easy GUI based custom ubuntu cd creation tool

[ubuntu_demon]

Hi,

I think an easy GUI based custom ubuntu cd creation tool would be great for a future release of ubuntu. There are lot's of people who want to add / remove packages and add/edit simple things like :

-cronjobs
-services starting up (like removing cupsys from starting up)

Everyone would be able to easily create their own custom ubuntu cd for giving to friends or installing in their offices.

[az]

Are you working on this for us?

[ubuntu_demon]

Just curious at the moment how much interest there is for this and if anyone is working on something like this.

[ubuntu_demon]

If such a tool was available I could distribute my own customized ubuntu cd to my friends. It could for example contain mp3 and mpeg4 support without ubuntu having to worry about legal claims.

I promise I will be a good user and tell my friends about freedom.

[MatthewMetzger]

Not a bad idea. I suppose it wouldn't be that difficult to accomplish, but I have no idea how as I'm still fairly new to Debian based linux (used to be Fedora Core 2).

[Daniel G. Taylor]

If you can make a list of manual commands that are needed to do these things it will be pretty trivial to make a Python GTK app that does them. I could probably throw something together in a few days.

How does one go about making the custom cd's?

[ubuntu_demon]

The graphical frontend is indeed the easiest part. Any programmer could do that. I could do it myself too (although I've never programmed a graphical app in python I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard).

But the internals have to rock.

Let's make a list our program has to be able to do

[ubuntu_demon]

these topics might be interesting also :

building ubuntu-based distro?
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2669

ubuntu ready for end-users?
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthre...6&page=1&pp=10

[ubuntu_demon]

There will be some tools in the future according to Jeff Waugh. But maybe "our program" will be easier or does things the other tools do not.

I'm not saying we are going to do create this program . But let's explore.

First we have to create the scripts that do the stuff and make sure they work. After that we add a slick GUI and package our program as a deb and try to make it available in universe.

I propose our program (let's invent a name soon) :
- manipulates the cd to add/remove packages but doesn't remove packages from ubuntu-base or ubuntu-desktop
- gives the user additional customization options (mentioned in use cases)
-creates a nice iso file
-burns cd
- installs a script that will be called after the normal ubuntu installation (expert or default or whatever). this script can :
*install a kernel
*install (meta)packages
*copy configuration files/scripts to target locations
*call update-rc.d to remove/add things starting up (as selected in the customization program)
*change firefox home
*do once again a dist-upgrade

use cases of our program :

- "script dialogs" the installed script that is called right after the installation will present dialogs instead of doing things like : "do you want to change firefox home into introduction.html ?"
- "mount hoary cd-rom and copies it to a location on the harddisk"
- "add / remove packages from the cd" but does't allow to remove packages from ubuntu-base or ubuntu-desktop
- "create meta-packages"
- "select which packages are going to be installed additionally to the installation"
- "edit sources.list"
- "add file" add configuration files and scripts that will be copied on the harddisk at the end of the installation. lets you browse for a file on your harddisk and lets you type in a target location
-"stop services" lets you type in the services you want to stop (uses update-rc.d)
-"add instructions" changes home of firefox to an ubuntu newbies guide or a html file you add
-"custom kernel selection dialog" adds a kernel selection dialog to the installation 686/386/amd/custom
-"create iso"
-"burn cd"
-"daily upgrades" adds a file into cron.daily with this content :

#!/bin/sh
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade -t hoary-security -y
apt-get upgrade --trivial-only
apt-get auto-clean

[Daniel G. Taylor]

Hmmm, rather than make "our program" I would recommend we actively let the official developers know that we need to be able to build a GUI around the tools they are making. It could be as easy as making a Python library that we could import and use, or letting us call their scripts and catch the output.

After that, a nice graphical tool would be quite easy to develop and maintain, and would be built on top of official tools as an extra point.