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I just want a linux distro that boots fast, has a bash terminal (no gui) and busybox.
Is there any such distro or is it hard to compile a kernel and just make one myself?
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2
I just want a linux distro that boots fast, has a bash terminal (no gui) and busybox.
Is there any such distro or is it hard to compile a kernel and just make one myself?
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What you are searching for is called ttylinux.
The distribution was hosted at Ttylinux.net, and is currently not maintained.
@AndrejsCainikovs April 2016 http://ww1.ttylinux.net/ is only serving ads.
– Pro Backup – 2016-04-30T21:57:39.027can i install it on a usb flash stick and have file persistence? If so then it sounds perfect. – Daniel Gratz – 2011-07-06T15:00:28.100
@AndrejsCainikovs's link is broken. Setting Up a USB or Flash Drive: http://ttylinux.net/Documents/multi/node10.html
– DanteTheEgregore – 2013-12-18T15:00:38.1837
A good linux distro that I've fallen in love with (and also has no GUI) is MicroCore Linux. It also has an older brother TinyCore Linux that does have a GUI (a pretty crappy one though).
You could always try DSL (Damn Small Linux)
I don't think any of these explicitly come with busybox (I don't know of any distro that ships with it), but it shouldn't be too hard to install it afterwards. From what I understand your main concern is a small fast system with a decent shell.
I tried microcore linux, my ethernet adapter isn't detected so i have no internet (required to download and install the bash extension as it does not come with bash by default). – Daniel Gratz – 2011-07-06T13:50:19.863
MaxMackie: Fascinating, up-vote from me. – Ruairi Fullam – 2011-07-06T13:55:57.457
2@MaxMackie, Last time I looked DSL was no longer being developed, so I generally recommend Puppy Linux instead. – CarlF – 2011-07-06T15:35:16.993
@CarlF: You're right, I just checked. Last update was around 2008, thanks for the heads up. – n0pe – 2011-07-06T15:36:21.817
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The best most current distribution I can think of is Debian NetInst: http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/
There are a number of small Linux distributions out there but this one I think will be among the best maintained. Another thing is, if you need to grow it to full size, it's a trivial operation.
+1 for debian's netinstall, forgot about this one. – n0pe – 2011-07-06T13:56:31.827
so this netinstall... its basically just a cli and boots very fast? I'd need it able to be booted from usb using syslinux and to have file persistence. – Daniel Gratz – 2011-07-06T14:55:08.997
You can do all these things with Debian, it's very flexible. – Ruairi Fullam – 2011-07-06T19:00:04.323
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"Alpine Linux is a security-oriented, lightweight Linux distribution based on musl libc and busybox."
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Minimal Linux Live https://github.com/ivandavidov/minimal
For a more interesting interactive system, this is a (mostly educational) small script that:
The ISO then leaves you in a minimal shell with busybox.
With QEMU you can easily boot into the system.
I have modified it to allow running it from the kernel source directory: https://github.com/cirosantilli/runlinux
Usage:
git clone https://github.com/ivandavidov/minimal
cd minimal/src
./build_minimal_linux_live.sh
# Wait.
# Install QEMU.
# minimal_linux_live.iso was generated
./qemu64.sh
and you will be left inside a QEMU Window with you new minimal system. Awesome.
Since it is small, this is a good option to read the source and understand what is going on.
Tested on Ubuntu 16.04.
Buildroot https://buildroot.org/
Large set of Makefile scripts that manage:
Minimal example:
git clone git://git.buildroot.net/buildroot
cd buildroot
git checkout 2016.05
make qemu_x86_defconfig
# Can't use -jN, use `BR2_JLEVEL=2` instead.
BR2_JLEVEL=2 make
# Wait.
# cat board/qemu/x86_64/readme.txt
qemu-system-x86_64 -M pc -kernel output/images/bzImage -drive file=output/images/rootfs.ext2,if=virtio,format=raw -append root=/dev/vda -net nic,model=virtio -net user
# You are now in a shell with BusyBox utilities.
Professional stuff.
Alpine Linux https://github.com/gliderlabs/docker-alpine
Embedded distribution with a package manager that offers precompiled binaries from a website.
Single executable rootfs
The absolute minimum system runs a single /init
program as I've explained at https://superuser.com/a/991733/128124
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You should try Arch Linux. It let's you choose what you do and do not want to install on your system. You could even choose to not install bash :p Alternatively you could try Gentoo, where you have to compile everything from scratch.
Not entirely correct, considering that all SysVinit scripts on Arch are written for bash
. (It's easy to replace SysVinit with systemd, though.) – user1686 – 2011-07-06T14:28:44.463
Yeah, but during the installation you still get the possiblity to choose to not install bash. :p – RobinJ – 2011-07-06T14:33:05.130
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busybox, musl C library, gcc, binutils, make, bash, and the Linux kernel.
busybox, musl and the Linux Kernel
I think the OP wanted a specific distro, not to build one himself. – Journeyman Geek – 2013-02-26T05:10:16.470
2Do you really need bash? Busybox already comes with
sh
. – Ciro Santilli 新疆改造中心法轮功六四事件 – 2015-05-05T14:13:46.6571I don't see what this question has to do with the kernel. Busybox and Bash are just programs. The kernel is pretty much the same for all distros (with minor patches of course). – Brendan Long – 2011-07-06T17:06:21.023