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This article describes the most popular tools to create your own Linux distribution. If you need to create a Linux distribution, this tutorial will clarify the important issues while giving a fast view on the creation processes. This article focuses on Linux From Scratch and Ubuntu Live as ways to create your custom Linux distribution. LFS (Linux From Scratch) is a great method for advanced users, while Ubuntu Live is good for inexperienced ones. The steps and commands shown are not meant to be functional but to portray the difficulty level of each process. Linux From Scratch LFS (Linux From Scratch) is the most popular tool to create custom Linux distributions from source. Creating your own Linux distribution may include some advantages (and disadvantages too). Among the advantages, during the process, you will learn a lot on Linux. You will know how Linux modules interact and how to customize the system. The operating system size is also an advantage depending on your hardware resources or the use that you want to give the system. On their website LFS, developers say that they created a web server to work with Apache on 5 mb size. Together with Gentoo Linux, Linux From Scratch is the most flexible way to set up a Linux system. Building it is pretty simple and the process is described step by step. We will only show the initial steps to portray an idea of the difficulty and a link to the official documentation from the building stage. To get started with Linux From Scratch, you need to create first a partition (minimum 3 GB due compilation process). It is also recommendable to create a swap partition or to share your existing one (for instructions on partitioning, check Partitioning hard disks under Debian/Ubuntu and resizing partitions). Once you create the partition, create the $LFS variable by running the following command: export LFS=/mnt/lfs You can check it by running the following command: echo $LFS Create the directory as shown in the following: sudo mkdir -pv $LFS Note: Replace <sdX> for your partition. mount -v -t ext3 /dev/<sdX> $LFS Then, run for the swap partition: /sbin/swapon -v /dev/<swap> You need to download the packages to a specific directory called LFS/sources. To create the directory, run the following command: sudo mkdir -v $LFS/sources Make it writable and sticky. sudo chmod -v a+wt $LFS/sources Download and save within the directory all the packages from https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/view/development/chapter03/packages.html And from https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/view/development/chapter03/patches.html Alternatively, you can use the wget-list: https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/view/development/wget-list Create the tools directory and symbolic link by running the following commnand: sudo mkdir -v $LFS/tools Then, run the following command: sudo ln -sv $LFS/tools / Run the following commands to create the lfs user, giving it rights on the tools and sources directories. Type the password when requested as shown in the following screenshot: sudo groupadd lfs sudo useradd -s /bin/bash -g lfs -m -k /dev/null lfs sudo passwd lfs sudo chown -v lfs $LFS/tools sudo chown -v lfs $LFS/sources sudo su - lfs Log in as the lfs user and run the following command: cat > ~/.bash_profile << "EOF" Then, execute the following: exec env -i HOME=$HOME TERM=$TERM PS1='\u:\w\$ ' /bin/bash Finally, type the following command: EOF Create a new bashrc by running the following command: cat > ~/.bashrc << "EOF" set +h umask 022 LFS=/mnt/lfs LC_ALL=POSIX LFS_TGT=$(uname -m)-lfs-linux-gnu PATH=/tools/bin:/bin:/usr/bin export LFS LC_ALL LFS_TGT PATH EOF Then, run the following command: source ~/.bash_profile set MAKEFLAGS='-j 2' Then, you can save the tools to start building your Linux distribution by following the steps at https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/view/development/chapter05/introduction.html. After finishing, change the tools directory ownership by running the following command: sudo chown -R root:root $LFS/tools The official documentation to build your distribution, prepare the kernel. The base software can be found here. It is a sequence of steps that you need to create a customized distribution. The following steps are: Preparing a Virtual Kernel File Systems Package Management Entering the Chroot Environment Creating Directories Creating Essential Files and Symlinks Installing additional software Listed Here Stripping Again Cleaning Up To start customizing the system, visit the following chapters: LFS-Bootscripts-20220723 How Do These Bootscripts Work? Creating setlock script Configuring the Linux Console Configuring the sysklogd Script Creating the /etc/inputrc File The Bash Shell Startup Files Device and Module Handling on an LFS System Creating Custom Symlinks to Devices Configuring the localnet Script Customizing the /etc/hosts File General network customization Creating the /etc/fstab File Installation of the kernel Finally, install GRUB using GRUB to set up the boot process and follow the steps before rebooting for the first time. Creating Your Own Ubuntu Based