Remastersys

From The Linux Mint Wiki

Remastersys

- a script to create a livecd/dvd from a working Linux Mint install

Please read the following completely and ask any questions before running the script as I will not be held responsible for any negative effects on your installed system.

The deb package will prompt to install the packages that are needed for the script to run.

It will keep your sources.list from your installed versions and will not wipe it out like Ubuntu/Kubuntu usually do on install.

It will run "apt-get clean" thus removing the deb files from the /var/cache/apt/archives to keep the cd size smaller. If you want any of the files from here, manually burn them or copy them to a server. I will most likely just have these files omitted in a later version but for now, apt-get clean is being used so be warned.

There are 3 options that can be passed to the script.

backup - backs up your system including your /home folder with your users on it.

dist - omits the /home folder thus making it a distributable cd that you can give to your friends.

clean - removes the temporary folder that was created, including the new iso so burn it and copy it elsewhere before you run "sudo remastersys clean"

It should work with Ubuntu/Kubuntu and variants that use the standard casper/ubiquity setup from Ubuntu. Versions from dapper and edgy should both work.

I have tested it with Kubuntu edgy and Linux Mint 2.2(which is based on Ubuntu Edgy) and both dist and backup work.

Due to a strangeness in how casper/ubiquity work, the live cd backup will not run fglrx for ati or nvidia for nvidia since the Ubuntu devs have put a hook into it to disable it. I tried removing the hook and it worked ok for the lived but was borked on the install. After thinking about this it seemed to make more sense to leave the X config as probed and auto configuring since you may change hardware even on a backup system. Once installed, you should just be able to reconfigure xorg.conf and the accelerated drivers should work.

If you use any virtualizing software that creates virtual hard drives, it is advised that you delete these before trying to create the backup live cd/dvd, especially if they have data on them. If they do not have data on them, they will compress small but will expand fully when installing to the hard drive thus increasing install time and the space required. If you just use the dist option, it doesn't matter since the /home folder will be excluded anyway.

It is advised to unmount any network drives that are not part of the working system, especially if they are mounted at points in the user home folders or any other mount point that isn't under /mnt or /media. User mounted network shares are not an issue for the dist option but will be for the backup option as the script will try to include the data from the share as well since it resides in the /home/(username) folder.

Anything mounted under /mnt or /media will be ignored in both dist and backup.

Typical space required for the build process is approximately 2.5 times the installed space that shows up with "df -h".

As an example, a 3G installed partition will compress from 1.0 to 1.5 Gig depending on what is on it. Obviously compressed files will not compress any further. The livecd/dvd will be a little bit bigger than the compressed file of the filesystem.

Memory wise my system is 1Gig of dual channel ddr-400 with a 2G swap space and I have no problems running the build process. I would like you to report back to me with your swap size and physical memory along with feedback about the process.

So far the system with the lowest specs that has run the script is:

Toshiba Satellite PRO 4100 650Mhz 320MB ram and 255MB swap

That is not to say it won't work on lower specs but that is just the lowest spec that has been reported to me so far.

I'm trying to find out how little RAM and swap space is needed as well as how it works for you. Please also include the distribution you are using so I can compile an accurate compatibility database.

Any questions or comments about this script should be posted here Linux Mint Forum Thread for the Remastersys sub-project

Where can I get remastersys from?

The remastersys debian package is being hosted for now as part of the Romeo Unstable branch of Linux Mint.

Here is what needs to be added to /etc/apt/sources.list to include the Romeo repository.

In a terminal window enter the following to edit the list:

gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list