Andrew Cater wrote: > Separately, we also had a quick think about the numbers of iso images in > general. A suggestion: For the future, we should produce physical media for > the netinst.iso, the first DVD image in any set and one larger image to be > written to a USB stick if wanted - and corresponding source for each size. > All other .iso files to be distributed as .jigdo and .template files.In > most instances, the netinst is enough, if you have network connectivity and > bandwidth. The DVD is enough to install the basis of any of the graphical > environments readily. This does not mean that you couldn't produce every > other image - but very few people are on a desert island and need every > piece of software Debian has produced on physical media.
At this point in 2020, I think it would be reasonable to only produce netinst images and jigdo (and live, but that's a different-ish project). Drop the DVD images. All of my installs in the last six years have either been via a USB netinst image or PXE. New laptops and desktops are generally shipping without optical drives at all. My oldest non-toy hardware can boot via USB. -dsr-