Linux Distribution Creating a customized Linux based on Ubuntu is pretty easy. It can be done very fast. It is extremely simple when compared with the Linux From Scratch but it is not flexible at all. You’ll be able to add the software and customize the background and some details. But the basic customizations like the applications menu edition are not supported. sudo debootstrap Add the following command: --arch=amd64 --variant=minbase bionic $HOME/live-ubuntu-from-scratch/chroot Set the mount points. sudo mount --bind /dev $HOME/live-ubuntu-from-scratch/chroot/dev sudo mount --bind /run $HOME/live-ubuntu-from-scratch/chroot/run sudo chroot $HOME/live-ubuntu-from-scratch/chroot mount none -t proc /proc mount none -t sysfs /sys mount none -t devpts /dev/pts export HOME=/root export LC_ALL=C echo "ubuntu-fs-live" > /etc/hostname Then, you’ll need to update the repositories and run the apt update using the following command: apt-get install -y systemd-sysv dbus-uuidgen > /etc/machine-id ln -fs /etc/machine-id /var/lib/dbus/machine-id dpkg-divert --local --rename --add /sbin/initctl ln -s /bin/true /sbin/initctl apt-get install -y ubuntu-standard casper lupin-casper discover laptop-detect os-prober network-manager resolvconf net-tools wireless-tools wpagui locales linux-generic When prompting the configuration screens like GRUB, press ENTER to default choices to continue. Then, run the following command: sudo apt install -y ubiquity ubiquity-casper ubiquity-frontend-gtk ubiquity-slideshow-ubuntu ubiquity-ubuntu-artwork Install any X Window Manager that you want. sudo apt install -y plymouth-theme-ubuntu-logo ubuntu-gnome-desktop ubuntu-gnome-wallpapers Add any additional software that you want in your distribution. Then, run the following: sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install -y code Select your locales and reconfigure the resolv.conf and network manager. sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales sudo dpkg-reconfigure resolv.conf sudo dpkg-reconfigure network-manager Then, run the following: truncate -s 0 /etc/machine-id rm /sbin/initctl apt-get clean rm -rf /tmp/* ~/.bash_history Unmount all the filesystems. umount /proc umount /sys umount /dev/pts export HISTSIZE=0exit sudo umount $HOME/live-ubuntu-from-scratch/chroot/dev sudo umount $HOME/live-ubuntu-from-scratch/chroot/run Create the directories and copy the kernel and binaries. cd $HOME/live-ubuntu-from-scratch mkdir -p image/{casper,isolinux,install} sudo cp chroot/boot/vmlinuz-**-**-generic image/casper/vmlinuz sudo cp chroot/boot/initrd.img-**-**-generic image/casper/initrd sudo cp chroot/boot/memtest86+.bin image/install/memtest86+ wget --progress=dot https://www.memtest86.com/downloads/memtest86-usb.zip -O image/install/memtest86-usb.zipunzip -p image/install/memtest86-usb.zip memtest86-usb.img > image/install/memtest86rm image/install/memtest86-usb.zip To finish, setup GRUB by executing the following: cd $HOME/live-ubuntu-from-scratch sudo mksquashfs chroot image/casper/filesystem.squashfs printf $(sudo du -sx --block-size=1 chroot | cut -f1) > image/casper/filesystem.size cd $HOME/live-ubuntu-from-scratch cd $HOME/live-ubuntu-from-scratch/image grub-mkstandalone --format=x86_64-efi --output=isolinux/bootx64.efi --locales="" --fonts="" "boot/grub/grub.cfg=isolinux/grub.cfg" grub-mkstandalone --format=i386-pc --output=isolinux/core.img --install-modules="linux16 linux normal iso9660 biosdisk memdisk search tar ls" --modules="linux16 linux normal iso9660 biosdisk search" --locales="" --fonts="" "boot/grub/grub.cfg=isolinux/grub.cfg" cat /usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/cdboot.img isolinux/core.img > isolinux/bios.img sudo /bin/bash -c "(find . -type f -print0 | xargs -0 md5sum | grep -v "./md5sum.txt" > md5sum.txt)" sudo xorriso -as mkisofs -iso-level 3 -full-iso9660-filenames -volid "<YourDistroName>" -eltorito-boot boot/grub/bios.img -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table --eltorito-catalog boot/grub/boot.cat --grub2-boot-info --grub2-mbr /usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/boot_hybrid.img -eltorito-alt-boot -e EFI/efiboot.img -no-emul-boot -append_partition 2 0xef isolinux/efiboot.img -output "../<yourdistronam>.iso" -graft-points "." /boot/grub/bios.img=isolinux/bios.img /EFI/efiboot.img=isolinux/efiboot.img As you can see, the process with Ubuntu Live is a lot faster and easier. But it is not more than an Ubuntu distribution with light customizations in contrast to Linux From Scratch which is fully customizable. Conclusion As you can see, creating a Linux distribution may be a very hard task, but a good goal to get a full understanding on how Linux systems work. This happens especially with the first described method based on Linux from Scratch. The Ubuntu alternative is also a good starting point for the new users who are looking for an Ubuntu based custom Linux distribution. The LFS process is messy; do not give up before errors which are common when getting started. After all, you are creating an operating system. We hope that you found this tutorial useful. Keep following LinuxHint for additional tips and updates on Linux and networking. View the full article