How to create a custom Ubuntu live from scratch

This project guides you through building a fully customized version of Ubuntu Linux from scratch. It covers creating a live ISO image that includes pre-installed packages, configurations, and custom scripts tailored to your needs. The steps walk you through setting up the environment, configuring the chroot, installing software, modifying the kernel, and finally generating the ISO image. This is ideal for those who want complete control over their Linux distribution, whether for personal or professional use.

Requirements

Proficiency with Linux shell commands and scripting.
Sufficient disk space and memory for building an ISO.

Steps

Prepare the Environment: Install necessary dependencies.
Create a Base System: Use debootstrap to set up a minimal Ubuntu system.
Customize Packages: Add/remove software, configure kernel.
Generate ISO: Package the system into a bootable ISO.

Authors

Marcos Vallim - Founder, Author, Development, Test, Documentation - mvallim
Ken Gilmer - Commiter, Development, Test, Documentation - kgilmer

See also the list of contributors who participated in this project.

Ways of Using this Tutorial

(Recommended) follow the directions step by step below to understand how to build an Ubuntu ISO.
Run the build.sh script in the scripts directory after checking this repo out locally.
Fork this repo and run the github action build. This will generate an ISO in your github account.

Terms

build system - the computer environment running the build scripts that generate the ISO.
live system - the computer environment that runs from the live OS, generated by a build system. This may also be referred to as the chroot environment.
target system - the computer environment that runs after installation has completed from a live system.

Prerequisites (GNU/Linux Ubuntu)

[!IMPORTANT] It is very important to remember that the version you are generating depends on the version being used on the host machine.

Example: If I am generating a from scratch bionic version, it is necessary for the host machine to have a bionic version or higher installed.

Scratch Host

bionic >= bionic

focal >= focal

jammy >= jammy

noble >= noble

Scratch	Host
`bionic`	`>= bionic`
`focal`	`>= focal`
`jammy`	`>= jammy`
`noble`	`>= noble`

Install packages we need in the build system required by our scripts.

sudo apt-get install \
   debootstrap \
   squashfs-tools \
   xorriso

mkdir $HOME/live-ubuntu-from-scratch

Bootstrap and Configure Ubuntu

debootstrap is a program for generating OS images. We install it into our build system to begin generating our ISO.

Checkout bootstrap
```
sudo debootstrap \
   --arch=amd64 \
   --variant=minbase \
   noble \
   $HOME/live-ubuntu-from-scratch/chroot \
   http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/
```
debootstrap is used to create a Debian base system from scratch, without requiring the availability of dpkg or apt. It does this by downloading .deb files from a mirror site, and carefully unpacking them into a directory which can eventually be chrooted into.
Configure external mount points
```
sudo mount --bind /dev $HOME/live-ubuntu-from-scratch/chroot/dev
  
sudo mount --bind /run $HOME/live-ubuntu-from-scratch/chroot/run
```
As we will be updating and installing packages (grub among them), these mount points are necessary inside the chroot environment, so we are able to finish the installation without errors.

Define chroot environment

A chroot on Unix operating systems is an operation that changes the apparent root directory for the current running process and its children. A program that is run in such a modified environment cannot name (and therefore normally cannot access) files outside the designated directory tree. The term “chroot” may refer to the chroot system call or the chroot wrapper program. The modified environment is called a chroot jail.

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chroot

From this point we will be configuring the live system.

Access chroot environment

sudo chroot $HOME/live-ubuntu-from-scratch/chroot

Configure mount points, home and locale
```
mount none -t proc /proc

mount none -t sysfs /sys

mount none -t devpts /dev/pts

export HOME=/root

export LC_ALL=C
```
These mount points are necessary inside the chroot environment, so we are able to finish the installation without errors.
Set a custom hostname
```
echo "ubuntu-fs-live" > /etc/hostname
```

Configure apt sources.list

cat <<EOF > /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ noble main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ noble main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ noble-security main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ noble-security main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ noble-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ noble-updates main restricted universe multiverse
EOF

Update indexes packages
```
apt-get update
```
Install systemd
```
apt-get install -y libterm-readline-gnu-perl systemd-sysv
```
systemd is a system and service manager for Linux. It provides aggressive parallelization capabilities, uses socket and D-Bus activation for starting services, offers on-demand starting of daemons, keeps track of processes using Linux control groups, maintains mount and automount points and implements an elaborate transactional dependency-based service control logic.
Configure machine-id and divert
```
dbus-uuidgen > /etc/machine-id

ln -fs /etc/machine-id /var/lib/dbus/machine-id
```
The /etc/machine-id file contains the unique machine ID of the local system that is set during installation or boot. The machine ID is a single newline-terminated, hexadecimal, 32-character, lowercase ID. When decoded from hexadecimal, this corresponds to a 16-byte/128-bit value. This ID may not be all zeros.
```
dpkg-divert --local --rename --add /sbin/initctl

ln -s /bin/true /sbin/initctl
```
dpkg-divert is the utility used to set up and update the list of diversions.
Upgrade packages
```
apt-get -y upgrade
```

