cyberlinux

cyberlinux was designed to provide the unobtrusive beauty and power of Arch Linux as a fully customized automated offline multi-deployment ISO. Leveraging Arch Linux's excellent packaging system and some scripting cyberlinux is able to provide a completely customizable and automated build of Arch Linux filesystems bundled as distinct deployment options on a BIOS/UEFI bootable ISO. This includes opinionated builds of common use cases out of the box, but the option to build your own infinitely flexible deployment is yours for the taking.

Please fork this repo and create your own variations as you see fit. The profiles included by default, though fully functional, are reference implementations only with highly opinionated designs for my personal use cases. If you find the reference deployments useful note that any PRs, though welcome, will be evaluated in that context and will need to align with my goals.

Warning

The pre-built cyberlinux-* packages available in the cyberlinux-aur are highly opinionated and in some cases will modify system configuration with cyberlinux defaults and as such they are only recommended to be installed with new systems or to upgrade existing cyberlinux based systems and are not to be used directly on pre-existing non-cyberlinux systems.

Disclaimer

cyberlinux comes with absolutely no guarantees or support of any kind. It is to be used at your own risk. Any damages, issues, losses or problems caused by the use of cyberlinux are strictly the responsiblity of the user and not the developer/creator of cyberlinux.

Quick links

• Help
• Getting started
  • Prerequisites
    • Configure Arch Linux for build
    • Configure Ubuntu for build
  • Create multiboot USB
    • Build the ISO
    • Burn the ISO to USB
    • Test the USB in VirtualBox
• Deploy cyberlinux
  • QEMU VM
  • ACEPC AK1
  • Dell XPS 13 9310
  • HP ZBook 15
  • nVidia Quadro FX 3800
  • Samsung Chromebook3 (CELES)
  • Package Deployment
• Advanced concepts
  • cyberlinux help
  • Roll your own
  • cyberlinux-repo
• Background
  • Evolution
  • My take on Arch
  • Distro requirements
• Contributions
  • Git-Hook Version Increment
• Licenses
• Backlog
• Testlog
• Changelog

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Getting started

Prerequisites

The multiboot ISO is built almost entirely in a docker container with data cached on the local host for quicker rebuilds. This makes it possible to build on systmes with a minimal dependencies. All that is required is passwordless sudo, jq, and docker. Optionally use Virtualbox or another hypervisor solution to test out the resulting ISO/USB.

Configure Arch Linux for build

1. Passwordless sudo access is required for automation:

   $ sudo bash -c "echo '$USER ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL' > /etc/sudoers.d/10-passwordless"

2. Install dependencies:

   $ sudo pacman -S jq docker virtualbox virtualbox-host-modules-arch
   $ sudo usermod -aG disk,docker,vboxusers $USER
   
   $ sudo systemctl enable docker
   $ sudo systemctl start docker

3. Add your user to the appropriate groups:

   $ sudo usermod -aG disk,docker,vboxusers $USER

Configure Ubuntu for build

1. Passwordless sudo access is required for automation:

   $ sudo bash -c "echo 'YOUR_USER ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL' > /etc/sudoers.d/10-passwordless"

2. Install dependencies:

   $ sudo apt update
   $ sudo apt install jq docker virtualbox

3. Add your user to the appropriate groups:

   $ sudo usermod -aG disk,docker,vboxusers $USER

Create multiboot USB

First ensure you satisfy the Prerequisites

Build the ISO

1. Clone the repo:

   $ cd ~/Projects
   $ git clone git@github.com:phR0ze/cyberlinux

2. Execute the build:

   $ ./build.sh -p xfce -a

Burn the ISO to USB

1. Determine the correct USB device

   $ lsblk

2. Optionally wipe your USB first

   $ sudo wipefs --all --force /dev/sdd

3. Copy to the dev leaving off the partition

   $ sudo dd bs=4M if=temp/output/cyberlinux-0.1.62-xfce.iso of=/dev/sdd status=progress conv=fsync oflag=direct

Test the USB in VirtualBox

1. Determine which device is your USB

   $ lsblk

2. Create a raw vmdk boot stub from the USB

   $ sudo vboxmanage convertfromraw /dev/sdd usb.vmdk --format vmdk
   
   # Change ownership of new image to your user
   $ sudo chown $USER: usb.vmdk
   
   # Add your user to the disk group then
   # Logout and back in and launch virtualbox
   $ sudo usermod -a -G disk $USER
   

3. Create a new VM in VirtualBox then after
   1. Ensure your VM is not using EFI
   2. Click Settings then choose Storage1
   3. Under Storage Devices click the Adds hard disk button to the Controller: IDE
   4. Browse to and select the usb.vmdk you just created
   5. Start up the new VM

