[@core] working definition for the minimal package set

[Przemek Klosowski]

On 11/12/2012 11:28 AM, Matthew Miller wrote:

> I see three basic options for the target:
>
>   A) kernel + init system and we're done
>   B) "boot to yum (with network)": a text-mode bootstrap environment on which
>      other things can be added by hand (or by kickstart)
>   C) a traditional Unix command line environment with the expected basic
>      tools available
>
> To me, 'C' is too wide for two reasons. First, it's too open for continual
> debate, because different people might expect different tools. Second, it's

I was just working on a  VMWare ESXI hypervisor which basically is a 
minimal Linux install, including a kernel running their virtualization 
hosting environment, and a busybox session.

I found that there is a shockingly large amount of functionality in that 
busybox: we needed some network diagnostic tools, and discovered that it 
includes nc/netcat and ssh, as well as the usual 
ping/traceroute/nslookup/etc.

I don't know if that is what you're after, because busybox duplicates 
the functionality of individual packages (and may have some limitations 
in how well it duplicates, I'm sure). All the same, I would definitely 
consider including it---it's of course available as a Fedora package.