how to change the name of the respin

[betazoid]

hi,

how do I change the name of the os/respin I created and how do I remove all references to MX Linux (maybe except for the manual)? is this even ok/allowed? or is it (on the contrary) more problematic to leave MX as the name of the new respin? I did not find any options/tweaks for this in Remaster or Snapshot.

so far I found out this: I can disable the MX splash screen by removing "quiet splash" from the grub configuration file.

thanks in advance for the help.

b

[Stevo]

You can also get rid of the splash by removing plymouth packages.
Do you want to get rid of the MX GRUB and login screens, too?

[Adrian]

how do I remove all references to MX Linux (maybe except for the manual)? is this even ok/allowed?

I will respond to the last question, I would say it's even preferred that you remove references to MX Linux since once you modify is going to be your "product" and you'll be responsible for it.

[Richard]

I believe it is acceptable that you state that it is based on MX Linux.
Any objections?

[skidoo]

For the reasons Adrian mentioned, I would like to advance this topic.
"Howto customize" is, necessarily, surprisingly complicated... and would-be respinners probably have no idea what a "cpio" archive is, nor an "initrd.gz"

Toward facilitating LegacyBIOS liveboot customization, two helpful utility scripts are pre-installed on the live system.

The following probably must be considered, must be performed, during a liveboot session.
IIRC, during install-to-disk (minstall), the liveboot components are discarded and later, if MX snapshot is performed from a disk-installed system, fresh copies (perhaps changed, up-to-date) are downloaded and used.

From within a running liveboot session:

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gksu xfce4-terminal
mkdir -p /tmp/zoe
cd /tmp/zoe
rm -rf /tmp/zoe/*
/live/bin/unpack-initrd
cd initrd
ls -al

The "unpack-initrd" command
( in case you care to read it, it is a bash script residing at /live/bin/unpack-initrd )
will retrieve a copy of "/live/boot-dev/antiX/initrd.gz" and unpack its contents for inspection and/or editing.

Rather than working from within terminal, you can launch (Thunar, or other) file manager
and browse to /tmp/zoe/initrd and deeper, to inspect/edit the various files.
(note: The *.c32 files are not readily viewable; they are binary files. Most, or all, of the other files are viewable.)

view the contents of these 2 files:

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/tmp/zoe/initrd/etc/initrd-release
/tmp/zoe/initrd/etc/live/version/initrd-release

^---- replace the "MX" namestring(s) with textlabels of your choice.
(untested by me) Doing so _may_ yield unforseen consequences.
When various co-authored antiX/MX utility scripts launch, they attempt to detect which of the 2 operating systems they are are being run in. YMMV, I'm unaware of any specific problems which might arise.

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cd /tmp/zoe/initrd/etc/splash/images/antiX
ls -al

These might only be displayed during antiX (not MX) boot. If you recognize these (have seen 'em during boot, in the absence of Plymouth), understand that these -- not just ONE background image -- would need to be replaced (to accommodate various screen resolutions, b/c no ability to rescale an image during early boot). Check the color-depth and imagefile format of the existing files (IIRC, 8-bit jpeg); you must ensure your replacement images have these same specs.

. . . .
I cannot gauge what else you might want/need to customize. F'rinstance, have a read here:
v---- instructions for (optionally) editing the legacyBIOS bootscreen menus.

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/tmp/zoe/initrd/live/README

After performing your various edits, theoretically the following would repack and whisk the customized initrd.gz into place

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cd /tmp/zoe/initrd
/live/bin/unpack-initrd --repack

However, I don't recall that use of the --repack option creates a backup copy, so I would

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### create backup copy, just in case
mv  /live/boot-dev/antiX/initrd.gz  /live/boot-dev/antiX/initrd.gz_BAK
cp  /tmp/zoe/initrd.gz  /live/boot-dev/antiX/initrd.gz 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.
Separately, some of the liveboot files reside in a "gfx-cpio" archive file. So lather, rinse, repeat...