Install packages needed for Live System

apt-get install -y \
   sudo \
   ubuntu-standard \
   casper \
   discover \
   laptop-detect \
   os-prober \
   network-manager \
   net-tools \
   wireless-tools \
   wpagui \
   locales \
   grub-common \
   grub-gfxpayload-lists \
   grub-pc \
   grub-pc-bin \
   grub2-common \
   grub-efi-amd64-signed \
   shim-signed \
   mtools \
   binutils

apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends linux-generic

Graphical installer
```
apt-get install -y \
   ubiquity \
   ubiquity-casper \
   ubiquity-frontend-gtk \
   ubiquity-slideshow-ubuntu \
   ubiquity-ubuntu-artwork
```
The next steps will appear, as a result of the packages that will be installed from the previous step, this will happen without anything having to be informed or executed.
1. Configure keyboard
2. Console setup

Install window manager

apt-get install -y \
   plymouth-themes \
   ubuntu-gnome-desktop \
   ubuntu-gnome-wallpapers

Install useful applications

apt-get install -y \
   clamav-daemon \
   terminator \
   apt-transport-https \
   curl \
   vim \
   nano \
   less

Install Visual Studio Code (optional)

Download and install the key

curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | gpg --dearmor > microsoft.gpg

install -o root -g root -m 644 microsoft.gpg /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/

echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/vscode stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list

rm microsoft.gpg

Then update the package cache and install the package using
```
apt-get update

apt-get install -y code
```

Install Google Chrome (optional)

Download and install the key

wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add -

echo "deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list

Then update the package cache and install the package using
```
apt-get update

apt-get install google-chrome-stable
```

Install Java JDK 8 (optional)

apt-get install -y \
    openjdk-8-jdk \
    openjdk-8-jre

Remove unused applications (optional)

apt-get purge -y \
   transmission-gtk \
   transmission-common \
   gnome-mahjongg \
   gnome-mines \
   gnome-sudoku \
   aisleriot \
   hitori

Remove unused packages
```
apt-get autoremove -y
```

Reconfigure packages

Generate locales
```
dpkg-reconfigure locales
```
1. Select locales
2. Select default locale

Configure network-manager

Create config file

cat <<EOF > /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf
[main]
rc-manager=none
plugins=ifupdown,keyfile
dns=systemd-resolved

[ifupdown]
managed=false
EOF

Reconfigure network-manager
```
dpkg-reconfigure network-manager
```

Create the image directory and populate it

We are now back in our build environment after setting up our live system and will continue creating files necessary to generate the ISO.

Create directories

mkdir -p /image/{casper,isolinux,install}

Copy kernel images

cp /boot/vmlinuz-**-**-generic /image/casper/vmlinuz

cp /boot/initrd.img-**-**-generic /image/casper/initrd

Copy memtest86+ binary (BIOS and UEFI)

 wget --progress=dot https://memtest.org/download/v7.00/mt86plus_7.00.binaries.zip -O /image/install/memtest86.zip
 unzip -p /image/install/memtest86.zip memtest64.bin > /image/install/memtest86+.bin
 unzip -p /image/install/memtest86.zip memtest64.efi > /image/install/memtest86+.efi
 rm -f /image/install/memtest86.zip

Create base point access file for grub
```
touch /image/ubuntu
```

Create image/isolinux/grub.cfg

cat <<EOF > /image/isolinux/grub.cfg

search --set=root --file /ubuntu

insmod all_video

set default="0"
set timeout=30

menuentry "Try Ubuntu FS without installing" {
   linux /casper/vmlinuz boot=casper nopersistent toram quiet splash ---
   initrd /casper/initrd
}

menuentry "Install Ubuntu FS" {
   linux /casper/vmlinuz boot=casper only-ubiquity quiet splash ---
   initrd /casper/initrd
}

menuentry "Check disc for defects" {
   linux /casper/vmlinuz boot=casper integrity-check quiet splash ---
   initrd /casper/initrd
}

grub_platform
if [ "\$grub_platform" = "efi" ]; then
menuentry 'UEFI Firmware Settings' {
   fwsetup
}

menuentry "Test memory Memtest86+ (UEFI)" {
   linux /install/memtest86+.efi
}
else
menuentry "Test memory Memtest86+ (BIOS)" {
   linux16 /install/memtest86+.bin
}
fi
EOF

Create manifest

Next we create a file filesystem.manifest to specify each package and it’s version that is installed on the live system. We create another file filesystem.manifest-desktop which specifies which files will be installed on the target system. Once the Ubiquity installer completes, it will remove packages specified in filesystem.manifest that are not listed in filesystem.manifest-desktop.

