How can I start makin' my own linux distro?

[shankar_ganesh]

How can I start makin' my own linux distro? Any comments........

[mehulved]

Check out Linux From Scratch.
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

[GNUrag]

You might want to read Gnoware www.gnoware.org documentation to create your own Live CD.
http://db.glug-bom.org/lug-authors/anurag/gnoware-final-documentation-1504.pdf

[Satissh S]

First u have read the lfs book and create the distro..
then backup ur root directory..
then make an installer.. or write scripts for others to use ur distro
then .. finally find out that creating another distro does no good to the community except confusing people and start contributing to gentoo or ubuntu.. these two rule :)

[rohandhruva]

First, shankar, think - why do you want to create your own distro(s). The tens of thousands of distros listed on http://distrowatch.com are not enough ? What would be so special about your distro that people (including you) would want to use it ? What would it have, that is not already in Fedora, SuSE, Ubuntu or Debian ?

[GNUrag]

First, shankar, think - why do you want to create your own distro(s).

You should make your own distro to feel that feeling of running your own handmade distro on your computer. Learning experience is the force that drives several people to try making so many distros.

[aku]

yeah man.. i do agree wid ya... abs. correct...
aNd for da rest of all all dat i wanna say is dat...
ppl pls dun discourage ne1...if u du not wanna make a home brewed distro.. no probz... cus no 1 is forcin u .. and neithr is ne1 askin u 2 a personal distro made by sum1... but atleast encourage da prsn who wantz 2 make it.. or if possibl help him/ contribute in his project.. who knows dat diz may b da very nxt thing................................ ;)
and gnurag.. man kip us infrmd abt da progress of ur project..
:)

[mehulved]

Yes Anurag. I agree with you that it's is a really great learning experience to make your own distro and I am wanting to make one too.
But, there was one point made by eddie which sounds valid to me. What about updates? It is necessary to keep up-to-date with the latest patches and all to keep your distro working fine and secure. So, basically making your own distro is only good as far as learning or live cd is concerned. If you wanna install it on your computer, it isn't much useful for long as you will be left behind in terms of latest softwares. Cos it is not feasible for a single user to keep on testing and compiling new version, solve dependencies and spend so much time on the distro. Or am I missing some point here.

[praka123]

If u wanna learn making OS,try making some forks of BSD's,I mean freebsd,openbsd etc etc

[GNUrag]

and gnurag.. man kip us infrmd abt da progress of ur project..
:)
I'll keep you informed, but i can't understand your english.

tech_your_future:
That is the reason why so many lesser known distributions have remained lesser known till now. Making a distro is easy, but keeping it updated is another nightmare.

Perhaps, that's why we see so many distros which are based on Debian. They can natively use the Debian's packaging infrastructure and security updates without having to do all that themselves.

[mehulved]

Well updating an old topic but since I found one more example I am adding it here. You'll can check out DIY Linux http://www.diy-linux.org.

[JGuru]

@Shanker_Ganesh, making your own distro is easier said than done!! There are lots of distros that are Debian based like Ubuntu, LinSpire, Knoppix etc., All built using the same Debian source. First of all you need to be very good in Linux programming. What about device drivers? updates? The distros like Ubuntu for eg., have dedicated team of Linux programmers who write device drivers, updates, fix bugs. Believe me it's tough. From scanners, monitors, modems, audio, you have to write device drivers for all & test it!! Just copying their source and drivers & build a Linux distro
out of it, and calling it your Linux distro isn't fair!!