Make Your Very Own Customized Linux Distro From Your Current Installation

One of the most common and utility things, when we use Linux is that we can personalize, copy and remaster our Linux installation according to our needs. Linux is very flexible so we have many ways to install and use it: we can install Linux from cd, DVD, network, USB, disk partition; and we can choose between a common installation medium or a medium that contains a live Linux system.

Also, we can create an ISO file of our current Linux installation and we can use the generated ISO file to make a bootable medium. In this article, you’re going to know the process to create an ISO of your current Linux installation and also know the alternatives that we have to do it.

Ways To Make Current Installation’s ISO

There are many applications to create an ISO from the current installation, so I’ve listed the applications that I know to do it easy.

1. Linux Respin

It’s a fork of the discontinued Remastersys, this last was a free tool to personalize and create custom distros, also you could make complete system backups using it.

Linux Respin is new, you can get it from its official Website: http://www.linuxrespin.org/

Also, you can get its source code from Github: https://github.com/ch1x0r/LinuxRespin

2. Systemback

It’s a system utility to make backups and restore the previous state of your system. Also, you can use it to copy your system and create a Live System.

You can get it from its official website at Sourceforge: https://sourceforge.net/projects/systemback

3. Linux Live Kit

It’s a set of shell scripts to create your own Live Linux from the current Linux installation. I’m going to show you the process to make a Live Linux using Linux Live kit.

First, you must install the dependencies of Linux Live kit:

• Squashfs

Squashfs is a compressed read-only filesystem for Linux. Squashfs is intended for general read-only filesystem use, for archival use (i.e. in cases where a .tar.gz file may be used), and in constrained block device/memory systems (e.g. embedded systems) where low overhead is needed.

You must install squashfs-tools in your system using the package manager:

# aptitude install squashfs-tools

Now you must download Linux Live kit from its official website: http://www.linux-live.org/
​
If you want, you should remove all unnecessary files from your system (for example man pages and all other files you don’t need),  to make your Live Linux system as small as possible (this step is optional). You must move the Linux Live kit to /tmp, if you want you can read the documentation files in DOC/ to learn how it works. Also, you can edit .config file if you need to modify some variables.
​
Now is the moment to start with the creation of the Live System, switch to the root user using su and go to the Linux Live directory and xecute the following script:

# ./build

You should go for a cup of coffee because generally, this process takes a very long time.

Your Live Kit ISO image will be created in /tmp.
​
There is a screenshots of the process:

At this point, the process is finalizing.

If you see the root prompt again, it means that the process is complete.

Finally, you’ll find an ISO file for CD boot and a ZIP archive for USB boot located in /tmp, you copy these files to any other directory.
​
To make bootable USB, unpack the generated zip archive (also from /tmp) to your USB device and run bootinst.sh from the boot subdirectory.

Conclusion

​In conclusion, I’ve used Linux Live kit because it worked for me, but you can choose another. Also, this process can be useful to make a customized Linux distro using an already Linux installation.