Build a Distro using FreeBSD?

[Devin Teske]

On Nov 22, 2012, at 11:25 AM, Matthew Seaman wrote:

> On 22/11/2012 18:20, Ron Blake wrote:
>> I wanna make a distro but linux is too buggy for me so i thought
>> about FreeBSD how do i go about building my own distro? Also are we
>> allowed to make custom distros using FreeBSD please get back to me
>> with info on building a custom distro using FreeBSD thanks.
> 
> Sure, you can make your own 'distro' based on FreeBSD if you want, and
> distribute it under whatever terms you like.  The BSD license is very
> liberal in this regard: more so than the GPL even.
> 
> However, a 'distro' is a Linux concept that doesn't really apply very
> well to FreeBSD.  We have a base system incorporating kernel, system
> libraries and all essential applications already: there's no need to
> gather all those things together to distribute to end users.
> 
> There are disto-like things in BSD-land: PC-BSD and pfsense are a couple
> of interesting examples.  These are essentially FreeBSD plus various
> additional software packages tuned for specific purposes (desktop usage
> in the case of PC-BSD, firewalls for pfsense) and it's this sort of
> value-added system built on top of the basic FreeBSD OS that is most
> likely to be successful as a distribution.
> 
> If you still want to create your own distro, start by learning how to
> make your own customized install media.  See the release(7) man page for
> starters, but you'll have to put some work in to come up anything
> significantly above and beyond the standard base system.  It's not
> something you can just sling together in an afternoon…
> 

Matthew is right on all accounts.

Once you feel that you've got a mental grasp of the release(7) process (link below):

http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=release&sektion=7

If you find the need to make modifications to the source of the base operating system, try and digest my own recipe for creating DruidBSD from FreeBSD:

http://druidbsd.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/druidbsd/druidbsd/druid/dep/freebsd/patches/README?revision=1.2&view=markup

My recipe relies on the release(7) process and my howto shows how one might go about maintaining things.
-- 
Devin

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