For reference, this is a list of all required, important and standard packages in Debian 2.2 ("potato"). While the current Debian release has nearly 4000 packages in main, the usual 90/10 rules applies (only 10% of the packages are installed on most systems).
adduser Add users and groups to the system.
ae Anthony's Editor -- a tiny full-screen editor
apt Advanced front-end for dpkg
at Delayed job execution and batch processing
base-files Debian base system miscellaneous files
base-passwd Debian Base System Password/Group Files
bash The GNU Bourne Again SHell
bc The GNU bc arbitrary precision calculator language
biff a mail notification tool
bin86 16-bit assembler and loader
binutils The GNU assembler, linker and binary utilities.
bison A parser generator that is compatible with YACC.
bsdmainutils More utilities from 4.4BSD-Lite.
bsdutils Basic utilities from 4.4BSD-Lite.
console-data Keymaps, fonts, charset maps, fallback tables for console-tools
console-tools Linux console and font utilities.
console-tools-libs Shared libraries for Linux console and font manipulation.
cpio GNU cpio -- a program to manage archives of files.
cpp The GNU C preprocessor.
cron management of regular background processing
dc The GNU dc arbitrary precision reverse-polish calculator
debian-policy Debian Policy Manual and related documents
debianutils Miscellaneous utilities specific to Debian.
diff File comparison utilities
dnsutils Utilities for Querying DNS Servers
doc-debian Debian Project documentation, Debian FAQ and other documents
doc-linux-text Linux HOWTOs, mini-HOWTOs, and FAQs in ASCII format
dpkg Package maintenance system for Debian
dpkg-dev Package building tools for Debian
dpkg-ftp Ftp method for dselect.
dpkg-perl Perl interface modules for dpkg
e2fsprogs The EXT2 file system utilities and libraries.
ed The classic unix line editor
emacs20 The GNU Emacs editor.
emacsen-common Common facilities for all emacsen.
exim Exim Mailer
fdflush A disk-flushing program.
file Determines file type using "magic" numbers
fileutils GNU file management utilities.
findutils utilities for finding files--find, xargs, and locate
finger User information lookup program.
fingerd Remote user information server.
flex A fast lexical analyzer generator.
ftp The FTP client.
g++ The GNU C++ compiler.
gcc The GNU C compiler.
gdb The GNU Debugger
gettext-base GNU Internationalization utilities for the base system
gpm General Purpose Mouse Interface
grep GNU grep, egrep and fgrep.
groff GNU troff text-formatting system.
gzip The GNU compression utility.
hostname A utility to set/show the host name or domain name
iamerican An American English dictionary for ispell.
ibritish A British English dictionary for ispell.
info Standalone GNU Info documentation browser
ispell International Ispell (an interactive spelling corrector)
ldso The Linux dynamic linker, library and utilities.
less A file pager program, similar to more(1)
libc6 GNU C Library: Shared libraries and Timezone data
libc6-dev GNU C Library: Development Libraries and Header Files.
libgdbmg1 GNU dbm database routines (runtime version). [libc6 version]
libident simple RFC1413 client library - runtime
liblockfile1 Shared library with NFS-safe locking functions. Includes the
libncurses4 Shared libraries for terminal handling
libncurses5 Shared libraries for terminal handling
libnet-perl Implementation of Internet protocols for Perl
libopenldap-runtim OpenLDAP runtime files for libopenldap
libopenldap1 OpenLDAP libraries.
libpam-modules Pluggable Authentication Modules for PAM
libpam-runtime Runtime support for the PAM library
libpam0g Pluggable Authentication Modules library
libpcre2 Philip Hazel's Perl Compatible Regular Expression library
libpng2 PNG library - runtime
libpopt0 lib for parsing cmdline parameters
libreadline4 GNU readline and history libraries, run-time libraries.
libstdc++2.10 The GNU stdc++ library
libstdc++2.10-dev The GNU stdc++ library (development files)
libwrap0 Wietse Venema's TCP wrappers library
lilo LInux LOader - The Classic OS loader can load Linux and others
locales GNU C Library: National Language (locale) data [binary]
lockfile-progs Programs for locking and unlocking files and mailboxes.
login System login tools
logrotate Log rotation utility
lpr BSD lpr/lpd line printer spooling system
lsof-2.2 List open files.
lynx Text-mode WWW Browser
m4 a macro processing language
mailx A simple mail user agent.
make The GNU version of the "make" utility.
makedev Creates special device files in /dev.
man-db Display the on-line manual.
manpages Man pages about using a Linux system.
manpages-dev Linux-development man pages.
mawk a pattern scanning and text processing language
mbr Master Boot Record for IBM-PC compatible computers.
mime-support MIME files 'mime.types' & 'mailcap', and support programs
modutils Linux module utilities.
