hi i am making a distro and here are few probs i have run into

step1
i made a HOST and a BASE partition---
host = vl dyananmite
base= vl 5.0

step 2
i installed the foll packages in the base

-checkinstall
- vecpkg2
- vecteloper
- vechief

i also compiled the kernel as per my reqmt

step3

i made a dir /home/media in the vl dynamite.this i am going to place all the packages

doubts?

where do i put the compiled kernel?do i have to put the entire /usr/src/linux directory or do i have to put the vmlinuz in the /home/media of the vl dynamite?

what is this config.vl?how do i get this config.vl?where do i find config.vl on the OS i am working?can u pl resend me your config.vl ( i lost the previous one after i accidentally formatted my partition)

lastly how do i start the compilation?

phew sorry for the long mail but i am facing these probs!

i'm creating my own distro from the desktop i use everday using bootcd.

no chrooting crap, one command, short and sweet config file.

good luck.

how are u doing that?

are u using that utility that makes a backup of your present system?

the program is called bootcd, but it has several other programs that come with it like bootcdwrite, etc.

it makes your desktop os a 'livecd'.

i'v gotten as far as a kernel panic with mine.

i think i need to add an initrd then i will be done

you can then install from the cd/dvd while it is live tooo.

halvy here is my solution...i am getting stuck at the last step..al is well till the last step..pl also read the links i am giving...and kindly guide me

helo i did everything as told by vector in his thread

http://www.vectorlinux.com/forum/vie...?p=52533#52533

to make it simple i also added my own steps here it goes....

incase anything is not clear in the post below free feel to ask ...can clarify all doubts...also pl tell me that the tar command i am using to bundle my distro is correct....tar command is in the link

step1

installed a VL and customised the 2.6.12.3 kernel according to my requirement ..then installed the foll packages checkinstall,vecteloper,vechief packages and vecpkg2

step2

cd /home/vectelopement

edited the config.vl file as i had to put in the kernel 2.6.12.3

ran the foll scripts
./v1-clean
./v2-base //installed the cdrom into a partition
./v3-kernel //installed the kernel

step 3

installed VL:dynamite on a separate partition and booted into the VL installed by ./v2-base..entered inside and made all the changes ...installed a kde3.4 desktop added few more modules an dpackages and rebooted into VL:dynamite

step-4

http://www.vectorlinux.com/forum/vie...?p=52533#52533

inshort bundeled the changed distro ...but when the time came to mkisofs here is the error..........

mkisofs -o /home/iso/vl-MY-99.iso -r -R -J -V "VL-MY" -v -d -N -no-emul-boot \
-boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table \
-b isolinux/isolinux.bin -c isolinux/isolinux.boot -A "VL-MY" .

mkisofs: No such file or directory , invalid node -boot-load-size

why? whaz going wrong inthe last step?

you are stuck in the mud (i think) with the process you are using.

unless you have a specific reason to use the programs that you are now doing to created a livecd...why not try bootcd?

you simply log into the os that you want make 'live', do your thing with it.. and then start 'bootcdwrite'!

the config file is short and easy to understand.

bootcd allows you to continue or abort when there is an error message..and points you very well to where you need to fix things.

the compression process is even quicker than any other i'v seen (about 1 hour for 5gigs!!).

you'd do well to check this out.

although i have not completed mine yet, i have gotten to the point where i have booted my livecd (but i get a kernel panic).

i just need to incorporate a seperate initrd into the cd somehow, and then it should be 'completed'

let us know what you decide..

give me the link please....

Here is the link that I would suggest:

http://www.linux-live.org/

You can also search the LFS Forum for help and remember Google is also available for your linux research needs.

well i got it working with the command

mkisofs -o /home/iso/vl-MY-99.iso -r -R -J -v -d -N -A "VL-MY" -V "VL-MY" -no-emul-boot -b isolinux/isolinux.bin -c isolinux/isolinux.boot .

secondly i want to know the meaning of this command that i ran...a link from where i can read abt it is appreciated..

lastly if my iso image is going beyond 800MB..how do i make it to fit into 2 CDs?

sorry, i (thought) i posted this earlier but i musta forgot to hit enter

it is a deb package..

http://packages.debian.org/stable/utils/bootcd.html

you'll need bootcd-mkinitrd also if your kernel requires it.

and congradulations on acomplishing your goal with the slack live cd

ok a strange thing happened

i created the iso image and burnt it onto a cd

before burning the image the k3b software did a md5 checksum and passed the test

later when i tried to install the distro from the CD it gave me a error in md5checksum...

what is the reason?

pl see the command i used to create the ISO

without me working on the same programs you are, i can only guess that maybe you put tooo much on your medium and it is not calculating correctly. (ie your putting more bytes on the cd than its specs allow.)

i got an iso image of 715MB...if i burn this image on a dvd will i be able to boot the OS.........

how do i remove these additional bytes

i installed kernel-2.6.12.3 and that was bare minimum....?

no additional packages except i removed kde-3.3 and addded kde-3.4

if it is not working as a cd iso it will prob not work as a dvd one either

but when you do burn it as a dvd make sure you tell the program you use that you are making a dvd iso and not cd or it will either give you an error message or not come out correctly.

r u considering trying bootcd in the future?

yeah i will try bootcd in future but at least let me get my basics clear on this isssue...

ok that checksum problem is resolved..i was extracting the OS from a different set of os and i was bundling it from another OS

the iso was made to install but however there were certain flaws...

firstly the cd did not give a neat install have to work around a bit
though i hade only given my kernel modules but along with it the default kernel modules were also burnt...lastly the packages i installed were bundled but the packages i had removed were also bundled

any suggestions on this untidy compiling done by me