Free beyond linux from scratch software for linux

Linux From Scratch (LFS) is a project that provides you with the steps necessary to build your own custom Linux system.
There are a lot of reasons why somebody would want to install an LFS system. The question most people raise is "why go through all the hassle of manually installing a Linux system from scratch when you can just download an existing distribution?". That is a valid question which I hope to answer for you.
The most important reason for LFSs existence is teaching people how a Linux system works internally. Building an LFS system teaches you about all that makes Linux tick, how things work together, and depend on each other. And most importantly, how to customize it to your own taste and needs.
One of the key benefits of LFS is that you are in control over your system without having to rely on somebody elses Linux implementation. You are in the drivers seat now and are able to dictate every single thing such as the directory layout and boot script setup. You will also know exactly where, why and how programs are installed.
Another benefit of LFS is that you can create a very compact Linux system. When you install a regular distribution, you end up installing a lot of programs you probably would never use. Theyre just sitting there taking up (precious) disk space. Its not hard to get an LFS system installed under 100 MB. Does that still sound like a lot? A few of us have been working on creating a very small embedded LFS system. We installed a system that was just enough to run the Apache web server; total disk space usage was aproximately 8 MB. With further stripping, that can be brought down to 5 MB or less. Try that with a regular distribution.
If we were to compare a Linux distribution with a hamburger you buy at a supermarket or fast-food restaurant, you would end up eating it without knowing precisely what it is you are eating, whereas LFS gives you the ingredients to make a hamburger. This allows you to carefully inspect it, remove unwanted ingredients, and at the same time allow you to add ingredients to enhance the flavour of your hamburger. When you are satisfied with the ingredients, you go on to the next part of putting it together. You now have the chance to make it just the way you like it: broil it, bake it, deep-fry it, barbeque it, or eat it raw.
Another analogy that we can use is that of comparing LFS with a finished house. LFS will give you the skeleton of a house, but its up to you to install plumbing, electrical outlets, kitchen, bathtub, wallpaper, etc.
Another advantage of a custom built Linux system is added security. You will compile the entire system from source, thus allowing you to audit everything, if you wish to do so, and apply all the security patches you want or need to apply. You dont have to wait for somebody else to provide a new binary package that fixes a security hole. Besides, you have no guarantee that the new package actually fixes the problem (adequately). You never truly know whether a security hole is fixed or not unless you do it yourself.
Enhancements:
- The LFS LiveCD Team is proud to announce the release of the x86-6.2-3 version of LFS LiveCD. This version is built using LFS 6.2 and many Beyond Linux From Scratch packages from the Subversion branch. Source packages for LFS 6.2, and the LFS book itself, are included on the live CD. The CD is also suitable as a host for building x86 and x86_64 Cross LFS systems. Other features and bugfixes: the CD supports hibernation; the CD file system can be written to; the CD contains a visually pleasing and easy-to-use window manager, XFce...

Debian From Scratch is really two systems:

1) a bootable CD for repairing Linux systems or installing Debian;
2) the program that generates the CDs that are used for #1.

You can expect the following from your DFS CD:

* Bootable CD featuring the GNU Grub bootloader. Can be used to boot hard disk partitions even if no hard disk bootloader is present.

* Kernel and userland support for all major filesystems, including ext2, ext3, JFS, XFS, ReiserFS, FAT, VFAT, NTFS, ISO9660, CramFS, tmpfs, and more. Userland support for Reiser4.

* Kernel and userland support for different disk layout schemes including standard partitioning, Logical Volume Manager 2 (LVM2), software RAID, etc.

* Full recovery tools runnable directly from CD, including:

- Filesystem utilities for all mazjor filesystems, including undeletion tools for ext2

- Partition editors (fdisk, cfdisk, parted)

- Text editors (nano, joe, vim, emacs)

- C, Perl, Python, and OCaml development environments. Enough to configure and compile a new kernel and build basic .debs. Kernel 2.6.6 sources included on CD.

- Full networking support, including PPP and various Ethernet cards and DHCP

- Network tools including FTP clients, Web client, ssh, telnet, NFS, smbclient, tcpdump, netcat, etc.

- Backup restoration tools such as rdiff-backup, dump/restore, tar, cpio, amanda client, afbackup client, etc.

- CD and DVD burning tools

- Basic printing tools (cat for local printers, rlpr for remote ones, and netcat for Jetdirect, plus unix2dos for text files and Ghostscript for emergency conversions)

- Mail reader (mutt)

* Base systems for multiple versions of Debian installable directly from CD, including: woody (i386), sarge (i386), sid (i386), and sid (amd64). Alpha CD can install woody, sarge, or sid for Alpha.