mount Tools for mounting and manipulating filesystems.
mpack Tools for encoding/decoding MIME messages.
mtools Tools for manipulating MSDOS files
mutt Text-based mailreader supporting MIME, GPG, PGP and threading.
ncurses-base Descriptions of common terminal types
ncurses-bin Terminal-related programs and man pages
ncurses-term Additional terminal type definitions
netbase Basic TCP/IP networking binaries
nfs-common NFS support files common to client and server
nfs-server User space NFS server.
nvi 4.4BSD re-implementation of vi.
passwd Change and administer password and group data.
patch Apply a diff file to an original
perl-5.005 Larry Wall's Practical Extracting and Report Language.
perl-5.005-base The Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister
perl-5.005-doc Man pages and pod docs for Perl
perl-5.005-suid Runs setuid Perl scripts.
perl-base Fake package assuring that one of the -base package is installed
pidentd TCP/IP IDENT protocol server.
ppp Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) daemon.
procmail Versatile e-mail processor.
procps The /proc file system utilities.
rcs The GNU Revision Control System
sed The GNU sed stream editor.
setserial Controls configuration of serial ports.
sharutils shar, unshar, uuencode, uudecode
shellutils The GNU shell programming utilities.
slang1 The S-Lang programming library - runtime version.
strace A system call tracer.
sysklogd Kernel and system logging daemons
sysvinit System-V like init.
talk Talk to another user.
talkd Remote user communication server.
tar GNU tar
tcpd Wietse Venema's TCP wrapper utilities
tcsh TENEX C Shell, an enhanced version of Berkeley csh.
tcsh-i18n TENEX C Shell message catalogs
telnet The telnet client.
telnetd The telnet server.
tetex-base basic teTeX library files
tetex-bin teTeX binary files
tetex-lib shared libkpathsea for teTeX
texinfo Documentation system for on-line information and printed output
textutils The GNU text file processing utilities.
time The GNU time command.
update daemon to periodically flush filesystem buffers.
util-linux Miscellaneous system utilities.
wenglish English dictionary words for /usr/share/dict
whois whois client
xfree86-common X Window System (XFree86) infrastructure
xlib6g shared libraries required by X clients
zlib1g compression library - runtime
In addition, most sites will also want most of these optional packages from main. Several of these packages are only used when building Debian packages.
apache Versatile, high-performance HTTP server
apache-common Support files for all Apache webservers
apache-dev Apache webserver development kit
autoconf automatic configure script builder
automake A tool for generating GNU Standards-compliant Makefiles.
bzip2 A high-quality block-sorting file compressor - utilities
cvs Concurrent Versions System
cvsweb a CGI interface to your CVS repository
debhelper helper programs for debian/rules
debiandoc-sgml DebianDoc SGML DTD and formatting tools
debiandoc-sgml-doc Documentation for DebianDoc-SGML
debmake Debianizing Tool and automated binary generation
debsums Tools to handle md5sums for installed packages
debview Emacs mode for viewing Debian packages
devscripts Scripts to make the life of a Debian Package maintainer easier
elm-me+ MIME & PGP-aware interactive mail reader [enhanced]
fakeroot Gives a fake root environment.
gs Postscript interpreter with X11 and svgalib preview support.
gsfonts Fonts for the ghostscript interpreter
kernel-package Debian Linux kernel package build scripts.
lftp Sophisticated command-line FTP/HTTP client programs
libgc5 Conservative garbage collector for C
libgc5-dev Conservative garbage collector for C (development)
libmysqlclient6 mysql database client library
libmysqlclient6-de mysql database development files
lintian Debian package checker
mysql-client mysql database client binaries
mysql-doc mysql database documentation
mysql-gpl-client mysql database client binaries
mysql-gpl-doc mysql database documentation
mysql-server mysql database server binaries
odbc-postgresql ODBC support for PostgreSQL
postgresql Object-relational SQL database, descended from POSTGRES.
postgresql-client Front-end programs for PostgreSQL
postgresql-contrib Additional facilities for PostgreSQL
postgresql-dev Header files for libpq (postgresql library)
postgresql-doc Documentation for the PostgreSQL database.
postgresql-pl A procedural language for PostgreSQL
samba A LanManager like file and printer server for Unix.
samba-common Samba common files used by both the server and the client.
smbclient A LanManager like simple client for Unix.
smbfs mount and umount commands for the smbfs (for kernels >= than 2.0.x)
sudo Provides limited super user privileges to specific users.
... And these optional packages from non-US:
gnupg GNU privacy guard - a free PGP replacement.
libssl09 SSL shared libraries
libssl09-dev SSL development libraries
openssl Secure Socket Layer and related cryptographic libraries/tools.
ssh Secure rlogin/rsh/rcp replacement (OpenSSH)
Finally, you will need the kernel source.