Generate manifest

dpkg-query -W --showformat='${Package} ${Version}\n' | sudo tee /image/casper/filesystem.manifest

cp -v /image/casper/filesystem.manifest image/casper/filesystem.manifest-desktop

sed -i '/ubiquity/d' /image/casper/filesystem.manifest-desktop

sed -i '/casper/d' /image/casper/filesystem.manifest-desktop

sed -i '/discover/d' /image/casper/filesystem.manifest-desktop

sed -i '/laptop-detect/d' /image/casper/filesystem.manifest-desktop

sed -i '/os-prober/d' /image/casper/filesystem.manifest-desktop

Create diskdefines

README file often found on Linux LiveCD installer discs, such as an Ubuntu Linux installation CD; typically named “README.diskdefines” and may be referenced during installation.

Create file /image/README.diskdefines

cat <<EOF > /image/README.diskdefines
#define DISKNAME  Ubuntu from scratch
#define TYPE  binary
#define TYPEbinary  1
#define ARCH  amd64
#define ARCHamd64  1
#define DISKNUM  1
#define DISKNUM1  1
#define TOTALNUM  0
#define TOTALNUM0  1
EOF

Creating image

Access image directory
```
cd /image
```

Copy EFI loaders

cp /usr/lib/shim/shimx64.efi.signed.previous isolinux/bootx64.efi
cp /usr/lib/shim/mmx64.efi isolinux/mmx64.efi
cp /usr/lib/grub/x86_64-efi-signed/grubx64.efi.signed isolinux/grubx64.efi

Create a FAT16 UEFI boot disk image containing the EFI bootloaders

(
   cd isolinux && \
   dd if=/dev/zero of=efiboot.img bs=1M count=10 && \
   mkfs.vfat -F 16 efiboot.img && \
   LC_CTYPE=C mmd -i efiboot.img efi efi/ubuntu efi/boot && \
   LC_CTYPE=C mcopy -i efiboot.img ./bootx64.efi ::efi/boot/bootx64.efi && \
   LC_CTYPE=C mcopy -i efiboot.img ./mmx64.efi ::efi/boot/mmx64.efi && \
   LC_CTYPE=C mcopy -i efiboot.img ./grubx64.efi ::efi/boot/grubx64.efi && \
   LC_CTYPE=C mcopy -i efiboot.img ./grub.cfg ::efi/ubuntu/grub.cfg
)

Create a grub BIOS image

grub-mkstandalone \
   --format=i386-pc \
   --output=isolinux/core.img \
   --install-modules="linux16 linux normal iso9660 biosdisk memdisk search tar ls" \
   --modules="linux16 linux normal iso9660 biosdisk search" \
   --locales="" \
   --fonts="" \
   "boot/grub/grub.cfg=isolinux/grub.cfg"

Combine a bootable Grub cdboot.img

cat /usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/cdboot.img isolinux/core.img > isolinux/bios.img

Generate md5sum.txt

/bin/bash -c "(find . -type f -print0 | xargs -0 md5sum | grep -v -e 'isolinux' > md5sum.txt)"

Cleanup the chroot environment

If you installed software, be sure to run
```
truncate -s 0 /etc/machine-id
```

Remove the diversion

rm /sbin/initctl

dpkg-divert --rename --remove /sbin/initctl

Clean up

apt-get clean

rm -rf /tmp/* ~/.bash_history

umount /proc

umount /sys

umount /dev/pts

export HISTSIZE=0

exit

Unbind mount points

sudo umount $HOME/live-ubuntu-from-scratch/chroot/dev

sudo umount $HOME/live-ubuntu-from-scratch/chroot/run

Compress the chroot

After everything has been installed and preconfigured in the chrooted environment, we need to generate an image of everything that was done by following the next steps in the build environment.

