How to build distro from scratch


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I am not experienced enough to do it, but I am just curious.

I mean, the kernel itself does nothing. Do you have to format a partiton as ext3 or something, place all bin files there and then it will work?`

Just tell it simple, I am not going to do it.

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There's a book about how to do that, it's free and open source.

http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

EDIT: The latest release for online viewing is here. Starts with partitioning, then setting up a tool chain, boot strapping adding the system tools, and finally being rebooting.

To make a useable distribution takes about a month of half-hearted work (for a cross compiled to run on an old MIPs system). To use on a PC with a graphical interface is a week or two of work - most of it waiting for things to compile and fooling around fixing dependencies by yourself: I don't recommend it unless you really want to make a hobby of Linux.

The best part: You could have found this amazing resource by simply putting your post title ("how to build [linux] distro from scratch" into a google search bar and clicking "I'm feeling lucky".

There's a book about how to do that, it's free and open source.

http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

EDIT: The latest release for online viewing is here. Starts with partitioning, then setting up a tool chain, boot strapping adding the system tools, and finally being rebooting.

To make a useable distribution takes about a month of half-hearted work (for a cross compiled to run on an old MIPs system). To use on a PC with a graphical interface is a week or two of work - most of it waiting for things to compile and fooling around fixing dependencies by yourself: I don't recommend it unless you really want to make a hobby of Linux.

The best part: You could have found this amazing resource by simply putting your post title ("how to build [linux] distro from scratch" into a google search bar and clicking "I'm feeling lucky".

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Okay. Thanks.

About googling, I don't want to read 2464 paged books or sites, I just want a short responce, like yours.

I was actually going to post the same question. I was really curious, and that's a great site. Thanks!

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Totally agreed, I mean there's far too many distros out there - so I always wondered what it would take to actually build a custom one.

I won't be doing this anytime soon - I mean, why be annoying and released another one out (when they're all essentially the same, except for program installations).

duh! the point of this thread is to make one's own distro - not to use an existing one.

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I don't see much difference.

You choose all the packages on your system with portage, in an easy and powerful environment, and get easy access to all the latest code and kernels. How is that different to building your own distro really, when you think about it you could save allot of time doing it this way :)

"(when they're all essentially the same, except for program installations)."

:yes:

Edited by Knight'

Knight', that's true, but it doesn't address the point of the thread:

Just tell it simple, I am not going to do it.
He's looking for information on how distros are built, not how he could go about getting a customised box set up. There's a fine line... but the difference is that he wants the 'theory' of it, not what is practical. That's what I think he means, anyway.
Knight', that's true, but it doesn't address the point of the thread:He's looking for information on how distros are built, not how he could go about getting a customised box set up. There's a fine line... but the difference is that he wants the 'theory' of it, not what is practical. That's what I think he means, anyway.

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Fair enough, I misread what he was asking for. :)

Check this out:

http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/index.php?pagename=LFS

It's not "simple" but it does describe howto build your own distro.

Fair enough, I misread what he was asking for. :)

Check this out:

http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/index.php?pagename=LFS

It's not "simple" but it does describe howto build your own distro.

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Now you're with us :) and damn, that's a lot of sub-chapters. I guess I'll be skipping that any time quick.

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