From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from lists.gentoo.org ([140.105.134.102] helo=robin.gentoo.org) by nuthatch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1G32wR-0007WD-Ss for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Wed, 19 Jul 2006 03:41:44 +0000 Received: from robin.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by robin.gentoo.org (8.13.7/8.13.6) with SMTP id k6J3eVLm030634; Wed, 19 Jul 2006 03:40:31 GMT Received: from py-out-1112.google.com (py-out-1112.google.com [64.233.166.180]) by robin.gentoo.org (8.13.7/8.13.6) with ESMTP id k6J3Zij6018738 for ; Wed, 19 Jul 2006 03:35:45 GMT Received: by py-out-1112.google.com with SMTP id d42so107372pyd for ; Tue, 18 Jul 2006 20:35:44 -0700 (PDT) DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=beta; d=gmail.com; h=received:message-id:date:from:user-agent:mime-version:to:subject:references:in-reply-to:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; b=oZD8rA1bsgGJu3h6YRTPsHFVBxfHfzir04ZetjaxxsL3rw5V7b6TZe6Tw4NX7eNikdo3V/4oAHipipuuA929oCNWIK6gKwNFMWtsEKcigThyfeeQbVHI5WpkMP2C5BM2VeDOL9uR+taYwxuDTbO0q1cCTOmzTYCVdkd6dlNRHT0= Received: by 10.35.106.15 with SMTP id i15mr425180pym; Tue, 18 Jul 2006 20:35:44 -0700 (PDT) Received: from ?192.168.1.102? ( [64.180.45.221]) by mx.gmail.com with ESMTP id w66sm245043pyw.2006.07.18.20.35.43; Tue, 18 Jul 2006 20:35:44 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <44BDA88C.6060208@gmail.com> Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2006 20:35:40 -0700 From: Ryan Tandy User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5.0.4 (X11/20060707) Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org MIME-Version: 1.0 To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] How to create my own linux distribution References: <20060718094408.11578.qmail@web37707.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <20060718121426.104990@gmx.net> <200607180835.37263.gentoo.org@machturtle.com> In-Reply-To: <200607180835.37263.gentoo.org@machturtle.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Archives-Salt: 6fca9d64-4ffc-422e-a1e2-46f4e09df0ef X-Archives-Hash: b1ba945e3b7b3259e63172bf9ae69e5d David Corbin wrote: > > I've considered the idea of a custom distribution to do this. There is no > doubt in my mind, that any such distribtuion would be based on an existing > one, with tweaks that deal with where updates come from, and what packages > are availble, etc. Gentoo or Debian are the two likely candidates. I'm not > *sure* a customized distribution is appropriate. There's an excellent reason why Gentoo is seriously leaning towards calling itself a "metadistribution". Look into tools such as catalyst. You can build LiveCDs for installing into a known-good environment, "Stage 4" archives that require minimal configuration after installation, or even (since, as you mentioned, the targets fall into a few distinct categories) full disc images on (a) local staging box(es) and simply image everything across to the targets. If you're uncomfortable with having a production system loaded with gcc, portage, and such, you can build your own "releases" locally, and simply batch update the targets when convenient. The images built by catalyst are *not* required to contain portage or the portage tree. Portage and catalyst are *very* powerful tools if you look into their depths. Rsync and friends used in conjunction with a local staging system can IMO make maintaining such a system incredibly easy. Yes, I'm available for consulting. :P -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list