Make Your Own Linux CD

[amislinuxforums]

Hello Linux Users,
On my endeavor to install my own Linux (using the Linux From Scratch) I had a notion if I could transfer my own installed linux(LFS Customized) on a CD with my installation instructions. Can I do this? Is this possible? I am still in the process of installing the LFS but after completing this I shall like to transfer this to a CD as a installable package and then further use this CD on other machines.

If someone out there has already done this then please do let me know.

Thanks,
Amit Mehra

[Dolda2000]

Well, basically all you have to do is create a shell script that runs the same commands that you did yourself while installing, right?

[amislinuxforums]

Thank you very much for a quick reply. Though, it is not yet very clear to me but I do see a light that whatever I am doing can be written on a script but then there
are a few question I have:


1. Have you tried doing something similar?
2. Do we simply transfer all compiled information in a iso file and burn it over a CD
3. How would this make the CD bootable? ( I think I would require that)
4. Can I have a GUI installation like RedHat or Mandrek...?
5. Can the text based script be a Menu driven script

Just to let you know, I am a part of group who has already spread IT education in a remote state called Rajasthan in India and are now working towards spreading
Linux education. This is the reason I am working towards compiling my own Linux on a one CD which shall be just sufficient for our education centers teachers.

Thanks,
Amit

[Dolda2000]

1. No, I have not, but I don't think that it would actually be that hard.
2. Ah, I thought that you could just install it straight from the internet, but that could work as well. Just put all tarballs that you need on the CD.
3. To make a CD bootable, you would use the El Torito scheme on PCs. Basically, you create a boot diskette (1.44 or 2.88 MBs), dump the file system to a file which you include in the CD file tree. Then you use the -b option to mkisofs to specify it as the boot image. Then when you boot from the CD, the BIOS will take that file and emulate a floppy disk with it. If you use a 1.44 MB file you can also directly dump it to a real floppy in case the target system cannot boot directly off a CD. You should also check out initrds.
4. Of course you _can_, but I find that it is much more tedious to write GUI programs than text mode ones.
5. What do you mean? If you mean whether it can input from the user, then the answer is yes.

I thought that you just wanted to take the system you made and batch-install it on several similar computers, and in that case I would just have used a shell script. In this case it might be better to write a C program for it, though. I guess that is entirely up to you, however.

[granowskix01]

You know, I've been pondering about that too, I also am currently working on an LFS system. I'm only to the point of having all neccessary packages installed statically, but I'll eventually finish it off. A friend and I was wondering if it were possible to create a system on every possible pc with a bootable CD, I was like "I can do it! Just need to figure out how!" and my friend was like "AH! It's not gonna happen!" I'm like "Grrr" and so on. Now I think I'll try some of those ideas. Might need a little more explanation on dumping the file system to a file though. I'm go check that out. Thanks for the info though I didn't orignally ask for it. Thank You All.