Easy customisation (Feather Linux )

[probono]

Feather Linux (a Knoppix remaster) has an interesting new feature, I wonder whether this would make sense to integrate into Knoppix:

Added customisation ability - simply place all the .deb, .tgz and .tar.gz
files in an /extra directory on your CD-ROM or USB stick, create a
"deblist" file which contains the names of the .debs and the order to
install them, and then boot with "knoppix custom".

http://featherlinux.berlios.de/changelogs

[Markus]

Now that is one of the best ideas I've seen in a long time. Have to change my USB-distro now!

[TyphoonMentat]

Cool, glad you like it

I haven't written a HOWTO as yet, but essentially it's simple for .tar.gz and .tar.bz2s, and for .debs you just create a deblist file which contains a list of .debs (one on each line) in the order you wish to install them - this makes sure that all dependencies are satisfied.

[probono]

How do you install software into the system? Do you use an overlay filesystem? Perhaps you can post some details please. I am wonderiong whether your method could be used for klik.

[TyphoonMentat]

Well, I just load the whole system into RAM - Feather's small enough for that to be viable. However, what you can do is create a system of symlinks that link back to the /KNOPPIX directory in the ramdisk, and simply have any new files be installed on the ramdisk.
Something along the lines of:

cp -srd /KNOPPIX/usr/ /ramdisk
ln -sf --target-directory=/ /ramdisk/usr

But still, an overlay filesystem (such as ovlfs with SLAX?) sounds good, I think it would make a good addition to Knoppix if it goes well with cloop.