Is there a very barebones/modular distro with great community with very long/slow update cycles?

Originally Posted by linuxuser371038 You did me bad with the slackware recommendation.

I made no recommendation! I suggested distros to look into based on their descriptions in the Arch wiki page, (which was linked so the reader could check their descriptions themselves).

Suggesting to look into a distro is not an endorsement of that distro, it is saying one should check deeper and decide if it meets their needs - which is what you've done, and concluded it doesn't.

(But yes, now I'm reminded of Slackware's default 14GB install, it probably wasn't worth even suggesting looking at; if I had an Arch wiki account I'd probably update that page to make that difference clear for others.)

I don't think the distro you want exists, so the question is what facets are you most/least willing to compromise on.

If you truly want minimalism over all else, Alpine or Tiny Core describe themselves respectively as "designed for power users who appreciate security, simplicity and resource efficiency" and "a highly modular based system with community build extensions" - they may or not be satisfactory in other aspects, again you will need to look into them and decide that yourself.

Originally Posted by hazel That's basically Debian without systemd. Same packaging system.

Devuan is Debian. It has some packages removed and a few others modified, but the vast majority are untouched - outside of SystemD (and branding) it is ultimately the same.

Originally Posted by boughtonp I made no recommendation! I suggested distros to look into based on their descriptions in the Arch wiki page, (which was linked so the reader could check their descriptions themselves). Suggesting to look into a distro is not an endorsement of that distro, it is saying one should check deeper and decide if it meets their needs - which is what you've done, and concluded it doesn't. (But yes, now I'm reminded of Slackware's default 14GB install, it probably wasn't worth even suggesting looking at; if I had an Arch wiki account I'd probably update that page to make that difference clear for others.) I don't think the distro you want exists, so the question is what facets are you most/least willing to compromise on. If you truly want minimalism over all else, Alpine or Tiny Core describe themselves respectively as "designed for power users who appreciate security, simplicity and resource efficiency" and "a highly modular based system with community build extensions" - they may or not be satisfactory in other aspects, again you will need to look into them and decide that yourself. Devuan is Debian. It has some packages removed and a few others modified, but the vast majority are untouched - outside of SystemD (and branding) it is ultimately the same.

What does the archwiki have to do with slackware install size? Or was it a joke I missed?

Yes got another recommendation for alpine. Going to look into it.

I think Debian may meet your needs. Select only "standard system utilities" at software selection and then build the system from there. Or use debootstrap to build the system: https://www.debian.org/releases/stab...apds03.en.html

Might give tinycore another go; if not for my main desktop maybe for a micro budget server or so.