Metavoid,

I have made some good progress on two fronts. I have 'steps' I am using with V3.6 and I wrote script to compare the package lists between the original and remastered directories.

First the scripts. On my dev system I set up the following directory structure:

/usr/dev/knx_cus This is the main top directory

/usr/dev/knx_cus/knx_iso This is the copy of the compressed remaster fs and boot dir with symlinks to the bootable partition for testing and the source for creating the iso file. It is the target destination of mkisofs | create_compressed_fs and the source for creating the CD iso.

/usr/dev/knx_cus/knx_ori This is the original copy of the uncompressed fs.

/usr/dev/knx_cus/knx_rem This is the remastered copy.

/usr/dev/knx_cus/pkglists This is the directory for holding the package compare scripts and compare output package list files.

This script collects the package info from dpkg-query and is called pkgls.sh

dpkg-query -W --showformat='${Status}\t ${Package;-40} ${Version;-30} ${Installed-Size}\n' | sed -e 's/^.*installed[^I]/i /' -e '/^[^i].*[^I]/d' -e 's/^i[^I]//' > $1

This script drives pkgls.sh on the original and remaster directories, then sets up a short diff list. It is called pkglss.sh

cp pkgls.sh ../knx_rem
cd ../knx_rem
chroot ./ ./pkgls.sh plsrem.txt
rm -f pkgls.sh
mv plsrem.txt ../pkglists
cd ../pkglists
cp pkgls.sh ../knx_ori
cd ../knx_ori
chroot ./ ./pkgls.sh plsori.txt
rm -f pkgls.sh
mv plsori.txt ../pkglists
cd ../pkglists
echo '< = removed, > = added' > difout.txt
echo >> difout.txt
diff plsori.txt plsrem.txt | sort | grep '[<>]' >> difout.txt
less difout.txt

Here is an example of my preliminary remaster that [just barely] fits on a CDRW

< = removed, > = added

< ace-of-penguins 1.2-6 560
< bb 1.3rc1-5 1832
< bind9 1:9.2.3+9.2.4-rc5-1 676
< chromium 0.9.12-4 364
< chromium-data 0.9.12-2 1460
< cupsys 1.1.20final+rc1-5 10548
< cupsys-bsd 1.1.20final+rc1-5 192
< cupsys-client 1.1.20final+rc1-5 300
< ding 1.3-5 368
< dlint 1.4.0-4 73
< dnsutils 1:9.2.3+9.2.4-rc5-1 316
< enigma 0.81.1-2 1216
< enigma-data 0.81.1-2 9448
< fb-music-low 1.0.0-6 5025
< fortune-mod 9708-37 92
< fortunes-min 9708-37 164
< frozen-bubble 1.0.0-4 278
< frozen-bubble-data 1.0.0-4 5612
< gnuchess 5.07-2 284
< gtans 1.2-2 720
< imaze 1.4-4 920
< kasteroids 4:3.2.3-1 1152
< katomic 4:3.2.3-1 600
< kbattleship 4:3.2.3-1 852
< kernel-image-2.6.7 10.00.Custom 44872
< kmahjongg 4:3.2.3-1 992
< koules 1.4-11 540
< kreversi 4:3.2.3-1 604
< ksokoban 4:3.2.3-1 504
< ktuberling 4:3.2.3-1 1188
< libkdegames1 4:3.2.3-1 968
< locales 2.3.2.ds1-16 10360
< manpages-de 0.4-7 856
< mutt 1.5.6-20040722+1 3736
< ndiswrapper-modules-2.6.7 1:0.8-1 144
< netris 0.52-1 132
< openoffice-de-en 2:1.1.2-1 245220
< procmail 3.22-9 328
< psfontmgr 0.11.8 172
< samba 3.0.5-1 5912
< trans-de-en 1.3-5 6348
< ttmkfdir 3.0.9-3 156
< unifont 1:1.0-1 826
< util-linux-locales 2.12-7 2820
< x-ttcidfont-conf 17 148
< xbattle 5.4.1-12 340
< xboard 4.2.6-2.1 1632
< xboing 2.4-26.1 1608
< xgalaga 2.0.34-28 592
< xskat 4.0-1 448
> aptitude 0.2.15.2-1 5320

Sorry about the not-lined-up output. It looks better in bash. I add the package size to help decide which packages to remove. The full package lists for both original and remaster are in the files plsori.txt and plsrem.txt.

I hope I gave enough information so you can set this up on your remaster dev. I'll write the 'steps' I am using in another post.

Steve