The LXF Guide: Make your own Fedora re-spin
Aug 6th, 2008 | By David Harper | Category: LinuxLinux Format: There is nothing magic about distro installation discs - they are basically a program and a bunch of packages. When you boot the disc, it runs the installer program which asks you a few questions, and then prepares your hard disk and copies files onto it based on your answers.
That’s a simplified view, but sums it up well, as anyone who has done a manual Gentoo install will know. These discs do not appear by magic either: the developers decide which packages should go on them and then use a program that sets up, creates and tests a DVD or CD image. As the distros are open source, the distro builder tools are usually open source too, so anyone can build their own installation disc.