How is a new version of MX Linux created?

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jhsu802701
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Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2017 7:55 pm

How is a new version of MX Linux created?

#1 Post by jhsu802701 »

Given that MX Linux is a Debian derivative, I'm expecting to see a script that uses debootstrap to create the directory structure of Debian Linux, chroots into this Debian Linux directory structure to make changes (like updating the apt-get settings and installing packages), creates an ISO directory, and then creates the ISO file from this ISO directory.

However, a search of the MX Linux organization on GitHub (https://github.com/MX-Linux) for debootstrap comes up empty. Is my assumption that debootstrap is part of the process correct, or is it wrong? Does the process of building MX Linux instead involve using an official Debian Linux ISO and making changes to it? (When I used the Packer tool to create Vagrant virtual machines, this is what I did.)

Or are my assumptions way off base? For example, I was surprised when I found out that Linux Mint Debian Edition (when it was still based on Debian Testing) was derived from previous editions and not created from scratch.

skidoo
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Re: How is a new version of MX Linux created?

#2 Post by skidoo »

here's the build tool which employs chroot+debootstrap: https://github.com/antiX-Linux/Build-iso

search result: occurrences of "chroot"
https://github.com/BitJam/Build-iso/sea ... &type=Code

search result: occurrences of "debootstrap"
https://github.com/BitJam/Build-iso/sea ... =%E2%9C%93

The above is relatively undocumented, aside from inline comments and readme.md

In contrast, detailed docs (and videos) exist to support the snapshot/remastering tools intended for end users:
https://mxlinux.org/wiki/help-files/hel ... el-updater
https://mxlinux.org/wiki/help-files/help-live-usb-maker
https://mxlinux.org/wiki/help-files/help-mx-remaster
https://mxlinux.org/wiki/help-files/hel ... o-snapshot
https://mxlinux.org/user_manual_mx16/mxum.html (see section 6.6 "Advanced MX Tools ")

jhsu802701
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Re: How is a new version of MX Linux created?

#3 Post by jhsu802701 »

Thanks. Now I have a much better understanding of what it takes to create a great Linux distro. There are so many details that need to be set up.

I can see why the founders of Crunchbang Linux and MEPIS Linux quit. No wonder that there are only a few hundred active Linux distros (compared to millions of users) and not many thousands. I did start a Linux distro called Swift Linux, and I've been planning to make it a Debian derivative, but I can clearly see that it's more work than I can handle. My plan now for Swift Linux is to remaster MX Linux and change the wallpaper and GRUB entries, which isn't that different from what Swift Linux originally did. In other words, I'll be applying the Hannah Montana Linux playbook. Expect Taylor Swift Linux and a few other special editions to return. (Keep in mind that I started Swift Linux several years ago, BEFORE antiX Linux came pre-installed with OpenOffice/LibreOffice. MX Linux is so great that I cannot imagine how I can create something better.)

skidoo
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Re: How is a new version of MX Linux created?

#4 Post by skidoo »

jason? Ah, i should have recognized the username. https://sourceforge.net/projects/swiftlinux/
Swift Linux, Diet Swift Linux, Taylor Swift Linux, Chicago Swift Linux, Minnesota Swift Linux
Wondered whether you were targeting the young/hip crowd with those & how much success you had achieved in doing so.
TaylorSwift was rockin some big d/l tallies at sourceforge for a while. Where did users meetup? I never found a forum.
Compared with LMDE v1, switfLinux was preferable IMO.

The founders of Crunchbang Linux and MEPIS each provided an explanation, so what is there to "see"?

For users' sake, I hope you'll consider describing your "my plan now" as an MX remix or respin (or antiX) and setup a subforum here for support.
If you ask ten people what would be "better", expect fourteen differing replies, eh. Personally, I would welcome a niche spin targeting (programming, or multimedia) do-ers.

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richb
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Re: How is a new version of MX Linux created?

#5 Post by richb »

Admins would need to discuss setting up a subforum for a respin. My opinion is not to and handle it in the MX Modified Forum in a thread. We cannot officially support respins.
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jhsu802701
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Re: How is a new version of MX Linux created?

#6 Post by jhsu802701 »

skidoo, my Swift Linux distro has been inactive. In retrospect, what I was trying to do was well beyond my capabilities and would be much less relevant today. Making the ideas (beyond the special wallpaper and startup sounds) really viable in the long term would have required creating a server with my repository and doing the things that the teams behind MX/antiX/MEPIS, Crunchbang/BunsenLabs, Snowlinux, Linux Mint, and other distros do. Trying to keep a Linux distro small enough to fit onto a CD isn't relevant anymore, as it's now only viable for the very lightest distros, and any computer that didn't come with a DVD-ROM is now well over 10 years old at this point. Driver support has continued to improve steadily. Also, the increasingly CPU/memory-hungry web is more of a constraint than an OS on the useful life of a computer. Given all this and given how much antiX/MEPIS Linux and "competing" distros have improved over the years, there's no good reason to start another Debian derivative.

So my plan is to just provide a startup sound clip and special wallpaper as the default configuration. Like Kubuntu-based Hannah Montana Linux, my special editions will have no official status. The official distros are busy with the under-the-hood aspects and the user interface. So it's up to individuals like myself to roll out these unofficial respins of existing distros.

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asqwerth
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Re: How is a new version of MX Linux created?

#7 Post by asqwerth »

You could just create special wallpaper and sound clips and offer it to this community. If you have the skills, create icons specific to MX Linux.

A member Eino used to make music clips.

Vinzv, who just joined, offered a download link to a pack of wallpapers on which he had applied the MX logo.

Seems quicker and cleaner to do that, than create an iso of your modded MX.
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jhsu802701
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Re: How is a new version of MX Linux created?

#8 Post by jhsu802701 »

I know that users can create or download wallpaper and configure LightDM/Xfce to display it, but an ISO with the wallpaper displayed by default would make a much bigger splash. You wouldn't have heard anything about Hannah Montana Linux if it had just been another wallpaper option available in Kubuntu.

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Adrian
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Re: How is a new version of MX Linux created?

#9 Post by Adrian »

You wouldn't have heard anything about Hannah Montana Linux[...]
I'm not sure I'm glad I heard about it.

You can customize MX as you wish and then just take a snapshot which is easier that mucking with the debootstrap and other commands like that. Just mind that the "demo" user doesn't get saved when you do a "generalized, for distribution snapshot", it gets created at boot time if the /home/demo is absent, so any customization needs to be done in /etc/skel files. Feel free to play with it, although personally I don't see the point of a Hannah Montana or Taylor Swift version of MX *shudders*

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dolphin_oracle
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Re: How is a new version of MX Linux created?

#10 Post by dolphin_oracle »

also please note that unlike other xfce distros, we do have the capabilities built in for a login and logout sound. just check out mx-system-sounds
http://www.youtube.com/runwiththedolphin
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FYI: mx "test" repo is not the same thing as debian testing repo.

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