Create your Debian based distribution

[Desmoric]

If someone wants to create his own  Debian-based distribution, I saw a set of tools called pylaivng.

The documentation is here : http://semplice-linux.sourceforge.net/develop/doc/pylaivng/

[djohnston]

Thanks, Desmoric. I'm looking for an alternative to remastersys.

[konaexpress]

Thanks, Desmoric. I'm looking for an alternative to remastersys.

you and me both........

[melodie]

Hi,
I have just started testing Remastersys, is there something particular you dislike about it ?

[djohnston]

Yes, it is unstable. Make the wrong changes to your installation and remastersys will no longer work properly. That's the holdup I'm facing now. For about the third or fourth time. Ask Taco.22. He's run into it, too.

EDIT: Another one just occured to me. Under some conditions, running remastersys in a VBox VM will render the virtualbox guest additions inoperable.

EXAMPLE: After installing a liquorix or antiX kernel in VBox, the guest additions MUST be installed to the guest from the host side. I was chastised by the liquorix maintainer over the fact that the kernel doesn't work with dkms. He says I should not expect it to. Anyway, after remastering in VBox with a liquorix or antiX kernel, the VBox guest additions will no longer work after a reboot. The guest additions must be reinstalled, again, from the host side to the VM. (The same guest additions that were previously working.) After the next reboot, the additions will work again, until the next time remastersys is run.

[melodie]

Either or I will believe you both. I fear there is no perfect method else than getting deep knowledge of the systems and make an install starting from a bootstrap in a chroot. (However I intend to try several methods with gui apps before declaring I am defeated... still working on the Ubuntu mini remix and Lubuntu these days).

[Taco.22]

I've been running Remastersys reliably since the 3.0.0 version came out.  However I tend to be a bit conservative in my build approach.  So there are a few "rules" that I currently stick to because they work for me. 

I don't use Ubuntu because they keep changing the goal posts, and Remastersys/fragadelic has a hard time keeping up.  I stick to Debian, and Debian, boring though it may seem, stays still long enough that you can use it long term. 

I also keep within the repos except for a couple of minor apps like Pytyle.  I guess that was a lesson learned from the days at PCLOS - if you go outside the repo it's not supported.  I'm not paranoid about it, but I have done my fair share of compiling programs from source on my computer and it only takes one little update to some insignificant lib somewhere and you're back into hair-pulling mode.  I don't have a problem with private repos or PPAs.

I don't remaster in a virtual machine - full stop.  It's always bare metal, and if that isn't around then I can use a usb stick with a full install.  In fact that is how VillageBox is currently done - it's on a stick that gets stuck into the test rig which has six partitions on the hard drive!!

The thing to remember with Remastersys is that if you are doing a "dist" build then rule Number No:1 is paramount - everything you want to see on boot/install MUST be in /etc/skel.  No ifs or buts.  That will also mean that the live ISO will be in root mode when you boot, so there are no user names or root passwords.

I have to say that I find Remastersys easier to use than Mylivecd on PCLOS because I only have to make sure /etc/skel is good.  In Mylivecd the live ISO came out of the user set up, and the install came out of /etc/skel - so you had two lots of config stuff to keep track of.

My quest since leaving PCLOS has been to find a distro that I can reliably remaster, and I have to say that the combination of Debian and Remastersys is certainly serving me well.  However, as the saying goes, YMMV!

 

[melodie]

I just found "rig, a slang term referring to a computer", source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rig#Slang and now what is YMMV?

(my guess is that at the end of the present year I might have acquired a lot of new slang and specific English words!)

Thanks for your feedback.

About remastering Ubuntu, I have tried 2 tools so far, one for the project with Openbox and one on a project with Lubuntu : Remastersys in this case (I am at the beginning of the tests and research). And I will try a new tool soon for the Openbox only one. All is in bare metal too : adding a layer such as Virtualbox would not be a good idea, I agree with that because I think we don't know what goes on inside. Recently happened: I could not have internet connected in a vbox where I was testing the remaster : I finally found out Ubuntu does not like anymore when the vbox machine is in bridge mode; I switched back to "NAT" and that worked again at the following boots.

[Taco.22]

I just found "rig, a slang term referring to a computer", source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rig#Slang and now what is YMMV?

(my guess is that at the end of the present year I might have acquired a lot of new slang and specific English words!)

Yep, I think you will be up there on Colloquial English - not a subject that the "best" schools teach!!

So, "rig" - my experience of that is through all the bad movies that Burt Reynolds and others made!  A "rig" is the "tractor" or "primer-mover" part of a semi-trailer.  No, actually it is the whole unit, all mover and shaker, all 18 wheels, except down here where they are a minimum of 24 wheels!  Gee, you can really see how that became a slang term for a computer!!  Anyway,  I think the term "rig" came from that - but don't quote me!

Ah, now to YMMV - basically it means "Your Mileage May Vary".  That is, it might work for you or it might not - depends.  It means that it works for me, might not work for you, but then it works for a friend of yours!  All depends!  Now the object of the exercise is to get everyones base equal enough that everything "just works" - hopefully!  But then again, YMMV!

And that right now should all be as clear as mud!!

[melodie]

ah ha ! your millage! to mill is to grind ? wheat for example ?

fr: wheat, blé, mill, moudre, millage → mouture ! \o/ !

(millage of the linuxvillage... )

[Taco.22]

ah ha ! your millage! to mill is to grind ? wheat for example ?

fr: wheat, blé, mill, moudre, millage → mouture ! \o/ !

(millage of the linuxvillage... )

Enthusiasm is good but we are not talking GRAIN, we are talking DISTANCE - why do I get the feeling I am just digging a hole for myself here?!?  In your case it's not "mileage", it's "kilometerage".  Um, if you borrowed a car and someone says it will go as far on a tank of fuel as the way you drive it - your milage/kilometerage will vary, depending. 

I can just just see it though - a dirty great flour mill stuck in the middle of the Village!  Where's the planning process when you need it!! 

[melodie]

The YMMV means something approaching "your distance may vary" ? I would have thought it was more about details in the build of the ISO... (for the rest, above post... I was mainly playing with the words, although I had not understood it was about distance, or way of leading the rebranded distribution... - ? - )

[djohnston]

YMMV (referring to mileage) is a shortened way of saying "the results you achieve may be different than the ones I achieve". "Your mileage may vary" comes from American car commercials. Once the Environmental Protection Agency required that car manufacturers display the city/highway mileage estimates for every car model built, the disclaimer used was, as an example, "32 miles per gallon highway. Your mileage may vary."

[melodie]

OooK! Now I get the picture. Thank you!

[Taco.22]

The most I have seen here in the states is three trailers.

Typical!  Need Aussies to build REAL road trains!!


All up 110 wheels - not including the spare(s)!!