---
name: ISO Size Reduction Plan
description: Plan to reduce ISO from 3.9GB — prioritized phases for post-beta
type: project
---

Current ISO: ~3.9GB (unbundled). Target: <1.5GB.

**Why:** Debian Live base (~800MB) + rootfs with kiosk/Podman/firmware (~2.1GB) + squashfs overhead.

**Phase 1 — Quick wins (post-beta, ~500MB-1GB savings):**
- Strip unused firmware blobs (WiFi chipsets, GPU)
- Remove build-only packages from rootfs (not needed at runtime)
- `--no-install-recommends` in all apt installs
- Strip debug symbols from binaries
- Remove man pages, docs, locale data (`localepurge`)

**Phase 2 — Minimal base (~1-1.5GB savings):**
- Replace Debian Live ISO with custom `debootstrap --variant=minbase` live image
- Make kiosk (X11 + Chromium ~400MB) optional / separate overlay
- Alpine-based rootfs alternative

**Phase 3 — Long term (<1GB target):**
- Custom kernel with only needed modules
- A/B read-only root partition (no live boot infrastructure)
- Network installer variant (tiny ISO, needs internet)
- Reproducible builds with exact dep trees

**How to apply:** Each phase is independent. Phase 1 is safe to do anytime. Phase 2 requires testing the boot chain. Phase 3 is architectural.