diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 6cff81ff..33b74471 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+livecd-rootfs (2.479) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
+
+  * Purge initramfs-tools from minimized images.
+
+ -- Steve Langasek <steve.langasek@ubuntu.com>  Fri, 13 Oct 2017 17:14:58 -0400
+
 livecd-rootfs (2.478) artful; urgency=medium
 
   [ Michael Hudson-Doyle ]
diff --git a/live-build/auto/build b/live-build/auto/build
index 41c21337..97d7c2b3 100755
--- a/live-build/auto/build
+++ b/live-build/auto/build
@@ -210,6 +210,21 @@ EOF
 
 	lb chroot "$@"
 
+	if [ "${SUBPROJECT:-}" = minimized ]; then
+		# force removal of initramfs-tools, which we assert is not
+		# required for any minimized images but is still pulled in by
+		# default
+		Chroot chroot "env DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive \
+			apt-get -y purge initramfs-tools busybox-initramfs \
+				busybox-static"
+		# temporary workaround: don't remove linux-base which
+		# may have no other reverse-depends currently
+		Chroot chroot "env DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive \
+			apt-mark manual linux-base"
+		Chroot chroot "env DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive \
+			apt-get -y --purge autoremove"
+	fi
+
 	if [ -f config/oem-config-preinstalled ]; then
 
 # This is cargo-culted almost verbatim (with some syntax changes for