On Wed, Mar 19, 2014 at 12:44 PM, Chris St. Pierre chris.a.st.pierre@gmail.com wrote:
I think we need to take into account that there are multiple different purposes for a minimal image. If I'm using the minimal image in Docker, I don't want or need sshd. In other (non-container) places, I probably do. So maybe we need more than one minimal (or micro) -- 'micro' (outrageously small image for outrageously small machines) and 'micro-lxc' (even smaller image for even smaller containers).
I definitely think yum should be included, though. I should be able to 'RUN yum -y install ...' in my Dockerfile without first invoking some ugly 'RUN rpm -hvU http://...' mess.
For some purposes, you might want to look at what the 'rear' package (from EPEL) does in terms of building a bootable image containing a script to reconstruct the partitions/filesystems and restore a backup to it. With a little configuration you might be able to tune it to restore exactly what you want, especially if you intend to effectively clone a base install.