[Fedora-livecd-list] Custom spin of Fedora - non-package customizations

[Tim Wood]

I believe that if you mount the iso r/w (e.g. mount -o loop my.iso 
/mnt/iso), you'll be able to make the changes you're asking about.  The 
iso/cd is actually mounted at something like /mnt/LiveCD so you can 
reference things that way.  But, if someone else on the list remembers a 
step I'm leaving out, please point it out.  If you end up going down the 
write-things-to-cf/usb route, you can do other things like using the 
persistence mechanism and/or creating a second partition and writing 
files there.

Tim


Todd N wrote:
> Thanks, Tim, for the information.  OK, here's another one... I'd like 
> to be able to make a bunch of Live CDs that are identical (with all of 
> our customizations) EXCEPT for a small bit of information that will be 
> different for each CD.  Is there some special location on the Live CD 
> image that these per-user configurations can be placed, after the 
> image has been created?  My goal here is to avoid having to run 
> livecd-creator to create a slightly different image for each 
> individual user.  It would be a great help if there were some 
> "override area" outside of the Live CD's ext3 (/) file system, such 
> that any files placed there would take the place of the equivalent 
> files within the Live CD's already created ext3 system.
>  
> Thanks,
> Todd
>
> */Tim Wood <tim.wood at datawranglers.com>/* wrote:
>
>     There really isn't a great tutorial for things beyond the basics
>     (although if someone knows of one, please correct me).  The
>     mailing list archive is a good place to find this stuff as long as
>     you throw the right search terms at it.  But, a couple of quickies
>     from my notes:
>
>     For non-standard packages, create a basic archive (put the
>     packages in a directory, run createrepo on that directory) and
>     then add it to your list of repositories.
>
>     Display settings... I believe that's a standard kickstart
>     options.  Maybe someone else will pipe up.
>
>     You can directly change firefox-related stuff by editing
>     |/usr/lib/firefox-2.0.0.5/defaults/pref/all-redhat.js|
>     But, the simplest way (for me) to do this and the rest of the
>     things you can to do is by booting up your livecd, customizing
>     things to taste (e.g. set your browser config, cookies, etc) and
>     then tar up the appropriate parts of /home/[username].  Copy that
>     tar file to someplace your kickstart can reach and then add
>     something in post %nochroot to untar the file & copy everything to
>     /etc/skel/.  I've never tried it, but you should (theoretically)
>     be able to just tar up (make sure you use the permissions flag)
>     the whole user home directory and just stomp /etc/skel in post
>     %nochroot.
>
>     Note, some things seem to be more resistant to this treatment than
>     others.  It appears that when the actual user directory is created
>     some things are automatically set, overiding settings you throw
>     into /etc/skel.  For instance, I tend to just replace the default
>     desktop graphic file (/usr/blah/blah/blah) rather than trying to
>     convince /etc/skel to point to my custom graphic.
>
>     Tim
>
>
>
>     Todd N wrote:
>>     Hello,
>>      
>>     I am trying to determine the best way to create a custom spin of
>>     Fedora which, in addition to having a customized set of
>>     standard Fedora packages that we need for our environment, also
>>     includes changes like:
>>      
>>     * Browser configuration changes
>>     * Possible browser cookie(s) added
>>     * Display settings
>>     * Installation of non-standard packages (i.e. packages you would
>>     not find in a standard yum repository
>>     * Other custom changes to individual files
>>      
>>     I know that the Kickstart file allows for post install
>>     customizations.  I am wondering whether anyone could point me
>>     towards a good tutorial that would help me in setting up these
>>     detailed config changes.  I am also researching on my own, but
>>     any additional ideas are appreciated.
>>      
>>     Thanks much,
>>     Todd
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>
>
>     --   _________________________________  Tim Wood, CLP, RHCT  719.338.7484 (tel)    The Data Wranglers  Web, Database & more since    since 1994  www.datawranglers.com  
>
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-- 
_________________________________
Tim Wood, CLP, RHCT
719.338.7484 (tel)

The Data Wranglers
Web, Database & more since    since 1994
www.datawranglers.com

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