f2a6fd2-3f9d9d3b grep-2.5.1-48 grub-0.95-13 gzip-1.3.5-6 hardlink-1.0-1.13 hotplug-2004_09_23-7 hwdata-0.158-1 info-4.8-4 initscripts-8.11.1-1 iproute-2.6.11-1 iptables-1.3.0-2 iptstate-1.4-1.1 iputils-20020927-22 kernel-2.6.11-1.1369_FC4 krb5-libs-1.4-3 ksh-20050202-1 less-382-7 libacl-2.2.23-8 libattr-2.4.16-5 libgcc-4.0.0-8 libselinux-1.23.10-2 libsepol-1.5.9-2 libstdc++-4.0.0-8 libtermcap-2.0.8-41 libuser-0.53.7-1 libxml2-2.6.19-1 libxml2-python-2.6.19-1 lockdev-1.0.1-7 lvm2-2.01.08-2.1 MAKEDEV-3.19-1 mingetty-1.07-5 mkinitrd-4.2.15-1 mktemp-1.5-23 module-init-tools-3.1-3 nano-1.3.5-0.20050302 ncurses-5.4-17 neon-0.24.7-6 net-tools-1.60-52 newt-0.51.6-7 ntsysv-1.3.20-1 openldap-2.2.23-5 openssh-4.0p1-3 openssh-clients-4.0p1-3 openssh-server-4.0p1-3 openssl-0.9.7f-7 pam-0.79-8 passwd-0.69-2 pcre-5.0-4 perl-5.8.6-15 perl-Filter-1.30-7 policycoreutils-1.23.10-2 popt-1.10.1-21 prelink-0.3.4-3 procps-3.2.5-6 psmisc-21.5-4 pyOpenSSL-0.6-1.p24.4 python-2.4.1-2 python-elementtree-1.2.6-4 python-sqlite-1.1.6-1 python-urlgrabber-2.9.6-1 readline-5.0-3 reiserfs-utils-3.6.19-2 rhnlib-1.8-6.p24.1 rootfiles-8.1-1 rpm-4.4.1-21 rpm-libs-4.4.1-21 rpm-python-4.4.1-21 sed-4.1.4-1 selinux-policy-targeted-1.23.16-6 setools-2.1.0-5 setup-2.5.44-1 shadow-utils-4.0.7-9 slang-1.4.9-17 specspo-9.0.92-1.3 sqlite-3.1.2-3 symlinks-1.2-24 sysklogd-1.4.1-30 SysVinit-2.85-39 tar-1.15.1-5 tcl-8.4.9-3 tcp_wrappers-7.6-39 tcsh-6.14-1 termcap-5.4-4 tmpwatch-2.9.3-1 tzdata-2005i-2 udev-058-1 usermode-1.80-1 util-linux-2.12p-9.5 vconfig-1.8-7 wget-1.9.1-22 yum-2.3.2-7 zlib-1.2.2.2-3 this install takes 463712kb and is suitable for eg diskless embedded routers. the package group could be called "barebones".
Deselecting every package from the installation screens will give you a system w/out X (and without yum, and without lftp, and without.....) You get the picture. Adding yet another group is not going to happen. Kickstart exists for doing these kinds of installs, or just manually selecting the packages you want.