Exadra37
What is the most minimalist Linux server distro?
I am asking for any distro that only has the bare-bones to be able to get a shell in the server and then just install the packages as we need for the application we want to run. Think of it like the RancherOS or CoreOS that only have the strictly necessary to run containers, but for bare metal or VPS servers wanting to run non dockerized workloads.
Current distros for server have too many packages you may need or not, and a lot of them you don’t need, thus they pose a security risk, because they are one more attack vector that can be exploited and put the system at risk.
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AstonJ
Many datacentres offer a ‘minimal’ distro:
The minimal images generally contain no software other than SSH, allowing an unlimited scope for creativity.
Operating System Versions Arch Linux latest Minimal (64-Bit) CentOS 6.10 Minimal (64-Bit) CentOS 7.7 Minimal (64-Bit) CentOS 8.1 Minimal (64-Bit) Debian 8.11 (Jessie) Minimal (64-Bit) Debian 9.12 (Stretch) Minimal (64-Bit) Debian 10.3 (Buster) Minimal and LAMP (64-Bit) Ubuntu 16.04.5 LTS (Xenial Xerus) Minimal (64-Bit) Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS (Bionic Beaver) Minimal and Nextcloud (64-Bit) Ubuntu 19.04 (Disco Dingo) Minimal (64-Bit) Ubuntu 19.10 (Eoan Ermine) Minimal (64-Bit) Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa) Minimal (64-Bit)
EG: https://docs.hetzner.com/robot/dedicated-server/operating-systems/standard-images/
dimitarvp
Not surprised to see Arch in the list. Last time I had Manjaro (derivative of Arch) on a laptop with XFCE installed, and after I installed a good amount of software on it, at startup that OS was taking 450MB of RAM with 30+ daemons running, and a fully functioning desktop environment. 
@Exadra37 Maybe you should copy all the links from the ElixirForum thread here?
Exadra37
I am documenting every step in a git repo, and making a bash script to run as user data in Digital Ocean or as part of a cloud init configuration.
This is part of my Phoenix360 project, and I will make it available in an Elixir website.
It will have guides for hardening Phoenix, servers and to build 360 web apps.
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