Can anyone offer any advice on how to cut down the size of an
autoinstall DVD (CD)?

I have one stripped of most packages, with system utilities only, and
the image is still over 800MB.

I'd like to fit it onto a CD.

Charlie

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.11
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

cchamb2@gmail.com wrote:

Can anyone offer any advice on how to cut down the size of an
autoinstall DVD (CD)?

I have one stripped of most packages, with system utilities only, and
the image is still over 800MB.

I'd like to fit it onto a CD.

Why do you care that much about the size? These days most people are
using USB sticks anyway. And blank DVD-R media costs no more than
CD-R if you do need optical.

The biggest thing that has made Debian media grow in the last couple
of releases is the addition of non-free-firmware. If you're *100%*
sure you don't need that, then build without it.

--
Steve McIntyre, Cambridge, UK. steve@einval.com Can't keep my eyes from the circling sky,
Tongue-tied & twisted, Just an earth-bound misfit, I...

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.11
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

At Mon, 9 Feb 2026 08:04:40 -0700 Charles Chambers <cchamb2@gmail.com> wrote:

Because pretty much all optical drives take CD's. I'd consider key-type
USB, but they don't have the file volume of a DVD.

Huh? I have USB flash drives with a capacity of 64G and USB flash drives with capacities of up to 256G are readily available. A single sided DVD is like 4G. Actually "tiny" compared to USB flash drives...

Charlie

On Mon, Feb 9, 2026 at 7:59ƒ??AM Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> wrote:

cchamb2@gmail.com wrote:

Can anyone offer any advice on how to cut down the size of an
autoinstall DVD (CD)?

I have one stripped of most packages, with system utilities only, and
the image is still over 800MB.

I'd like to fit it onto a CD.

Why do you care that much about the size? These days most people are
using USB sticks anyway. And blank DVD-R media costs no more than
CD-R if you do need optical.

The biggest thing that has made Debian media grow in the last couple
of releases is the addition of non-free-firmware. If you're *100%*
sure you don't need that, then build without it.

--
Steve McIntyre, Cambridge, UK.
steve@einval.com
Can't keep my eyes from the circling sky,
Tongue-tied & twisted, Just an earth-bound misfit, I...

--
Robert Heller -- Cell: 413-658-7953 GV: 978-633-5364
Deepwoods Software -- Custom Software Services
http://www.deepsoft.com/ -- Linux Administration Services
heller@deepsoft.com -- Webhosting Services


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.11
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

I'd still like to get it down to something reasonable.ÿÿI don't get a
call very often for the 30-something DVD making a distribution's package repository offline, either.

I'm almost fully installed on something I'm working on, and it's showing
about 3.8 GB out of a terabyte.ÿ ÿI'd consider a 4GB "key", but I'm not
done building.

I have a USB with almost all my software, 512GB.

Charlie


===============


On 2/9/2026 8:42 AM, Robert Heller wrote:

At Mon, 9 Feb 2026 08:04:40 -0700 Charles Chambers <cchamb2@gmail.com> wrote:

Because pretty much all optical drives take CD's. I'd consider key-type
USB, but they don't have the file volume of a DVD.

Huh? I have USB flash drives with a capacity of 64G and USB flash drives with
capacities of up to 256G are readily available. A single sided DVD is like 4G. Actually "tiny" compared to USB flash drives...

Charlie



On Mon, Feb 9, 2026 at 7:59?›????AM Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> wrote: >>

cchamb2@gmail.com wrote:

Can anyone offer any advice on how to cut down the size of an
autoinstall DVD (CD)?

I have one stripped of most packages, with system utilities only, and
the image is still over 800MB.

I'd like to fit it onto a CD.

Why do you care that much about the size? These days most people are
using USB sticks anyway. And blank DVD-R media costs no more than
CD-R if you do need optical.

The biggest thing that has made Debian media grow in the last couple
of releases is the addition of non-free-firmware. If you're *100%*
sure you don't need that, then build without it.

--
Steve McIntyre, Cambridge, UK.
steve@einval.com
Can't keep my eyes from the circling sky,
Tongue-tied & twisted, Just an earth-bound misfit, I...

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.11
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

A DVD tops out at under 10G.
I can buy a ten-pack of 64GB USB keys for $80, only a slight per-unit discount from the single quantity price.


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.11
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Mon, Feb 09, 2026 at 07:09:34AM -0700, Charles Chambers wrote:

Can anyone offer any advice on how to cut down the size of an autoinstall
DVD (CD)?

I have one stripped of most packages, with system utilities only, and the image is still over 800MB.

I'd like to fit it onto a CD.

Charlie

Charlie,

Unlikely to happen, I'm afraid. Firmware means that the install images
haven't fitted on a 700MB CD for a while.

Hope this helps,

Andy
(who tests install images for point releases).

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.11
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)