README

tl;dr Smaller kernel image for server-centric Debian-based Live CDs. This is NOT for Desktop systems.

What is this?

Overview

This is a set of minimal Debian kernel images for Live CDs, with a focus on server systems.

• The target kernel versions are longterm release kernels
  • Only versions that compile without a proliferation of configuration files are considered
  • There will be occasionally other releases for bleeding edge versions
• This is for both amd64 and aarch64 architectures
• Drivers for audio, video or other “non-meaningful” settings are discarded
• The resulting kernel image installation size should be as small as possible

Main goals

• The system should be able to successfully boot from UEFI or BIOS mode on most machines
• The system should successfully power off without hanging
• The system should support “containerization” (podman, docker, etc.)
• The system should support iptables for firewall settings
• The system should support popular file-systems used in Live CDs such as squashfs
• The system Live media size should be reduced significantly with provided kernel packages

Initial use-case

The first use-case for this repository is supporting the Live CD creation of a document sanitizer tool (Entrusted).

How was the configuration defined?

• Start with an Ubuntu kernel configuration in your /boot folder
• Compare settings with the Alpine Linux virt-flavor kernel configuration
• Remove as many settings as possible, while testing few Live CDs for arm64 and amd64
• Stop removing settings when it becomes too cumbersome to test

What is available?

Please visit the releases page for downloads (64-bit: amd64/x86_64 and arm64/aarch64).

The zip archive for each architecture (amd64 or arm64) contains 3 Debian packages:

Package	Description
linux-headers	Linux kernel headers
linux-image	Linux kernel
linux-libc-dev	Linux support headers for userspace development

The arm64 kernel packages are created via cross-compilation.

Where can I read more about this?

• The Linux Kernel Archives
• Building a Debian kernel package
  • Debian wiki page guide
  • Blog post from Daniel Wayne Armstrong
• Alpine Linux default kernel configuration files
• Kernel cross-compiling notes