[Koshkin]

My problem with Debian (and Ubuntu) has been that often when I want to install a seemingly little piece of software, be it a library or a program, I end up getting the whole slew of stuff - frameworks, daemons, even language processors I haven't suspected existed. (This may not be the distro's problem, but I believe at least some of those things may be optional, and I would have liked to treat them as such.)

[jlgaddis]

You can avoid installing non-required dependencies by adding the following (based on your preferences and/or use case) to a file in the /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/ directory:

  APT::Install-Recommends "false";
  APT::Install-Suggests "false";

Alternatively, you can do as pengaru suggested and the pass "--no-install-recommends" and/or "--no-install-suggests" parameters when installing packages, as described in the apt-get man page [0].

---

[0]: https://manpages.debian.org/buster/apt/apt-get.8.en.html

[pengaru]

--no-install-recommends

[ComputerGuru]

You can’t even install a GUI without getting every web browser, mail client, office suite, and more under the sun.

[jlgaddis]

You can, but it does require one to RTFM and know/learn about the available installation options.

My automated "preseed" installs are quite minimal. I don't recall exactly how many packages I end up with on a new install but I think it was 224 -- much fewer than what you'll end up with when doing a typical installation.

[markosaric]

If you go with the NetInst ISO you can install minimal Gnome (or whichever desktop environment you prefer) which comes without any additional software. You have to untick everything on the last step where it asks you to choose your DE, log in when the install is finished and then install gnome-core using apt install gnome-core. This is Gnome with Gnome Software, Gnome Terminal and other major pieces but without mail client, office, games etc.