Centos – install minimal desktop on CentOS 6.3

centosdesktopdesktop-environmentgnome

I just want to install a minimal GNOME desktop without all the Thunderbird/Firefox and any other packages that may come with full CentOS Live Cd. Is there something like yum groupinstall base-desktop? Ideally, I just want Xorg/GNOME and then add any other packages manually. No gdm also, I just want to run startx.

Best Answer

There's the basic-desktop group which is described as

A minimal desktop that can also be used as a thin client.

It includes the following packages:

  • at-spi
  • control-center
  • control-center-extra
  • dbus
  • eog
  • gdm
  • gdm-plugin-fingerprint
  • gdm-user-switch-applet
  • gnome-applets
  • gnome-media
  • gnome-packagekit
  • gnome-panel
  • gnome-power-manager
  • gnome-screensaver
  • gnome-session
  • gnome-terminal
  • gnome-vfs2-smb
  • gok
  • gvfs-archive
  • gvfs-fuse
  • gvfs-smb
  • metacity
  • nautilus
  • NetworkManager
  • NetworkManager-gnome
  • notification-daemon
  • openssh-askpass
  • orca
  • polkit-gnome
  • pulseaudio-module-gconf
  • pulseaudio-module-x11
  • rhn-setup-gnome
  • vino
  • xdg-user-dirs-gtk
  • yelp

It includes gdm which is arguably part of a basic desktop but does not include Firefox, Thunderbird, etc. If you still want less, you'll want to pick the packages out of the above list you want and do a yum install on the specific ones you for your desired desktop.

Related Question