Deploy cyberlinux

For the most part deploying cyberlinux is as simple as:

1. Booting from the USB or ISO you created in the Create multiboot USB section
2. Selecting your desired deployment configuration
3. Walking through the simple installer wizard
4. Waiting for the install to complet
5. Removing the USB
6. Rebooting

QEMU VM

Note: QEMU use disk named vda

1. Create new virtual disk

   $ qemu-img create -f qcow2 arch1.qcow2 20G

2. Install ISO to new virtual disk

   $ qemu-system-x86_64 \
       -enable-kvm \
       -m 4G \
       -nic user,model=virtio \
       -drive file=arch1.qcow2,media=disk,if=virtio \
       -cdrom cyberlinux-0.1.62-xfce.iso

Package Deployment

The pre-built cyberlinux-* packages available in the cyberlinux-repo are highly opinionated and in some cases will modify system configuration with cyberlinux defaults and as such they are only recommended to be installed with new systems or to upgrade existing cyberlinux based systems and are not to be used directly on pre-existing non-cyberlinux systems.

1. Install desired end state package e.g.

   $ sudo pacman -S cyberlinux-xfce-theater

2. Update user configuration: WARNING this is destructive. Please backup your configs first

   $ mv -rf ~/.config ~/Downloads
   $ mv -rf ~/.local ~/Downloads
   $ shopt -s dotglob
   $ cp -r /etc/skel/* ~/
   $ sudo reboot

Advancecd concepts

• cyberlinux help
• Roll your own
• cyberlinux-repo

Background

cyberlinux is an evolution of an idea come to fruition. The origin was the need for an automated installer that would be able to install a completely pre-configured and ready to use system customized for a handful of common use cases (e.g. desktop, theater, server...) in an offline environment. As time passed the need for simpler maintainability and access to larger more up-to-date software repositories drove the search for the ideal Linux distribution.

Evolution

Ubuntu Online Install
In the beginning I would deploy a super lightweight Ubuntu server system and then launch a custom python script that would automate installing all packages and configuration settings I desired on the new system. This unfortunately required an internet connection and that my package sources, many of which were outside Ubuntu's repositories, persist at the same location over an extended period of time. This method was slow, and fraught with network failures and missing online packages as maintainers came and went.

CentOS Offline Install
My next attempt was to use CentOS and Kickstart to develop an ISO with all the packages stored on an ISO. This solved my offline issues and gave a consistent versioning for packages, but still took a long time to install and didn't allow for much in the way of pre-build or post install configuration. The crux of CentOS's issues was that it is notoriously behind the times and packages are difficult to find or simply don't exist. Additionally building newer packages on the old CentOS tool chains proved difficult and impossible in some cases where they required newer dependencies.

Manjaro Offline Install
About this time I started looking for a distribution that provided modern packages and tooling and found Arch. Being intimidated by Arch's install process though, I moved on to Manjaro as the next best thing and fell in love with manjaroiso and Thus as the means to develop my own offline ISO with pre/post install configuration changes. This seemed to solve most of my problems. I now had offline install capabilities, latest versioned packages available and the ability to make some small pre/post install changes. However it didn't allow for custom applications for different deployment options without heroic effort. As time passed I found I was making more and more changes to Thus, the installer, and other installation aspects other than what was allowed for with Manjaro's current tool set at the time. I soon realized that I had evolved my use of Manjaro so far beyond its original purpose that consuming updates from upstream Manjaro and other tasks were becoming complicated and tedious. Additionally I was more and more envious of pure Arch Linux and the goodness that was available by staying close to the source and began looking at Arch Linux directly.

Arch Offline Install
I really like Manjaro as per above and it took me far down the road I wanted to go. I began to discover however that the parent distro, Arch Linux, had far greater market acceptance and thus more community repositories and more pre-built AUR packages. I quickly found that the custom AUFS kernel and different processes that Manjaro was using meant I couldn't leverage the greater Arch Linux community packages easily. At this point I realized that I'd already moved far beyond the original issue I had with Arch of no installer and so it was a natural progression to switch my distribution from Manjaro to be based directly on Arch Linux. This made BlackArch and Antergos repos directly available and put me in a bigger support community with newer updates and packages.

