Something I discovered whilst setting up a new build answered a question that had been bugging me for a while. The new build has extra software installed, the extras that everyone uses - video player, Gimp and Libreoffice. Of course the risk is that the overall size will blow right out, and Libreoffice is a huge offender there. For example I never use the data-base component with all its java and stuff.
The total amount of space taken up by Libreoffice on install is 456mb. In the process of working out how to cut that down I was poking around on a topical Arch page when I noticed Libreoffice was listed by package, with libreoffice-common catching my eye. Sure enough, apt has this listed, along with all the other packages. So if you
apt-get install --no-install-recommends libreoffice-common the package will occupy 200mb of disk space.
You can then add the other components as you wish. You might only want the "writer" package, so apt-get install --no-install-recommends libreoffice-common libreoffice-writer or just apt-get install --no-install-recommends libreoffice-writer will give you Libreoffice with just the word processor part for 231mb.
If you decide you want a bit more and ask apt-get install --no-install-recommends libreoffice-writer libreoffice-calc libreoffice-impress libreoffice-math you will have Libreoffice that does word processing, spreadsheets, powerpoint and draw, and formulas for 270mb - thats 186mb saved if you don't want data-base and all the cruft that goes with it.
That's a fair saving, and the data-base packages can be easily added in later if they are actually needed.
apt-get install --no-install-recommends libreoffice-base
Nice to see some modularity and to be given a choice about how much of a software package we want or need.
