How can I build my own livecd?

Xyne · 2009-03-22 14:28:40

After seeing the thread about ArchPwn's release. I remembered that this is another item on my list of "things to do now that I'm using Linux".

I took a look at Larch not too long after I started using Arch (Sept?) but it seemed like it required too many hacks and there were several posts by the dev saying that he couldn't test x86_64 etc, so I didn't look much further into it (maybe things have changed in the last few months).

My first instinct when I thought of building a livecd is that the devs must have some easy way of doing it. I'm vaguely aware that with the latest iso release some changes were made to the way that the installation disc is built and that there's even a release team now. How are they building Arch livecds?

I just want to be able to create a livecd that has my own selection of pkgs and other files on it (I'd also like to be able to build my own automatic installation and backup disks, but something tells me that will follow from being able to build working livecds). What's the best way to do this?

I had a quick look at the wiki page but it's marked as out of date, so I doubt that it contains any of the new developments from the latest iso release. Can someone familiar with building Arch livecds please take a look at the page to check what's still accurate and what needs to be updated?

gradgrind · 2009-03-22 15:01:17

I still don't have the time (or, to be honest, the motivation) to test larch on x86_64, but if you don't need its session saving feature, you can use the archiso script (which is now used for the official install CDs) - 'pacman -Ss archiso', or get it from the git repository. I haven't tried it out, but there's a little bit of documentation with it and it didn't look too complicated.

The Building_a_Live_CD wiki page is really very out of date. If you are successful with archiso you could maybe rewrite that page ...

Xyne · 2009-03-22 15:19:50

Thanks, gradgrind. That might just be the starting point that I need.

Dieter@be · 2009-03-22 15:35:45

Yep we use archiso. I recommend getting the latest from git.
Imho it's very easy. only 3 commands
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dev … o_building

You can easily change the package list etc to customize.

Dieter@be · 2009-03-22 15:51:13

Several threads about this have been popping up on the forums lately, so I gave http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Building_a_Live_CD a little update

Xyne · 2009-03-22 16:08:26

Thanks Dieter@be.

godane · 2009-03-22 17:46:28

Archpwn is based on my custom archiso build scripts.

http://github.com/godane/archiso-live/tree/master

I updated it with most of the changes he added to his scripts.

asshur · 2009-03-26 20:36:28

If you plan to have not only Arch, but some "specialized distros", you could try to make a GRUB bootable CD/DVD.
It's a project still in my schedule
I found some very detailed docs at http://alwar.mainfri.com/Docs/grub-cd/grub-cd-usb.html (in spanish, sadly)

Arch Linux

#1 2009-03-22 14:28:40

How can I build my own livecd?

#2 2009-03-22 15:01:17

Re: How can I build my own livecd?

#3 2009-03-22 15:19:50

Re: How can I build my own livecd?

#4 2009-03-22 15:35:45

Re: How can I build my own livecd?

#5 2009-03-22 15:51:13

Re: How can I build my own livecd?

#6 2009-03-22 16:08:26

Re: How can I build my own livecd?

#7 2009-03-22 17:46:28

Re: How can I build my own livecd?

#8 2009-03-26 20:36:28

Re: How can I build my own livecd?

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