[oddlama]

Neither impossible nor tough, but also not a clean way of managing state. You need to keep track of all past things you once did but no longer need.

[INTPenis]

I guess the point is that it's already there and ready to be used.

Not trying to discourage innovation and enthusiasm. I just want my router setup.

[szszrk]

I don't think this is true. What happened to things "you no longer need", did these packages disappear? Or you suddenly trust system defaults? If you do then why with minimalist approach at all.

It feels very inconsistent to me. You can always start from a minimalist system image and then add a few packages you need using Ansible. Is that really that different?