Re:Slackware's init (Score 2, Informative)

Stripped to the bare bones, a minimal RH7.3 installation is 350MB, and you don't even need everything you get. If you choose the "server" class installation, you need 1.3GB just to install. If you claim "it wouldn't look much like RH when (you were) done," why would you start with that much baggage in the first place? I like OBSD for mail servers (among others). You don't have to recompile all the packages just to get them to work the way you need, and it includes what you need to run a server -- mail server, apache, etc. The default installation is lean and sleek at 225MB, and you can do bare bones under 100MB. There are plenty of Linux distributions out there designed with the same idea. Why not use one of those and leave RH to tend their market? If you want to roll your own, why use RH in the first place? BTW, you have static and dynamic linking confused. Static linking builds libs into binaries. Dynamic linking trims executable sizes and uses shared libraries on disk (think DLLs), and is what's giving you problems when you upgrade only parts of your system. Sounds like you have a good start learning Linux, and with a little more experience, you'll be building real servers soon. Best of luck to you.