+++
title = "Minimal Linux"
description = "a minimal Linux distribution"
+++

Sometimes I want to send somebody a demo appliance with a minimalistic 
Linux system, so he can test a software or so. With nowadays Linux
distributions this is impossible as they are unbelievably big.
Goal is to get to something far smaller than 10M so it can pass
mail servers.

MiniLinux is a small GNU makefile which fetches Linux kernel, busybox,
uClibc, syslinux, acpid and builds a minimalistic Linux on a
[Qemu](http://www.qemu.org) virtual disk (also VMWare or VirtualBox
is possible).

Build the image with:

```
make source
make qemu
```

The image is started with:

```
qemu -hda minilinux.img
```

[download sources](/minilinux/minilinux-source.tgz)  
[download a QEMU image](/minilinux/minilinux.img.gz)  
[view demo session](/minilinux/minilinux.avi)

A Git repository is accessible at 
**git://git.andreasbaumann.cc/minilinux.git** 
(or at http://git.andreasbaumann.cc/cgit/minilinux/)

In case of questions, contact me via email.