How to Develop Own Custom Linux Distribution From Scratch
Have you ever thought of making your own Linux Distribution? Every Linux user in their journey to Linux thought of making their own Linux distribution, at-least once. Even I was not an exception as a newbie to Linux land and have given my considerable time developing my own Linux Distribution. Developing a Linux Distribution from scratch is called Linux From Scratch (LFS)
Before starting, I concluded a few things about LFS which can be described as:
1. Those who want to develop their own Linux Distribution should understand the difference between Developing a Linux distribution from scratch (by scratch means starting from the beginning) or all you want is just to tweak an already available Linux Distro.
If you just want to tweak flash screen, customize login and preferably work on the look and feel of Linux OS, you can choose any fair Linux Distribution and customize it the way you want. Moreover a lots of tweaking tools there will help.
If you want to put all the necessary files and boot-loaders and kernel and choose what to include and what not to include and then compile everything yourselves you need to develop Linux From Scratch (LFS).
Note: If you just want to customize the look and feel of a Linux OS, this guide is not for you. If you really want to develop a Linux distribution from scratch and want to know where to start and other basic information, here is the guide for you.
2. Pros of Developing own Linux Distribution (LFS):
- You get to know the internal working of Linux OS.
- You develop a very flexible OS as per your need.
- Your developed OS (LFS) will be very compact as you have full control over what to include/exclude.
- You Development (LFS) will have added security.
3. Cons of Developing own Linux Distribution (LFS):
Developing a Linux OS from scratch means putting all the necessary things together and compile. This requires a lot of reading, patience and time. Also you should have a working Linux System to develop LFS and fairly enough disk space.
4. Interesting to know, that Gentoo/GNU Linux is closest to LFS to certain extent. Both Gentoo and LFS is the customized Linux System built entirely out from compilation of Source.
5. You should be experienced Linux user having good knowledge of package compilation, resolving dependencies, and pro in shell scripting language. Knowledge of a programming language (Preferably C) will ease things for you. Even if you are a newbie but a good learner and grasp the things quickly, you may start as well. The most important part is you should not loose your enthusiasm throughout the process of LFS development.
If you are not determined enough, I fear you may leave building your LFS in the middle.
6. Now you need a step-by-step guide, So that Linux can be developed from scratch. LFS is the official guide to develop Linux From Scratch. Our partner site tradepub has made available LFS guide to our readers and that too for free.
You can download the Linux From Scratch book from the below link:
About: Linux From Scratch
This book is created by Gerard Beekmans, who is the Project Leader of LFS and Edited by Matthew Burgess and Bruse Dubbs, both of whom are Co-leader of the Project. This book is extensive and expands over 338 pages.
Having covered – Introduction to LFS, Preparing for the build, Build LFS from Scratch, Setting up of Boot scripts, Making LFS Bootable followed by Appendices, it has all you want to know on LFS Project.
Also this book gives you the estimated time required for the compilation of a package. The estimated time are calculated based upon the reference of the compilation time of the first package. All the details are presented in a manner easy to understand and implement, even for newbies.
If you have plenty of time and really interested in developing your own Linux Distribution you would never want to miss a chance to download this ebook and that too for free. All you need is, to start developing your own Linux OS using this ebook along with a working Linux OS (Any Linux Distribution with enough Disk Space), Time and Enthusiasm.
If Linux fascinates you, if you want to understand Linux from scratch and want to develop your own Linux Distribution, then this is all you should know at this stage, for most of other things you may like to refer to the book, in the above link.
Also let me know your experience with the book. How ease it was to get along the elaborated LFS guide? Also if you have already Developed a LFS and want to give some tips to our readers, your feedbacks are welcome.
How To Build Your Own Linux Distro?
Do you want to build your own Linux distro? Don’t fancy the Linux distributions that are available? Do you think you can build a better distro? This is your lucky day. I’m gonna show you how to do that in 20 minutes. Yes, you heard me right, 20 MINUTES. Wanna find out how? Read on…
Well, you can in many ways make your very own custom distro. One way is building your own Linux distro from scratch (huh! not so easy, right?). Or you can install the Ubuntu Customization Kit on a distro that is close to what you want and customize it into your personalized distro (simple right?). But then there is an even easier way, with SUSE Studio online in 20 minutes. And all you are going to need is a web browser and an internet connection. Even if you are a Linux newbie, SUSE Studio is really easy to use. So let’s dive in…
First, go to www.susestudio.com and create an account. You can sign in with your Google account, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, Novell or OpenID. Once you’re logged in for the first time, you’re asked to choose a base template for your appliance(your distro).
How To Make A Linux Distro With SUSE Studio
There are options for openSUSE Leap 42.1(current edition), openSUSE 13.2 and SUSE Linux Enterprise editions. You can also choose your desktop environment from amongst KDE 4 desktop, GNOME desktop, Server which is text-only base or Just enough OS which is tiny and minimalistic. You even have the option of choosing from thousands of other appliances created by others. Depending on the base template you choose, you can choose the architecture (32 or 64 bit). Then you give a name to your appliance, click on “Create appliance” and wait for your appliance/distro to be created.
After your appliance is successfully created, you are brought to the edit section. Here, you can alter the name of your appliance under the “Start section”.
Software And Packages Selection
Under the software tab, you get to choose the software and packages that will come with your appliance. A pre-selected choice of packages are already selected based on the choice of your base package. You can also add other software such as firefox, vlc, LibreOffice and any other you might need.
Configuration
Then you move on to the “configuration” tab. Here you can add your very own custom logo and background to the appliance under “Personalize”. You can even add an End User License Agreement(EULA) if you intend to share your distro. You can add autostart desktop programs or enable automatic login. You may even add support for live installers, enable VMware support and UEFI secure boot amongst others.
Build Your Own Linux Distro (Custom Distro)
At the “Build” section, you choose the default format of your build. You can choose amongst a host of formats including USB Stick and Live CD/DVD and others and then click on “Build” to get your build prepared.
Try It Online Before You Download It
Once your build is ready, you can even “Test drive” your build online before downloading it. If you wish to make changes, you can easily do that and rebuild your appliance. If you are satisfied with your work, can go ahead and download your own Linux distro.
Conclusion
And there you have it your very own custom distro in under 20 minutes. So this is how to make a Linux Distro with SUSE Studio. This is just spectacular. Go ahead, build your own Linux distro and share your thoughts with us.