How to install Ubuntu in the smallest size? 20.04 Edition

Summary

I began to install Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on a VM. One of my goals was to install the core OS and use the least amount of disk space. I wanted it to be small, and take as little space as possible. This article is a continuous of my previous post that did the same thing but for Ubuntu 19.10. I count the number of packages using dpkg --list | wc --lines

My Journey

You would think this would be a easy to understand which install option would create the smallest install size. I downloaded each variant of interest and installed them. My results are as follows.

Ubuntu 20.04 Desktop - Minimal Installation

Software Selection: Minimal Installation (other option is Normal) Packages Installed: 1433 vs (1504 in Ubuntu 19.10) Disk Size: 6.52 GB vs (8.14GB in Ubuntu 19.10) Software Summary: Basic Apps (terminal, files, etc.), Firefox Comments: This is the standard minimal desktop that the main site promotes for desktop users.

Ubuntu 20.04 Desktop - Normal Installation

Software Selection: Normal Installation (other option is Minimal) Packages Installed: 1592 vs (N/A in Ubuntu 19.10) Disk Size: 6.80 GB vs (8.14GB in Ubuntu 19.10) Software Summary: Basic Apps (terminal, files, etc.), Firefox, Office Apps, games Comments: This is the standard normal desktop that the main site promotes for desktop users.

Ubuntu 20.04 Net Install - Ubuntu Desktop Minimal

Looks like the Software Selection for “Ubuntu Desktop Minimal” is no longer present. So this option is not available any more. You can install the core only and then install the ubuntu desktop.

Debian 10.5.0 Net Install - Debian Desktop Environment

Software Selection: Debian Desktop environment, print server, standard system utilities Packages Installed: 1573 Disk Size: 5.33 GB Summary: Pretty bare bones. You get a terminal and set of standard utilities

Debian 10.5.0 Net Install - XFCE Desktop Environment

Software Selection: XFCE Desktop environment, print server, standard system utilities Packages Installed: 1432 Disk Size: 4.76 GB Summary: XFCE version of the desktop installed vs standard Debian desktop based on GNOME.

I’d prefer the default desktop edition over XFCE. If you have low CPU/RAM resources, than XFCE is nice for its low memory footprint. I also like that its below 5GB which has a small sense of achievement from this exercise.

Conclusion

I was pleased that the desktop minimal installation went down to 6.5 GB out of the box since the last version. I was disappointed that the Net install option of Ubuntu Desktop minimal is gone which netted me a install size of 5.07GB in ubuntu 19.10. I think this install version is also cleaner and doesn’t have a bunch of extra apps installed; which I usually immediately uninstall. We can get smaller of course with custom package selection during the install; but that will likely open up more more in configuration than I am interested in doing.

I also did a Debian test system install to see if I can get a smaller size. The result was it was smaller install size. There are good reasons to go with Ubuntu anyway, but if your looking for the smaller default size, Debian fits the bill.