> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jacob Meuser [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2001 4:56 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: [EUG-LUG:515] Re: naive distro questions

<snip>

> > program a small perl installer for it...
> > 
> > is there anything else involved besides the tarball, tar, 
> tools to create
> > partitions and file systems and a boot disk?
> 
> If you just follow the Makefiles, you will know exactly how the disks
> are made and what's on them.  I wouldn't be surprised if 
> someone hasn't
> tweaked it, or done something similar for GNU/Linux already
> ... perhaps
> Owl (http://www.openwall.com/) or Gentoo 
> (http://www.gentoo.org/) have 
> something similar?  And if not, go for it!  I think the 
> install process 
> is definitely the first step in creating a distribution.

i don't know if i want the workload associated with a distribution.  i would
need help.  help diffuses the original purpose of the distro because
everybody has their own ideas and wants.  more cruft keeps getting added on,
somtimes inadvertantly.

i suppose when making a distro, it is of high importance to have a mission
statement, manifesto, what-not, explaining what exactly this distro claims
to be, why it exists and just how much cruft the distro is willing to put up
with.  then you have to see who's willing to help with this vision.  as i
see it, a distro "shop" must be run as a benevolent dictatorship.  herding
cats is what it's all about.  there can be no compromise when it comes to
what goes into the distro.  cruft must be avoided.

i don't feel comfortable enough with linux right now to even pretend at
making a distro.  i will, however, aim to create that installer script i was
dreaming of.  should that work, maybe you're right.  it might be time to
create a distrobution of my own.  it'll be a pretty damn boring distro
though.

either way, the grand experiment will commence tonight.  i have LFS 3.1,
it's docs, and the FHS standard 2.2 docs.  for those who want to know, i
will keep notes of how long it took to do things when installing LFS, any
problems i encountered and what i did about them.  my goals :

1.  full FHS 2.2 compliancy (note that this will change next year after
April)
2.  zsh instead of bash (bash will not exist on system, if possible)
3.  will use latest kernel (2.4.14?)
4.  will add lynx, dhcpcd, mutt and vim to the base LFS system.  x comes
later.
5.  a generic kernel will be used since i plan to tar this up onto a cd
6.  i plan to keep all sources on system

once i get this installed, i'm going to concentrate on making the boot disk
and the installer script (gonna call it "setup", a tribute to the old DOS
days...)  after that, i suppose all that's left is to make a "development"
partition and just keep making the base system better as newer versions of
everything come out.

i hope this turns out well.  maybe then i won't have to "soul search" for
another distro every month...  and thanks for the encouragement jacob.

-- 
Justin Bengtson ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) euglug= v+ e- eug++ bsd? gnu++ s++
"I called some kid "b" the other day.  It's the price you pay for living
hip-hop every day of your life."  - Jerry (from the Point Blank Rangers)

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