The variety of Linux distributions available today is vast. Ultimately, most distributions are simple one offs of a small set of popular distributions with remastered installer disks. These child distributions typically differ by simply utilizing a different default window manager (Kubuntu, Xubuntu, etc) or they have a cluster of specialized genera packages pre-installed (Backtrack, Blackbuntu, etc).

Remastering installer disks and live cds is currently the standard for customizing distributions. Alternatively, there is also a lesser known way to tailor distributions though package aliasing. This lesser known approach uses a distributions underlying package management system to overlay functionality. This approach additionally grants more flexibility to the users tuned distribution.

In conjunction with the above overview of distribution creation via package aliasing, I will also be releasing a new package repository and Linux distribution which utilizes installation via package aliasing.

 

Ryan Holeman received is BS and MS at Kent State University. He currently resides in Austin, Texas where he works as a senior server developer. His past publications focus primarily on C++ template metaprogramming and the analysis of generic template libraries.