# ivandavidov/minimal

Minimal Linux Live (MLL) is a tiny educational Linux distribution, which is designed to be built from scratch by using a collection of automated shell scripts. Minimal Linux Live offers a core environment with just the Linux kernel, GNU C library, and Busybox userland utilities.

Repository: https://github.com/ivandavidov/minimal
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/ivandavidov-minimal
Homepage: https://ivandavidov.github.io/minimal
Language: HTML
License: GPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: linux, linux-kernel, shell, minimal, operating-system, shell-scripts, busybox, efi, overlay, uefi, glibc
Last push: 2026-06-05T07:34:56+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 62/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 86, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4413, "days_push": 89, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1667, forks 322 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:19.704914+00:00)

## What it is
Minimal Linux Live (MLL) is a tiny educational Linux distribution built entirely from scratch via a collection of automated shell scripts. It produces a minimal bootable ISO containing just the Linux kernel, GNU C library, and Busybox userland, with optional UEFI support and overlay bundles.

## Use cases
- build a tiny linux distro from scratch
- learn how a linux operating system is assembled
- create a minimal bootable live ISO
- study automated shell build scripts for linux systems
- make a rescue or educational live linux environment
- customize a minimal linux with busybox and glibc

## When to choose
- you want to learn how Linux distributions are built from source
- you need a tiny live ISO with just kernel, glibc, and Busybox
- you want well-documented, hackable shell scripts to modify and extend
- you need BIOS or UEFI bootable minimal environment

## When to avoid
- you need a desktop environment or full userland applications
- you need Windows support out of the box
- you want a production-ready general-purpose distribution
- you prefer package managers and prebuilt software repositories

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: embedded, developer-tools, build-tool
- domain: operating-systems, education, developer-tools
- platform: cli
- tags: linux-distribution, live-iso, busybox, from-scratch, educational, shell-scripts, uefi, bios, linux

## Member repositories
- ivandavidov/minimal (main) score 62

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:19.704914+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T03:42:53.326046+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/ivandavidov/minimal (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:19.704914+00:00, sha a0bd2d20cab4)
  - homepage: https://ivandavidov.github.io/minimal (fetched 2026-08-29T11:16:11.692395+00:00, sha 9299f7c59ebe)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.