rpi5-network-package-debloat.md

Raspberry Pi OS Lite Debian Trixie: De-Bloat Network Packages

I have a headless raspberry pi 5 that only needs an ethernet connection with a static IP address. I don't need wifi, dhcp, NetworkManager, systemd-networkd, systemd-resolvd, netplan, etc.

It's amazing that you can't use the Raspberry Pi Imager to just create a debian lite install without all of that crap.
The following provides a simpler, saner, and leaner default IMO.

1. Install the ifupdown package:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install ifupdown

2. sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces and modify as desired. For example:

# interfaces(5) file used by ifup(8) and ifdown(8)
# Include files from /etc/network/interfaces.d:
source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto eth0
allow-hotplug eth0
#iface eth0 inet6 auto
iface eth0 inet static
	address 10.1.1.53/24
	gateway 10.1.1.1

3. sudo nano /etc/resolv.conf and modify as desired. For example:

# or 8.8.8.8 or whatever:
nameserver 10.1.1.1

4. Enable the networking.service:

sudo systemctl enable networking.service

5. Stop/Disable the bloat:

bloat_actions=('stop' 'disable')
bloat_services=('system-networkd.socket' 'system-networkd' 'systemd-networkd-wait-online')
bloat_services+=('systemd-resolved' 'networkd-dispatcher')
bloat_services+=('NetworkManager-wait-online' 'NetworkManager')
for bloat_service in "${bloat_services[@]}"; do for action in "${bloat_actions[@]}"; do sudo systemctl "$action" "$bloat_service" || true; done; done
unset bloat_services bloat_actions
sudo systemctl daemon-reload

6. Reboot:

sudo reboot

7. Remove cloud-init and netplan:

sudo apt update
# remove cloud-init:
sudo rm -rf /etc/cloud/cloud-init.disabled
sudo apt purge -y cloud-init
sudo rm -rf /etc/cloud
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/cloud
# remove netplan:
sudo apt purge -y netplan.io
sudo rm -rf /usr/share/netplan
sudo rm -rf /etc/netplan
# cleanup:
sudo apt autoremove --purge
sudo apt clean