Ozi wrote:

.... given the live-sdk is the future?

Is it a given?  Why/why not?  What will become of live-build and its existing applications/users?  Is there a migration path?

What are the alternatives?  (Linux Live, Remastersys, ...)

Please discuss.  Rationally, if you can, please, ladies and gentlemen.  If this has been covered elsewhere (I did look) a pointer will suffice.

Suggested topics:

Pros and cons: stability, maintenance/maintainability, features/extensibility, ease of use/documentation/support, resources, licensing, user base, ...

Refracta-Snapshot is what I build with, it's perfect for my needs and how I do things, which is as an advanced user, not a developer. It's ultra-user friendly, a comfy GUI and just a few questions and you can roll your own.

It would be possible to do _most_ of what I do, with live-sdk if you were willing to invest the time to make an extremely lengthy and detailed build template....I told FSR I would give that a try at some point, but to be honest i'm a little daunted by it and not even sure I could get the level of detail that I get working the post-install system.

Once I have tweaked a system to the nth degree and am finally ready to run a snapshot, after that first run I have a template, so subsequent builds are super easy, load a template iso on a partition, update packages and make any changes desired, squash the results and boom, new iso.

It's not a "build" system like live-sdk is really, it's a tool for making copies, and requires a system already be in place to use it. But it's damned effective, and allows even novice users to experiment and create, I especially like that aspect, more people playing makes for a robust environment for innovation and development.

.... given the live-sdk is the future?

Is it a given?  Why/why not?  What will become of live-build and its existing applications/users?  Is there a migration path?

What are the alternatives?  (Linux Live, Remastersys, ...)

Please discuss.  Rationally, if you can, please, ladies and gentlemen.  If this has been covered elsewhere (I did look) a pointer will suffice.

Suggested topics:

Pros and cons: stability, maintenance/maintainability, features/extensibility, ease of use/documentation/support, resources, licensing, user base, ...

This might be useful for further discussion:

Main directory structure

diy-distro
+-- diy-build
+-- diy-source

Sub-directories

diy-build
+-- auto <--------- build, clean, config scripts
+-- config
+-- local

diy-source
+-- auto <--------- live-build scripts: build, clean, config
+-- config
    +-- apt
    +-- archives
    +-- bootloaders
    ¦   +-- isolinux
    +-- hooks     <--------- scripts
    +-- includes.binary 
    +-- includes.chroot <--------- corresponds to the root directory
    ¦   +-- etc
    ¦   ¦   +-- apt
    ¦   ¦   +-- dpkg
    ¦   ¦   +-- lightdm
    ¦   ¦   +-- live     <--------- live user setup
    ¦   ¦   +-- skel     <--------- skeleton /home directory
    ¦   +-- usr
    ¦       +-- bin
    ¦       +-- lib
    ¦       +-- local  <--------- preseed
    ¦       +-- share  <--------- themes, lightdm
    +-- includes.installer <--------- installer preseed.cfg file 
	                                  and logo/theme update for the graphical installer
    +-- package-lists <--------- lists of packages to be installed
    +-- packages.chroot <--------- install custom packages, *.deb files

DISTRIBUTION="jessie"
ARCHITECTURES="amd64"
LINUX_FLAVOURS="amd64"
ARCHIVE_AREAS="main"
SOURCE="false"
MIRROR_BINARY="http://packages.devuan.org/merged"

lb config noauto \
	--mode devuan \
	--chroot-filesystem squashfs \
	--distribution "${_DISTRIBUTION}" \
	--debian-installer-distribution "${_DISTRIBUTION}" \
	--debian-installer live \
	--architectures "${_ARCHITECTURES}" \
	--linux-flavours "${_LINUX_FLAVOURS}" \
	--apt-recommends false \
	--apt-secure true \
	--apt-indices false \
	--apt-source-archives true \
	--archive-areas "${_ARCHIVE_AREAS}" \
	--parent-mirror-bootstrap "${_MIRROR_BINARY}" \
	--parent-mirror-binary "${_MIRROR_BINARY}" \
	--mirror-bootstrap "${_MIRROR_BINARY}" \
	--mirror-binary "${_MIRROR_BINARY}" \
	--iso-application "DIY Linux" \
	--iso-publisher "DIY" \
	--iso-volume "DIY Live" \
	--backports false \
	--security false \
        --updates false \
	--memtest none \
	--win32-loader false \
	--debug \
	--verbose \
	--bootappend-live "boot=live config components file=/preseed.cfg quiet splash autologin nouveau.modeset=0 radeon.modeset=0" \
"${@}"

And my base package list always contains these packages:

xorg 
sysvinit-core
accountsservice
upower

I discussion with Frits some time ago when he convert live-build to run on Devuan we agreed that sysvinit-core was the only way it worked.

Maybe not using "--mode devuan" is not a good idea, the default might be "--mode debian" in which case systemd would be logical.

Ozi

Here's the workaround:

$ lb config -d jessie

$ sed -i 's|live-config-systemd|live-config-sysvinit|' config/package-lists/live.list.chroot
$ echo "sysvinit-core" >> config/package-lists/live.list.chroot

$ sudo lb build

This should also be helpful:

# The line below is for squid-deb-proxy.
#LB_APT_HTTP_PROXY="http://localhost:8000/"
LB_MIRROR_BOOTSTRAP="http://packages.devuan.org/merged"
LB_MIRROR_CHROOT_SECURITY="http://packages.devuan.org/merged"
LB_MIRROR_BINARY="http://packages.devuan.org/merged"
LB_MIRROR_BINARY_SECURITY="http://packages.devuan.org/merged"

That goes here:
/etc/live/build.conf

If you're using squid-deb-proxy, uncomment the second line and edit it (if needed).

Phil