Creation of a distro for college project!

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61

Thanks.
Will check it out.

62

Tried placing the files in the /home directory of the project but it didnā€™t work? Any ideas about where the xfce4 config files are located which includes the changes for all users?

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quick search:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xfce

Configuration

Xfce stores configuration options in Xfconf. There are several ways to modify these options:

  • In the main menu, select Settings and the category you want to customize. Categories are programs usually located in /usr/bin/xfce4-* and /usr/bin/xfdesktop-settings.
  • xfce4-settings-editor can see and modify all settings. Options modified here will take effect immediately. Use xfconf-query to change settings from the commandline; see the documentation for details.
  • Settings are stored in XML files in ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/ which can be edited by hand. However, changes made here will not take effect immediately.
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64

Only drawback isā€¦ it will only make a snapshot of MX.
You cant use another distro.

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As the cubic iso maker allows to uer only the cli, i cant use the gui method to do it. And yeah the xfconf -query doesnt workā€¦

I tried to keep the xml files there, but the changes didnt reflect in the live iso, how do i make them permanent for all users?

Yes, but I donā€™t have a problem with mx. Its based on debian, so it must be very stable.

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66

Sorry, donā€™t know. I donā€™t use Xfce. But if the files should be there your iso should also have them there. Did you check they were written to your iso? Maybe you need to have a user also on your iso?

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They were, but the settings are not getting applied.

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Strange. Sorry but I canā€™t help with this issue because I donā€™t use Xfce.

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I dont understand. Did you

  • remove /etc/skel from the original and remake the iso, or
  • remove /etc/skel fron the running live iso
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So when u start a project in cubic, it creates a project folder of it which contains a folder named ā€˜custom-rootā€™. In that directory, the directories like /etc, /usr are visible. I had copied the files in /custom-root/etc/skel. I also put them in /custom-root/home/.config.

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71

Ok, I understand, you did your editing , not in the original system, but in /custrom-root/ā€¦ and before you made the iso and tried to boot it.

Did cubic object when you asked it to make an iso file, or were you able to make the iso and boot it and then got errors?

I am trying to pin down where the failure occurred

I asked gpt

When using Cubic (a tool for creating custom Linux distributions), it's generally recommended to
 make alterations to the original distribution before passing it to Cubic. Here's why:

1. Customization: By modifying the base distribution first, you have more control over the final
 result.

2. Easier debugging: If issues arise during the Cubic process, you'll know exactly which changes
 caused them.

3. Version control: It's easier to track changes when you start from a known state.

4. Performance: Some modifications might be more efficient when applied early in the build process
.

Here's a general workflow:

1. Start with a clean copy of the base distribution.
2. Make all necessary modifications to the original files.
3. Use Cubic to create the custom distribution based on your modified source.

For example, if you want to add a specific package:

```bash
# Modify the original sources.list file
sudo nano /path/to/original/sources.list

# Add your package
echo "deb http://example.com/repo stable main" >> /path/to/original/sources.list

# Now run Cubic
cubi

Remember to document your modifications so you can easily recreate them if needed.

So according to gpt, all mods should be done on the original distro copy.
Is that what you did?
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What cubic does is that it takes the iso file of the system we want as base and then allows us to customise it via a terminal window, although its files can be edited from the directory where we stored the cubic project in the os which we r using. Fir example, i placed zorin theme files because i wanted to use them in my os in /projectName/custom-root/usr/share/themes and they were visible when I booted the iso which cubic creates after we complete the customizations or package install/delete using terminal.

So according to the gpt response u shared, how can I make changes to just the .iso file without using cubic?
Im confusedā€¦

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Sorry I am confusing you.
I thought, and gpt agrees, and I think you agree too that
you make all the changes to a clean copy of the original distro on disk as a filesystem, then you tell cubic to convert that filesystem into an iso file. Then you can burn the iso file to a cd or usb driveā€¦

Now you say
ā€œWhat cubic does is that it takes the iso file of the system we want as base and then allows us to customise it via a terminal windowā€

So cubic seems to work directly from an original distro iso file, not from a filesystemā€¦ that is slightly different, but it is still working from the original distro.

What I have now ruled out is that you made an iso file containing your customizations, and then tried to edit the live booted system.
You did not do that.

Now, you still have not explainedā€¦ when and where did you get the error message? What was the exact error?

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Yes

So now I tried to do it again and the iso booted fine, but the customizations were still not visible. And i think i was getting error cuz i put the name ā€˜xconfā€™ instead of ā€˜xfconfā€™

So I repeated the complete process, placed the xfce4-panel.xml and xfce4-desktop.xml in multiple locations like:

  1. /custom-root/root/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml
  2. /custom-root/home/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml
  3. /custom-root/usr/share/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml
  4. /custom-root/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml

Now I am not getting any errors while booting the .iso file but the customizations are still not appliedā€¦

Am I placing them in the wrong directories? Cuz these were the directories which gpt mentioned to put the files intoā€¦

Other members if you have any idea please tell, even small inputs might help in solving the problem.

Thanksā€¦

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75

If you compare the Xfce you are running to the iso you are running you should find the difference. So letā€™s say you have a laptop running normally with Xfce and next to it you have another laptop running your iso. Check both have same files and then check they have same data on the file.
Like this folder on both machines: home/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/

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76

I did. Was just checking it(on virtualbox). What I found is that the iso after botting has a completely independent .config in the live user home directory.

image
image1299Ɨ897 185 KB

These files were placed in the shown directory by the iso automaticallyā€¦

image
image1299Ɨ897 161 KB

These are the files I placed in the /custom-root/home directory.

So the iso is just not considering the files I have put in the home directoryā€¦

Although I found one strange thing, the same files, which I put in /skel, are not there in the live isoā€¦I think iso has overwritten its contents while bootingā€¦

Any ideas on how to get them inside the iso?
Thanksā€¦

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77

Seems like Cubic isnā€™t doing itā€™s job right.

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78

You are doing this in a VM?
I wonder is Vbox not providing the right X environment for cubic?
Is it possible to try it in a hard install?

I agree with @ihasama

You need a workaround.

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Im just testing it in vmā€¦

Ill tryā€¦ although the installer is not working cuz i had removed snapd and it runs on snapdā€¦need to make the iso again

Yhhā€¦this can be the reasonā€¦ill check the MX Linux Snapshot in detail tomorrowā€¦

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80

Only found 1 video on YouTube about the MX Creator,
Need to check it out on my own ig.
Will check later tonight and updateā€¦

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