Baked Cheesecake Linux: Introduction

Plan

• Build a CD-based distribution of Linux based on RedHat 7.2, using Maragda as our model.
• Expect to bootstrap via a initrd and then load/read image of / into RAM (of a minimal RedHat root directory, say), leaving /usr on CD, should that be needed for anything (e.g., X).
• Use Maragda as our base:
  • website;
  • Linux Journal article, 2001 March, Maragda: Running Linux from CD.

Building a CD-Bootable Linux Distribution: Summary

• Following Maragda, with some modifications:
  • Build a small kernel and associated initrd --- the latter runs the initialisation script linuxrc which loads the root file system into RAM and mounts the /usr file system from CD.
  • These are made into a a bootable image by copying to a floppy and using syslinux, BOOT.IMG, say.
  • The root file system is contained in a single file, ROOT.FS on CD.
  • The /usr file system is contained in a single file, USR.FS on CD.
  • The files BOOT.IMG, ROOT.FS and USR.FS are made into a bootable CD Linux distro using mkisofs and a CD burner!
• Following Maragda, to do this, we need two installations of Linux: one under which we operate, and a second --- the source distro --- from which we build USR.FS and ROOT.FS.
  • Actually, one does not need two installations, provided one takes care --- it is convenient to have /, /usr and /home in separate partions (one then builds ROOT.FS and USR.FS within /home/simonh, or similar. Of course this means that your "standard" distro as obtained from a default install from, say, RedHat, is too big. So you might have to make a special install anyway...

The steps are:

1. Within the installation from which one will make ROOT.FS and USR.FS, compile a minimum custom kernel and make an associated initrd; from these make a bootable floppy image, e.g, using syslinux: BOOT.IMG. The kernel be able to read all needed file systems (e.g., ext2, ext3 and vfat), support ram disks and initrd in particular.
2. Make ROOT.FS from the / partion of the source distro --- excluding /usr).
3. Make USR.FS from the /usr partition of the source install.
4. Use mkisofs to make a bootable CD distro from these three files (with a few "minor" additional bits and pieces.