Live-helper is a utility to build CD, DVD, netboot and USB-stick live images of Debian, a GNU/Linux operating system. It boasts support for multiple architectures, auto-building images, amongst many other features.
Live-helper is extremely flexible, allowing interested parties to create their own system completely specific to their needs, including support for custom package lists, kernel parameters, encryption, additional commands to configure the live system etc.
The proposal is to construct a graphical user interface that can be used in conjunction with live-helper to build Debian Live systems, allowing editing of existing configurations and including a 'wizard'-style walkthrough for the first-time user.
Providing less experienced users with the opportunity to easily create live distributions will generate more exposure for live-helper, providing more valuable feedback for its developers and ultimately helping Debian's image as an extremely flexible and free operating system.
live-magic
The GUI is written in Python using the pygtk bindings.
See http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/debian-live-devel/2007-March/001029.html for how the project started. it can be installed with
aptitude install live-magic
lh_config Procedure
lh_config is a shell script to prepare the current directory as a workspace to build Debian Live images. It accepts a number of command line parameters (see lh_config --help) influencing the kind of image to build and other aspects of the build process, and generates configurations in the config subdirectory.
lh_build Procedure
lh_build is a shell script to automagically create Debian Live images for you. The image generation is as simple as:
- cdebootstrap a debian standard system in a subdirectory.
- apt-get install the linux kernel image together with squashfs, unionfs modules and the live-initramfs image generator.
- Install the proper flavour packages with right preseeded questions.
- Clean things up
- Compress this rootfs as a squashfs image.
- Copy out the kernel and initramfs image.
- Assemble the iso, hd or netboot final image.