SliTaz Handbook (en) - Gen LiveCD flavor

Generate a LiveCD flavor

Generate a LiveCD to taste

+Create you own LiveCD quickly and easily with Tazlito. +

Tazlito - SliTaz Live Tool.
Get a flavor - Download a flavor file.
Gen your own distro - Generate a Live distro in - one single command.
To begin.
A LiveCD in 2 commands.
Get a taste.
Generate the distribution.
Create a flavor.
Additional files.
Packages used.
Configuration file.

- -

Tazlito - SliTaz Live Tool

+ +

To begin

-Tazlito is a tool to help generate and configure SliTaz LiveCD ISO images. -You can create a custom distro in two commands from a list of packages and a -flavor file, extract an existing ISO image to hack it, create new initramfs -and/or a new ISO. Most commands must be run by root, except the stats and the -configuration file manipulation. Like other SliTaz tiny utils, you can simply -type tazlito usage in a terminal to get a list of all -commands with a short description in English. +Creating your own LiveCD version of SliTaz with Tazlito +takes little time and you can choose precisely the software +packages that you want to find on the system. The support +of flavors permits you to generate a customized LiveCD +amended by a list of packages or flavors created by the SliTaz +community. Tazlito is a command line tool that is not too +demanding, you can have your own ISO image in two commands +or burnt in one. +

+The generation of the LiveCD requires a minimum of 256 MB +RAM and system compression with LZMA may take some time. It's +possible to create a distribution from the LiveCD or from an +installed system. In LiveCD mode, it's advisible to use persistent +media or a USB drive to store generated files and save space in RAM. +

+Tazlito is used by developers to generate the official LiveCD. +The only prerequisite is to have Tazlito installed, this is installed +by default on SliTaz, but you can generate from another +LiveCD distribution if they have the necessary packages on hand +or can be downloaded. +

Install Tazlito on another distribution

+Tazlito does not generate dependencies for the LiveCD, but +it depends of Cdrkit to burn the image and Tazpkg to +regenerate SliTaz packages not already installed. To retrieve +and install Tazlito, follow the instructions in the README +file in the sources of Tazlito. +

+ + +

A LiveCD in 2 commands

Get a flavor : tazlito get-flavor core
Optional : Amend the list of packages or add + additional files.
Generate the distribution : tazlito gen-distro

+Once finished , you will find the LiveCD ISO image in the +/home/slitaz/distro. +

+For simple instructions click here .

Get a flavor

Get a taste

-SliTaz LiveCD can easily be rebuilt using Tazlito flavor support. A special -LiveCD flavor can be built from the LiveCD/RAM itself or from an installed -system. If you want to rebuild SliTaz from the LiveCD you need at least 256 Mb -of RAM and we recommend that you store the file on persistent media (USB key, HD, -etc). To start you need to get a flavor file from a SliTaz mirror, open a Xterm, -become root administrator and get the default core system: +A flavor is a .flavor file containing all the necessary information +for the creation of the CD. The flavor provides the list of +packages (distro-packages.list) and additional files for the +chosen flavor. A list of flavors can be downloaded and +updated with Tazlito:

- # tazlito get-flavor core
+ # tazlito list-flavors
+ Or :
+ # tazlito list-flavors --recharge

+A list of flavors will automatically be displayed, giving the +size of the LiveCD and a brief description. For the remainder, +the get-flavor command will download the flavor file, +automatically extract the package list and description in +the current directory and put additional files in the +/home/slitaz/distro/addfiles directory. To store flavors, +we suggest that you use a specific directory such as +/home/slitaz/flavors, you can create this yourself and proceed +inside: +

+ # mkdir -p /home/slitaz/flavors
+ # cd /home/slitaz/flavors
+

+To download and/or extract the files in a particular flavor: +

+ # tazlito get-flavor particular-flavor
+

+The description of the flavor can be displayed with the +show-flavor command. Once the chosen flavor is downloaded +you can start to generate the distribution. + +

Generate your own distro

Generate the distribution

-The command get-flavor will download the core flavor, giving you a description -and a list of packages in the current directory with some additional files in -/home/slitaz/distro/addfiles (JWM menu, wallpapers, hacker files). From now on -you can add or remove packages in the list (distro-packages.list), -modify configuration files (tazlito.conf) and optionally modify -additional files. Then simply generate a LiveCD ISO image: +For your first ISO, we advise you to test without modifying +the list, then you can start to delete or add packages +at will. But beware, the base system packages are essential. +The gen-distro command generates an ISO image with all the +packages on the list, it must be run as root and be in the +same directory as the list and the configuration file. +To generate a LiveCD:

  # tazlito gen-distro

-The LiveCD ISO image, root filesystem (rootfs) and the content of the CD -(rootcd) are in /home/slitaz/distro. All repacked or downloaded packages are -stored by default in /home/slitaz/packages. If you want to chroot in the -rootfs to preconfigure the system, add more files in the rootcd directory or -add users, you just have to rebuild initramfs and the ISO image to generate -your new LiveCD: +Voilà, your first LiveCD ISO image is generated in /home/slitaz/distro, +but without an account for the user hacker. +

The user hacker

+If you want to have a hacker user account, we must add one +and then recreate the compressed root filesystem:

