Minimal Raspbian distribution

Packages that should be installed:

libraspberrypi-bin
raspberrypi-bootloader
raspi-config

List of packages to remove has been moved to a blog post: Slimming an existing Raspbian install.

Suspect packages that don't appear to be removed…

libreoffice xpdf

Building an image from scratch

Buildroot has instructions for an Raspberry Pi target.

https://github.com/debian-pi/raspbian-ua-netinst: Raspbian network installer

ansible

https://github.com/escapologyBB/ansible

https://github.com/escapologyBB/ansible-raspberry-pi

http://jpmens.net/2012/06/06/configuration-management-with-ansible/

https://github.com/geerlingguy/diet-raspbian

Etc

Instantly finding a headless Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi 2 and Pi 3

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/RaspberryPi

https://wiki.debian.org/RaspberryPi2

Sophisticated debootstrap script, will create an image: https://github.com/drtyhlpr/rpi2-gen-image

Enclosures and mounting

UCTRONICS 19" 3U Raspberry Pi rackmount, w/ 8 mount plates. Can support up to 12 RPi w/ additional plates.