* amd64 support: Enough to install or fix an AMD64 system. Includes 64-bit kernel with 32-bit emulation (to run the 32-bit userland on the CD). Also includes 64-bit package for bootstrapping a new AMD64 support. In short, you can boot a 64-bit kernel and be treated as a first-class citizen in almost all respects.

* i386 or x86_64 (amd64) kernels bootable directly from initial boot menu.

* DFS generation scripts support custom kernels, packages, mirrors, compressed ISO images, and a high degree of flexibility.

GoboLinux is a Linux distribution that breaks with the historical Unix directory hierarchy. Basically, this means that there are no directories such as /usr and /etc. The main idea of the alternative hierarchy is to store all files belonging to an application in its own separate subtree; therefore we have directories such as /Programs/GCC/2.95.3/lib.
To allow the system to find these files, they are logically grouped in directories such as /System/Links/Executables, which, you guessed it, contains symbolic links to all executable files inside the Programs hierarchy.
To maintain backwards compatibility with traditional Unix/Linux apps, there are symbolic links that mimic the Unix tree, such as "/usr/bin -> /System/Links/Executables", and "/sbin -> /System/Links/Executables" (this example shows that arbitrary differentiations between files of the same category were also removed).
It is geared towards people who prefer to install applications from the original source packages. That is the main reason why each application gets its own directory: so you can install it from source there and then remove it with an "rm -rf". So, you see, GoboLinux is oriented at the experienced user who doesnt like things to be automagical. Our scripts merely automate procedures, but they dont "make decisions", and whenever they have to, they ask first.
The binary package collection was created as a way to avoid duplication of effort between users. The source package project was created to store "compilation rules" of the original source packages of the applications. We do not wish to estabilish a "packaging standard" such as RPM. We think that there is no real need for "packages" if the original .tar.gz is properly made. For instance, when an application uses the GNU AutoTools (autoconf, automake...) you dont need any GoboLinux package to keep your system consistent.
However, given the more logical directory tree, GoboLinux could be made, with a comprehensive binary package collection and graphical front-ends to the scripts, into a newbie-friendly distribution, but that is not a specific goal we seek (at least not in short or mid term).
GoboLinux relies on a series of tools that automate various tasks, such as generation, installation and removal of packages, and most importantly, maintainance of the symbolic links that keep the system consistent. These tools (mostly are shell scripts, actually) are fairly stable, since the idea behind GoboLinux is not new (see question about the origins of GoboLinux).
Another important issue when using a distribution is the availability of packages, ie, software that you can download in binary form and install in it straight away. In this aspect, GoboLinux is very young and far behind the other estabilished distributions. We have, however, all packages needed to get a running system (all packages that are part of "Linux From Scratch" and "Beyond Linux From Scratch" projects, for example), plus many others, such as KDE and all related packages, Tcl/Tk, and the list just wont stop growing. Check out the latest list. In this sense, is important to popin out that we are working to bring other distributions facilities, such as the Gentoo Portage system, to GoboLinux.
Enhancements:
- The first release candidate for GoboLinux 014 is out! Among other things, it includes a massive update of packages, including glibc 2.5, X.Org 7.2, GCC 4.1.2 and KDE 3.5.6, with Linux kernel 2.6.20.4 + UTF-8 support. We have now a better printing support, with a few basic drivers included in the live CD. And there were many, many bug fixes in the GoboLinux tools since 013, so we hope to provide a better experience for you all.

Phrealon is a bootable linux CD based on Slackware Linux 8.0 (now 9.0)designed to allow the easy imaging of multiple workstations.

It utilizes the udpcast set of Linux tools to accomplish this.

Clevo Mail LED Linux Driver operates the mail LED on the Clevo notebook model D4J.
Enhancements:
- The DMI_BOARD_VENDOR string has been corrected for D410V autodetection.

Lonix is a console-based full Linux system which runs from a live CD. Based on Linux From Scratch, this distribution includes useful utilities for students and developers. Some servers, such as Apache, Proftpd, and sshd are pre-configured and included.

It can also be used as a partition tool (featuring fdisk and parted) or as a rescue CD. Currently, the homepage and some scripts in the CD are just in Spanish. There may be a future release that is also in English.

The initial Freshmeat announcement for version 1.0rc3, was made on October 13, 2002. Version 1.0rc5 was released October 27, 2002.