How to install minimal i3 on my fedora server 35

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My OS is fedora server 35.it is no X env.I don’t want to run groupinstall "i3 desktop" because i want to install the i3 minimal install.I just want to install firefox to read some page or a gui editor like vs code.I do not need some other gui tools.so what should i do?And I have no desktop env early.so should I set i3 be my default things where i do not know how to name it.maybe named desktop?or login screen?

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With Fedora Workstation, you could use only dnf install i3. If this still not minimal, you could also try with dnf install -3 -x any-excluded-packages. Not sure if with Fedora Server.

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The server install is not meant to have a GUI in the traditional sense. It ships with cockpit which provides a web based interface for managing the server, but trying to use the server as a workstation is probably not the best idea.

Irrespective of what desktop you install–i3 or gnome or kde or whatever—they will all pull in lots of X or Wayland related packages which are required for a GUI.

I guess the minimal package list possible here would be installing only the “i3 window manager” group, which “i3 Desktop” includes:

$ sudo dnf groupinfo "i3 Desktop"
Environment Group: i3 desktop
 Description: Desktop environment with the i3 tiling window manager
 Mandatory Groups:
   Administration Tools
   Common NetworkManager Submodules
   Core
   Dial-up Networking Support
   Fonts
   Hardware Support
   Input Methods
   Multimedia
   Printing Support
   Standard
   base-x
   i3 window manager
 Optional Groups:
   i3 window manager (supplemental packages)

This includes these packages, so you can even cherry-pick stuff from here:

sudo dnf groupinfo "i3 window manager"
Group: i3 window manager
 Description: i3 is a tiling window manager primarily targeted at advanced users and developers. This group is a minimal, lightweight group of packages to use i3wm with other system components.
 Mandatory Packages:
   NetworkManager
   brightnessctl
   dunst
   i3
   i3lock
   i3status
   lightdm
   lightdm-gtk
   lightdm-gtk-greeter-settings
   mousepad
   network-manager-applet
   pavucontrol
   pulseaudio-utils
   volumeicon
 Default Packages:
   azote
   dmenu
   firefox
   htop

I don’t know enough about i3, but I expect you’ll need a login manager, which is why lightdm is included here.

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4

There’s also an i3 spin: Fedora i3 Spin

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If you use ssh from your workstation you can administrate your server while using the Firefox. Copy and past is no problem. If done with administrating your server just end the ssh session.

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Sounds like a “poor’s man VPN” :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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thanks for your suggestion.I have a macbook pro as a workstation.this fedora machine on my home.when i do some operator.I always took out my macbook and then open ssh.oh i am lazy.:slight_smile: I just want to use it to run a gui browser.show some photo or video.maybe i should install a desktop env.

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thank for your suggestion.this fedora machine on my home.I am not very knowledgeable about graphical interfaces.this server like a nas or a router.Hardware is not very high.so i don’t want to install desktop to waste my hardware resources.(but it usually idle :sweat_smile:).maybe i should install i3 desktop env.

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