On Sat, Sep 05, 2026 at 04:05:23PM +0000, Fix The Debian Installer wrote: > To the Debian Installer Team,
Just a quick reminder: Debian Code of Conduct applies here. So does the mailing lists code of conduct. Below text has been reformatted manually by me to make it more readable. > Whoever decided to eliminate granular package selection and force everyone > into broad, opaque tasksel bundles completely missed the point of basic > system architecture. Granular package selection is still entirely possible: You can use the expert mode installer which will ask you more questions including those at lower priority. You will find this as an option on the menu as you boot the Debian install medium. As suggested by others: if you reach the tasksel screen, you can uncheck the Debian desktop and Gnome which are checked by default. It is always open to you to not install tasks. I've just checked: once you get to a basic installed system, you can use dselect and dpkg. I'd not suggest it, but it does provide a means to individually select any of approximately 68859 packages. > Forcing an experienced administrator through an automated bottleneck that > defaults to heavy desktop bloat, only to require them to manually purge > that junk post-boot, is an utterly broken and brain-damaged workflow. It is a workflow that will provide a user with a desktop fairly reliably. If you don't like the GNOME desktop, you can provide an alternative. > An installer has one fundamental job: execute the precise parameters > defined by the person installing it. It is not there to make paternalistic > assumptions or try to be "smart" on behalf of the user. Precision is in the eye of the beholder. What did you define when you did your Debian install? > Stripping away fine-grained package control under the guise of > simplification completely compromises the utility of the distribution > for minimal, headless, and enterprise environments. See above. if you want a *really* minimal installation, look at the packages recommended for minbase in the cloud images and install only those. Preseed the installation / use ansible, puppet or your preferred installation method to do this. Headless - don't install a GUI. What's an enterprise environment in your terms? Red Hat, for example, installs a web-based GUI in cockpit as a necessary part of system administration > It introduces completely unnecessary overhead and remediation steps that > have no business existing in a professional-grade operating system.You do > not dictate broken workflows to the community that actually relies on your > system for real work. Your idea of community here who rely on the system for real work - does that include the > 1000 Debian developers, the many thousands of users or the millions of servers and virtual machines deployed worldwide? Your desires for the world may not be everyone elses, but you're free to explain what you need - probably on debian-user mailing list if you wish for long discussions. > The engineering logic here is completely counterproductive and needs to > be fixed. A direct, non-automated path that completely bypasses tasksel > and restores individual package selection must be reinstated immediately. The logic has built up over 32 years. You can dselect tasks in tasksel and use dselect and/or dpkg directly on a base system rather than using apt. > Until the installer natively respects the absolute requirement for > minimal deployments, this is going to remain a point of persistent friction. With you, maybe. As someone living with genuine congenital brain damage and the resultant cerebral palsy, I remain unimpressed with your level of communication and using that as an insulting term. I do look forward to reading reasoned argumnent from you in the future, when you have taken the opportunity to reflect on how your demands come across to those of us actually doing the work. With every good wish, as ever, Andrew Cater ([email protected])