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cd /tmp/zoe
/live/bin/unpack-gfx-cpio

. . . . after performing your edits, run

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###/live/bin/unpack-gfx-cpio --repack
###      ^---v     INSTEAD     create backup copy, just in case
mv  /live/boot-dev/boot/syslinux/gfx-cpio  /live/boot-dev/boot/syslinux/gfx-cpio_BAK
cp  /tmp/zoe/gfx-cpio  /live/boot-dev/boot/syslinux/gfx-cpio

After the customized initrd.gz and gfx-cpio files are in place, reboot. Verify the result.
If unsatisfactory, restore the BAK copies and again reboot.
If satisfactory, proceed to using live-remaster or live-usb-maker (or, untested by me, MX snapshot) to create duplicate copies of your respun system.

note: The above is relevant only to LegacyBIOS liveboot.
I have zero experience with customizing grub or efi. FYI, the files for these reside under the /live/boot-dev/boot/ directory. I'm unaware of any pre-installed utility which can customize their (convoluted) content ~~ as a practical matter, doing so probably requires use of the "build-iso-mx" tool.

[betazoid]

Hi, thanks for the answers. Well, I think I am not much interested in the legacy boot thing because probably not many people use that. The important thing is UEFI boot.
I want to remove all important references to MX, i.e. the splash screen, MX on the Grub screen, and I want to change the login screen with the MX background picture.
Thanks again and regards from Vienna
b

[Stevo]

I'm pretty sure you're going to have to change the background images for all those, then, and put those changes in /etc/skel over the MX versions there.

I did do an update of Plymouth ( the boot splash) for our own repo that replaced the Debian logo where it appeared on some themes with the MX logo, such as the solar theme, so you would either have to downgrade to the Debian Plymouth and pin it to use one of those, or just a theme without any logo.

[dolphin_oracle]

Hi, thanks for the answers. Well, I think I am not much interested in the legacy boot thing because probably not many people use that. The important thing is UEFI boot.
I want to remove all important references to MX, i.e. the splash screen, MX on the Grub screen, and I want to change the login screen with the MX background picture.
Thanks again and regards from Vienna
b

you should probably recreate new packages to replace the existing mx-iso-template. when the package for mx-iso-template is built, the initrd.gz and what not are built from the basic folders shown. changing the UEFI version of the grub menu background isn't too tough there, but the syslinux and isolinux packages require unpacking and repacking the cpio files.

you can edit the lightdm-gtk-greekter.conf file directly, as our packages will not overrwrite it. the same goes for the /etc/default/grub file, which contains the installed system's grub background.

desktop-defaults-xfce-mx17 contains the information for the desktop customizations. Nothing depends on desktop-defaults-xfce-mx17, so you can create your own defaults package if you wish. that way when we do updates your customizations will not be overwritten. However, in this case, that package is not likely to be updated any more, so manual changes are probably safe for the duration of the debian stretch era.

system names are in /etc/lsb-release and /etc/mx-version (also antiX-version). those files sometimes get updated by chagnes to mx-system package, but again, the mx-system package is setup up such that if you change the version and name info, our updates shouldn't overwrite them. probably. I've messed that up before.

[betazoid]

ok. thanks. so far I had partial success with editing lsb-release and mx-version. there is also a file called os-release in the same directory which I edited. in the orignal live system, I still see MX everywhere. however, if I create a snapshot of the same system, I get "snapshot Simux OS" on the boot screen of that live system. at least when booted on a non-uefi virtual pc. I am now about to install the system on a virtual pc. ok. the boot screen shows simux. that's more than nothing. let's check uefi.
I also had a look at the mx-iso-template files but not edited them yet.
well, does not sound that easy...
not yet checked: how to change the login screen and *important* how to disable the MX welcome screen.
but I am not sure about the name yet, btw :P

[betazoid]

OK. I have changed all kinds of config files and replaced MX with Simux OS. 2 things are still annoying me: On the UEFI boot screen of the live system, I still see "mx snapshot" and "MX Linux", and after that, I see "Welcome to MX Linux 18". I have even customized the Gazelle installer. I have also edited a config file of MX snapshot, but that does not appear to do much.