The GENDIST Toolkit


What it is

With the increasing success of Linux, the ratio of distributions per user has dropped considerably below one. GENDIST is a tool to change this ;-) With GENDIST, you can easily create your own special distribution.

Of course, it is not targeted at the creation of large, multi-purpose distributions. There are enough of these around. It's main aim is to help in the creation of special-purpose mini-distributions.

A mini-distribution typically consists of a kernel and a root-filesystem, both packed together on one or a few floppies. Nowadays, the (bootable) CD-ROM also is a valid media for these distributions.

GENDIST creates a makefile-based build-system for your distribution. It helps you to automate the following three tasks:

GENDIST creates a hierarchy of makefiles with a number of standard targets. You only have to plugin your kernel and your "packages" (i.e. the software you want to put on the root-filesystem). Since GENDIST uses makefiles, it is no problem to integrate software created from source.

GENDIST is similar to BYLD, but it is makefile-based and modular, therefore it is much easier to create your distribution from source. Also, it supports more media-types and is more flexible.

The following media are supported:

Futher plans are documented in the roadmap. For a list of changes, see the file NEWS or ChangeLog.

If you migrate from a previous version of GENDIST, you should check the migration notes.


Guide to the documentation

You should start with the tutorial. This will explain basic usage and concepts. Details about supported media, standard targets, the concepts of a GENDIST package and a GENDIST filesystem and configuration options are found in the respective sections.

GENDIST now also supports the creation of the build-environment. The environment is also created through packages. A typical use is to create the kernel from source, or to create special libraries and tools like uClibc provides them. See "The build-environment" for details.


My Homepage
Bernhard Bablok (mail @ bablokb.de)