debootstrap:tldr:6db26

The command sudo debootstrap --variant=minbase stable ${path-to-debian-root-} is used to create a minimal Debian installation in a specified directory.

Here's a breakdown of the command:

• sudo is used to execute the command with administrative privileges. This is necessary because debootstrap needs root privileges to set up the Debian installation.
• debootstrap is a tool in Debian-based systems used to create a minimal Debian installation.
• --variant=minbase specifies the variant of the Debian installation being created. In this case, minbase indicates that the installation will be minimal, excluding unnecessary packages and reducing the footprint.
• stable refers to the Debian release being installed. In this command, stable represents the latest stable release of Debian, such as Debian 11 (Bullseye) at the time of writing.
• ${path-to-debian-root-} is the directory path where you want to create the Debian installation. You need to replace this part with the actual path to the desired location on your system.

When you execute this command with the appropriate values, debootstrap will download and install a minimal Debian system into the specified directory. This installation can serve as the basis for building a custom Debian environment or for creating a containerized environment.