My take on Arch

Arch Linux kills! I've never used a distribution as transparent, clean and documented to use as Arch. The packages are plentiful, up-to-date and easily managed. The community is huge and active, providing almost every package known to man in the Arch User Repository or you can easily build your own packages with little effort. The kernel and tooling is modern, maintenance is easy and rolling updates make for a system that can be used forever with little effort. Best of all though is that the Arch Install process provides simple building blocks that lend themselves easily to custom filesystem creations that in turn is readily turned into ISOs and other install media. Because of the large community and plethera of distros based off Arch there are many ideas to leverage such as the following:

BlackArch - https://blackarch.org
BlackArch is a penetration testing distro based directly off Arch and is 100% compatible with Arch. One of the main reasons I'm moving off Manjaro to pure Arch is to get access to BlackArch's repository of penetration testing tools.

Manjaro - http://manjaro.org/get-manjaro
Manjaro is an Arch split-off distro which used to have a really nice OpenBox deployment that suited my needs quite well. They have since dropped the OpenBox deployment but their distribution is still one of the best distros out there and have a great community which adds to Arch's appeal with a little adaptation. The main draw back with Manjaro is that that it can't leverage the Arch repos as is due to their differences.

ArchBang - http://bbs.archbang.org
ArchBang caught my eye because they are devoted to using lite components like OpenBox, LXTerminal, VolumeIcon, LXAppearance, etc... They have a great community and a lot of good ideas and configuration for keeping your system lite.

Antergos - http://antergos.com
Antergos is based on Arch and 100% compatible but also has a few developments of its own, like its slick custom isolinux boot and installer. They also offer a number of prebuilt AUR packages in their custom repos.

Distro requirements

I boiled down my requirements for cyberlinux as follows:

• Single configuration file (i.e. profile) to drive ISO creation
• ISO must include all packages, config etc... (i.e. works offline)
• Boot splash screen shown with multi-deployment options
• Fast, simple automated installs with abosolute minimal initial user input
• Fully pre-configured user environments to avoid post-install changes
• Live boot option for maintenance, rescue and secure work
• Hardware boot and diagnostics options e.g. RAM validation
• As light as possible while still offering an elegant solution

Contributions

Pull requests are always welcome. However understand that they will be evaluated purely on whether or not the change fits with my goals/ideals for the project.

Git-Hook Version Increment

Enable the githooks to have automatic version increments

cd ~/Projects/cyberlinux
git config core.hooksPath .githooks

Licenses

Because of the nature of cyberlinux any licensing will be of a mixed nature. In some cases as called out below such as build.sh and the installer/installer, created by phR0ze, the license is MIT. In other cases works I leveraged from else where using licenses such as GPLv2.

ART work

All art work used in the distribution have been carefully selected to be either creative commons, public domain, have permission from the original authors, or lay claim on fair use licensing. If for some reason a licensing mistake has been made please let me know and I'll review the claim immediately.

Configure, Build and Install Scripts

All scripting and code created for the cyberlinux project is licensed below via MIT.

LICENSE-MIT

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Backlog

• Write Rust version of pdfmod

• Configure rust analyzer to not show types

• Use Gnome Disks i.e. sudo pacman -S gnome-disk-utility

• Super + plus to resize window to custom size

• Super + Enter to position in the center

• Tool to merge skel configs

  • skip ~/.local/share/gem

• Inject system wide configuration change via strategic edits rather than file replaces

  • This would aleviate loosing custom changes in files such as /etc/pacman.conf and /etc/lxdm/lxdm.conf

Sometime

• clu to sync wallpaper
  • /etc/lxdm/lxdm.conf
  • /usr/bin/lockscreen
  • ~/.conf/xfce4/xfconf/.../xfce4-desktop.xml
• GTK folder sort settings didn't take
• ACEPC
  • Vulkan support
    • sudo pacman -S vulkan-intel vulkan-tools
    • vulkaninfo if you get info about your graphics card its working
• Add conflicts to PKGBUILD
• Replace powerline with powerline-go or powerline-rs
• clu - cyberlinux automation
  • replace conky scripts, cal.rb, date.rb and radio.rb
  • build in skel copy for updates
• Add cyberlinux-repo README about packages and warnings and how to configure
  • Automate updates to the readme when updating the packages