bash, squashfs-tools, grub (version 2 or later), xorriso
squashfs-tools, grub (version 2 or later), file, busybox, kernel with overlayfs support (>=3.18.x) and mkinitfs and optionally dialog for the installer.
The tool is basicly a Bash script that supports several major distriutions. It comes along with files neccessary to create a custom initramfs image that can boot a SquashFS compressed image of root filesystem created from a directory on your hard-drive and the whole thing is packed into ISO image via GRUB (version 2) that can be booted from CD/DVD/USB.
There are a few reasons you should use this project:
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create a Live CD/DVD from existing installation of your favourite distribution that has everything you need (the remastersys concept)
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you favourite distribution does not provide easy to use tools to make a customized Live CD/DVD
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you favourite distribution does not provide Live CD/DVD images at all but only installation media images
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you favourite distribution does not provide Live CD/DVD images that can not boot from a USB media or uses unreliable boot method such as requiring the boot media to have a specifiec label that many USB writing tools do not set properly
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create smaller ISO image by compressing the SquashFS image with XZ and in addition strip all package files used by the distribution installer, for an example CRUX ISOs can be 2-3x smaller if rebuild with this tool.
Since the ISO image created by this tool will have a structure that the distribution's installer (if existent) will not support you will have to perform installation yourself, unless it uses OpenRC init system for which a very simple installer service is provided.
There are a few options for the first step but the idea is to have a working root filesystem that matches <profile>_root_<arch> for the build script to work with in the top-level directory of a local copy of this repository:
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bootstrap a root filesystem for your distribution: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Archbootstrap https://wiki.debian.org/Debootstrap http://www.funtoo.org/Funtoo_Linux_Installation#Installing_the_Stage_3_tarball
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use existing installation, just mount the root (and /boot, /usr, etc. if required) to <profile>_root_<arch>
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extract a root filesystem tarball, Arch Linux and Gentoo provide such
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extract the SquashFS image from a Live CD/DVD image of a distribution, for an example ISO images can be decompressed via archive manager, then in the directory you extract it to you will find casper/filesystem.squashfs (for Ubuntu) or a similar .sfs/.sqfs file that you can extract via:
unsquashfs <path to SquashFS image> -d <profile>_root_<arch>A work-in-progress script to do this is provided in the tools directory which may eventually be merged into the main build script.
After you do this all you have to do is call build.sh with the proper arguments
to setup the root filesystem and create ISO image for you:
sudo bash ./build.sh <profile> -s -b
See COPYING, the files that will be bundled with the ISO image are public domain licensed.
OpenRC alternatives support