Remastersys has been around for a long time, and though it hasn’t been updated in a long time (EDIT: It is now dead), many people still use it. Remastersys is quite closed in what you can do with it, since it’s quite hard to change the splash image, and sometimes you have to edit the code just to be able to change more options that what is given in the remastersys.conf file.
I created 2 systems with it (one personal and one public), and I didn’t like the lack of options, so I decided to make my own script based on it, to give much more customization. Though it is still at a beta stage, it gives many more options, and much more usability.
To install, download the latest tar.gz file at https://sourceforge.net/projects/re-linux/files/. Untar it, and follow the instructions in the INSTALL file.
You can customize the system as much as you would like, except for these limitations (most of which will be removed in a future release):
- It only supports GRUB2, so no BURG or GRUB-Legacy
- It must have an X11 display, since Ubiquity (the installer) requires X11 to run
- You cannot use another installer than Ubiquity
- The compressed filesystem size must be below 4GB (no workaround). It will tell you if it’s over 4GB (compressed), but I recommend that you keep your system size below 6GB (uncompressed).
- It will install metacity, but next release, this limitation will be removed.
cp /etc/relinux/relinux.conf ./relinux.conf
sed -i 's:EXCLUDES="\(.*\)":EXCLUDES="\1 '`readlink -f ./relinux.conf`'":g' ./relinux.conf
readlink -f ./relinux.confThe last command will tell you where the configuration file is located. Edit that file to your liking. Some splash screens are located in /etc/relinux/relinux/splash.
sudo relinux fullclean ./relinux.conf
sudo relinux iso ./relinux.confI decided to make a comparison chart with Relinux and Remastersys:
| Relinux | Remastersys | |
|---|---|---|
| Actively Developed | T | F |
| DIST/ISO mode | T | T |
| Backup mode | F (no need to have a backup mode in remastering software) | T |
| Splash Image Customization | T | F |
| Can use | T | F (website is now down, and repo will be down very shortly) |
| GUI | F (will add shortly) | T |
