Build your own Linux distribution with Fedora

If you have to do some of the same configuration each time you install a new Linux distribution, you should create your own custom version of Linux. people generally think that Linux distributions look the same, they are either KDE or GNOME, with a specific kernel that binds a bunch of software. But not really, if you're always doing the same configuration after installing a new Linux distribution, then you're worth creating your own custom Linux version. Revisor is such a tool, in this tutorial, we show how to do a custom version of Linux.

1. Install Fedora
Revisor is a tool software that has been included in several recent versions of the Fedora release. You can use any of these distributions to create your own Linux distribution, but we recommend that you use the latest version of the release. Installation is very simple, if you have installed other Linux distributions in the last two years, this is not a problem at all.

After installing the operating system, the only thing you need to do is install revisor. You can click on the Admin menu, select "Add/Remove Software", and then search for a package called "Revisor", and finally, click "Apply" and allow installation of the required add-on packages.

However, there is one important step you should not forget is to update your fedora and let it update the latest patches. You can update the system by managing the "Update" tool in the menu. The early Fedora version of the revisor had a problem and could not create the correct live CD.

2. Disable security restrictions
After installation, you can find revisor in the Apply Software/System Tools menu. Click on it and enter your root password. If a selinux error is displayed, you need to change the security settings for your system. SELinux is a strict Linux security system that limits what applications can and cannot do. Revisor is limited by it, so you need to change the security level to "Permissive" mode.

Find SELinux Management from the Administration menu to change the current security mode from the default "enforcing" mode to "Permissive". Running Revisor again will not show the SELinux error.

3, start doing it
In the main window of revisor, click "Get Started (start)". You now need to decide how your new distribution will start, you can choose the standard installation method or live experience mode.

If you need to install your own distribution on a number of different machines, such as installing in the office, the first way is a good choice. Create a DVD or CD that will have your distribution, including a series of software, installed directly without any hint.

The live experience approach is more useful if you create a distribution for personal use only. Whether you are creating a live CD/DVD or a live experience version of a U disk, you can insert them directly into your computer and the Linux desktop will be displayed after startup. With the live experience you can use the Linux desktop and the software you select, and in this case your distribution will not make any changes to your computer's hard drive. This works well for Internet cafes and computer rooms in schools.

Here, we choose the most flexible live experience way of burning discs (live CD/DVD).

4, software warehouse information
Click "Next" to display the Software warehouse configuration page. Here is a list of the sources of software packages you need for your distribution, which are based on a specific hardware architecture. Selecting the schema configuration to use from the right is the most common choice by default: F10-i386. If you want to build a distribution of other hardware architectures, such as Intel x64 or PowerPC, you need to make this customization on the appropriate hardware architecture. Revisor cannot establish a distribution that differs from the hardware environment in which it is run.

In addition to choosing a hardware architecture, you can change the target directory. This is the directory where the generated mirrors are stored.

The following options list the repositories that you can use to download the packages you need for your distribution. We cancel the selection of other warehouses except the Fedora warehouse.

5. Package Management
Skip the "Load Kickstart Data" page, and the next step is the most important, where you choose which packages will be included in your release. These choices not only determine what your distribution can do and cannot do, but also determine the size of your distribution-which is important for you to put the release on a CD.

If you want the distribution to be as small as possible, we recommend that you choose the Xfce desktop, rather than the huge gnome or KDE. If you need a powerful desktop environment, you should use a DVD to host the distribution.

You should select all the packages in the base system category to create a basic operating environment. By default, the package selection interface displays only package groupings, not individual packages. For example, if you want to include GIMP, you need to switch to the search interface and search for "gimp" and select the package you want from the search results. Typically you should install at least one Web browser (such as Firefox), a text editor (such as OpenOffice.org), a music player (such as a Amarok or Rhythmbox), and a video player (such as Totem).

6, distribution version of the configuration
Now you can adjust the settings for your distribution. The first page is the most important to configure your language and keyboard layouts, as well as the root password for the live experience system. You can ignore the kernel parameters and identity Authentication page configuration, and then you should add a default network device and enable the firewall. You can also create a default user account.

When all these configurations are ready, click "Next". Revisor will analyze the package dependencies and calculate how much byte storage is required. If the size exceeds your installation media capacity, you can return to the front and remove some of your selected packages.

7. Generate
In the example above, a basic release that includes Xfce and GIMP takes about 700M. Click "Next" to begin the compilation process, which includes 11 steps.
1. Download package
2. Create File system
3. Installation package
4. Configuration system
5, configure the network
6. Create memory File system
7. Re-labeling the file system
8. Install the boot menu
9. Uninstall File system
10. Compress kernel image
11. Create ISO image

The build speed depends on the number of packages you choose, Internet connection speed, and your machine performance. To give you a reference number, our Intel Core 2 Duo 6400@2.13ghz Machine takes about 90 minutes to generate a 700M size distribution.

8. CD Burning
After the file is generated, you can find the resulting ISO file in the subdirectory of/srv/revisor (if the target directory has not been modified before). The file we generated is placed in the subfolder Live, the name is Fedora-10-live-i386.iso. You need to burn this ISO to a blank recordable disc, and in Fedora you can right-click the ISO file and choose "Write to CD". Be careful not to write the ISO file to the disc as a normal file, but to burn it to a blank recordable disc as a mirror.

9, cheers.
Once the burn is complete, you'll be ready to use your freshly released Linux distribution. Insert the disc into your machine's optical drive and restart it to make sure that your machine is booting from the optical drive, and you can either modify the BIOS settings or select it through the menu at boot time.