You can choose to install Solaris on a system _now_ without various packages or clusters, leaving out functionality you don't need. For reasons described below, I haven't checked, but I'm reasonably sure you could leave out most of the desktop stuff if you wanted to.
I submit that because of the mess that can result if packages are added after patches have already been applied, that's not such a great idea if you might ever want to add additional packages later on; that is, I think one ought to install everything one might ever want installed, up front. Also, some places require initial documentation/testing of a configuration, which would have to be updated if additional packages were added; simpler to just load everything, disable unneeded services, and avoid paperwork later on. Only if one has limited space or a special use system (appliance, embedded, or something so hardened that there would be no opportunity for unauthorized software to be put on the system, such that it would actually make a difference not to install certain packages) would I really see much sense in a bare-bones installation (although in those special cases, there is certainly interest in minimized installations). Zones are a different story; I could certainly see minimizing a non-global zone. This message posted from opensolaris.org