+ # tazlito addhacker
  # tazlito gen-initiso

- -

Burn ISO and gen a flavor file

Clean and regenerate distro

-Tazlito can also burn the LiveCD and/or create a flavor file to keep your -modifications: +To continue to go further, you can simply add one or two packages +to the list, clean the distro and regenerate the root +filesystem with a new ISO image:

- # tazlito burn-iso
- # tazlito gen-flavor
+ # tazlito clean-distro
+ # tazlito gen-distro
+

+Tazlito also provides several possibilities, such as burning the +ISO or copying additional files in the system or directly +on to the cdrom. +

+ + +

Create a flavor

+Tazlito allows you to easily create your own flavor from +the results of manufacturing the distribution (gen-distro). +The file will contain all the flavor's additional files, +a description and a list of packages which can be reused later +and updated according to the versions of packages. To generate +you own flavor responding to one or two questions: +

+ # tazlito gen-flavor new-flavor
+

+Once your flavor is fully functioning and well tested, you +can send it to slitaz.org to make it available to all and sundry, +listed via list-flavor and usable via get-flavor. To send +a flavor you have several means, announce through the mailing list, +save the file online and report on the forum or send by mail +to a contributor of the project. +

+ + +

Additional files

+The files containing flavors usually have additional files +copied directly into the filesystem or the root of the cdrom. +The path to the files used is specified in the configuration +file tazlito.conf - by default the files are +located in /home/slitaz/distro/addfiles. The additional files +the core flavor provides are for example the window manager +JWM and some wallpapers. It is easy enough to modify, add +or delete files in the root filesystem (rootfs) or the root +of the CD (rootcd) and regenerate the distribution. +To clean and regenerate the distribution: +

+ # tazlito clean-distro
+ # tazlito gen-distro

+ +

Packages used

+To create your distro you need SliTaz packages. Tazlito and +Tazpkg allow us to recreate packages from a SliTaz system +in operation or to download packages directly depending on +the flavor chosen. By default, SliTaz packages are located +in the directory /home/slitaz/packages, but you can change +this via the Tazlito configuration file (tazlito.conf). +

+If you want to retrieve packages manually, you can use +FTP software such as gFTP (installed by default on SliTaz) +or the command line and wget to download official packages. +The direct URL to package versions: +ftp://download.tuxfamily.org/slitaz/packages/ +

+You can also use your own packages by putting them in the +packages directory. If you are looking for documentation +about the creation of SliTaz packages, you can refer to the +Cookbook. +

+ + +

Configuration file

+By default, Tazlito uses the system configuration file +/etc/tazlito/tazlito.conf or the tazlito.conf + located in the current directory. This means that you can use the default +file or a configuration file specific to the distro you want to +create. This file can change the name of the ISO image, the +name of the maintainer and the paths to the working +directories. To create and configure your own configuration +file, you just need to run Tazlito with the configure +command from the working directory of the distro. +Assuming you have the tree of the distro in /home/slitaz/distro +and you're located within: +

+ $ tazlito configure
+

+Once you've answered the questions, you can either +create the ISO image, rebuild the root filesystem and ISO or +generate a new distro with the list of packages. +

+ +

Generate a LiveCD flavor (Simple Guide)

+ +

Tazlito - SliTaz Live Tool.
Get a flavor - Download a flavor file.
Gen your own distro - Generate a Live distro in + one single command.

+ + +

Tazlito - SliTaz Live Tool

+Tazlito is a tool to help generate and configure SliTaz LiveCD ISO images. +You can create a custom distro in two commands from a list of packages and a +flavor file, extract an existing ISO image to hack it, create new initramfs +and/or a new ISO. Most commands must be run by root, except the stats and the +configuration file manipulation. Like other SliTaz tiny utils, you can simply +type tazlito usage in a terminal to get a list of all +commands with a short description in English. +

+ + +

Get a flavor

+SliTaz LiveCD can easily be rebuilt using Tazlito flavor support. A special +LiveCD flavor can be built from the LiveCD/RAM itself or from an installed +system. If you want to rebuild SliTaz from the LiveCD you need at least 256 Mb +of RAM and we recommend that you store the file on persistent media (USB key, HD, +etc). To start you need to get a flavor file from a SliTaz mirror, open a Xterm, +become root administrator and get the default core system: +

+ # tazlito get-flavor core
+

+ + +

Generate your own distro

+The command get-flavor will download the core flavor, giving you a description +and a list of packages in the current directory with some additional files in +/home/slitaz/distro/addfiles (JWM menu, wallpapers, hacker files). From now on +you can add or remove packages in the list (distro-packages.list), +modify configuration files (tazlito.conf) and optionally modify +additional files. Then simply generate a LiveCD ISO image: +

+ # tazlito gen-distro
+

+The LiveCD ISO image, root filesystem (rootfs) and the content of the CD +(rootcd) are in /home/slitaz/distro. All repacked or downloaded packages are +stored by default in /home/slitaz/packages. If you want to chroot in the +rootfs to preconfigure the system, add more files in the rootcd directory or +add users, you just have to rebuild initramfs and the ISO image to generate +your new LiveCD: +

+ # tazlito gen-initiso
+

+ +

Burn ISO and gen a flavor file

+Tazlito can also burn the LiveCD and/or create a flavor file to keep your +modifications: +

+ # tazlito burn-iso
+ # tazlito gen-flavor
+

+ + + +