On Thu, Dec 29, 2011 at 7:46 AM, Karanbir Singh <mail-lists@karan.org> wrote:

hey,

On 12/29/2011 04:21 AM, Larry Brigman wrote:
> I see the small ISO images but I would like
> to build something custom but not a live image.

So, in CentOS-6, we have the capability to churn our almost arbitrary
number of 'spins' at buildtime and have them tested / released in sync
with the main distro ( eg. the minimal install iso set ).

Have an interesting idea that could potentially appeal to more than just
yourself and your kitchen sink ? why not do this as a part of the CentOS
buildprocess and have the results pushed in sync with the main distro.

We could, should there be a need, even have rpms that are not a part of
the distro ( eg. somethings from an external third party repo ). There
would be some stuff that needs resolved and make sure all licenses etc
are in place, and some level of assurances are in place for upgrade path
etc. But it can be done, fairly easily.

That sounds good. I have built ISO's with upstream packages that weren't available
even from EPEL.

> What tools do you use to create these images?

we have only ever used anaconda. There are various other tools that are
around, some more popular at various points in time than others - but
within the CentOS space - we have only used anaconda.

I take it the tools are in anaconda-runtime or their dependency set?

> Is there some documentation on building a custom iso spin?
> I would also like to be able to drive the tools.

What does that mean 'drive the tools' ?

I have used buildinstall from anaconda-runtime package but trying
my same recipe that I used from Centos 5 doesn't work. So I wonder,
if I was giving the correct input to the tool or if the project has a set of
scripts that provide that input in some manner that would better
document the tools?