Access build directory
```
cd $HOME/live-ubuntu-from-scratch
```
Move image artifacts
```
sudo mv chroot/image .
```
Create squashfs
```
sudo mksquashfs chroot image/casper/filesystem.squashfs \
   -noappend -no-duplicates -no-recovery \
   -wildcards \
   -comp xz -b 1M -Xdict-size 100% \
   -e "var/cache/apt/archives/*" \
   -e "root/*" \
   -e "root/.*" \
   -e "tmp/*" \
   -e "tmp/.*" \
   -e "swapfile"
```
Squashfs is a highly compressed read-only filesystem for Linux. It uses zlib compression to compress both files, inodes and directories. Inodes in the system are very small and all blocks are packed to minimize data overhead. Block sizes greater than 4K are supported up to a maximum of 64K. Squashfs is intended for general read-only filesystem use, for archival use (i.e. in cases where a .tar.gz file may be used), and in constrained block device/memory systems (e.g. embedded systems) where low overhead is needed.

Write the filesystem.size

printf $(sudo du -sx --block-size=1 chroot | cut -f1) | sudo tee image/casper/filesystem.size

Create ISO Image for a LiveCD (BIOS + UEFI + Secure Boot)

Access build directory

cd $HOME/live-ubuntu-from-scratch/image

Create iso from the image directory using the command-line

sudo xorriso \
   -as mkisofs \
   -iso-level 3 \
   -full-iso9660-filenames \
   -J -J -joliet-long \
   -volid "Ubuntu from scratch" \
   -output "../ubuntu-from-scratch.iso" \
   -eltorito-boot isolinux/bios.img \
     -no-emul-boot \
     -boot-load-size 4 \
     -boot-info-table \
     --eltorito-catalog boot.catalog \
     --grub2-boot-info \
     --grub2-mbr ../chroot/usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/boot_hybrid.img \
     -partition_offset 16 \
     --mbr-force-bootable \
   -eltorito-alt-boot \
     -no-emul-boot \
     -e isolinux/efiboot.img \
     -append_partition 2 28732ac11ff8d211ba4b00a0c93ec93b isolinux/efiboot.img \
     -appended_part_as_gpt \
     -iso_mbr_part_type a2a0d0ebe5b9334487c068b6b72699c7 \
     -m "isolinux/efiboot.img" \
     -m "isolinux/bios.img" \
     -e '--interval:appended_partition_2:::' \
   -exclude isolinux \
   -graft-points \
      "/EFI/boot/bootx64.efi=isolinux/bootx64.efi" \
      "/EFI/boot/mmx64.efi=isolinux/mmx64.efi" \
      "/EFI/boot/grubx64.efi=isolinux/grubx64.efi" \
      "/EFI/ubuntu/grub.cfg=isolinux/grub.cfg" \
      "/isolinux/bios.img=isolinux/bios.img" \
      "/isolinux/efiboot.img=isolinux/efiboot.img" \
      "."

Alternative way, if previous one fails, create an Hybrid ISO

Create a ISOLINUX (syslinux) boot menu

cat <<EOF> isolinux/isolinux.cfg
UI vesamenu.c32

MENU TITLE Boot Menu
DEFAULT linux
TIMEOUT 600
MENU RESOLUTION 640 480
MENU COLOR border       30;44   #40ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR title        1;36;44 #9033ccff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR sel          7;37;40 #e0ffffff #20ffffff all
MENU COLOR unsel        37;44   #50ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR help         37;40   #c0ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR timeout_msg  37;40   #80ffffff #00000000 std
MENU COLOR timeout      1;37;40 #c0ffffff #00000000 std
MENU COLOR msg07        37;40   #90ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR tabmsg       31;40   #30ffffff #00000000 std

LABEL linux
 MENU LABEL Try Ubuntu FS
 MENU DEFAULT
 KERNEL /casper/vmlinuz
 APPEND initrd=/casper/initrd boot=casper

LABEL linux
 MENU LABEL Try Ubuntu FS (nomodeset)
 MENU DEFAULT
 KERNEL /casper/vmlinuz
 APPEND initrd=/casper/initrd boot=casper nomodeset
EOF

Include syslinux bios modules

apt install -y syslinux-common && \
cp /usr/lib/ISOLINUX/isolinux.bin image/isolinux/ && \
cp /usr/lib/syslinux/modules/bios/* image/isolinux/

Access build directory

cd $HOME/live-ubuntu-from-scratch/image

Create iso from the image directory

sudo xorriso \
   -as mkisofs \
   -iso-level 3 \
   -full-iso9660-filenames \
   -J -J -joliet-long \
   -volid "Ubuntu from scratch" \
   -output "../ubuntu-from-scratch.iso" \
 -isohybrid-mbr /usr/lib/ISOLINUX/isohdpfx.bin \
 -eltorito-boot \
     isolinux/isolinux.bin \
     -no-emul-boot \
     -boot-load-size 4 \
     -boot-info-table \
     --eltorito-catalog isolinux/isolinux.cat \
 -eltorito-alt-boot \
     -e /EFI/boot/efiboot.img \
     -no-emul-boot \
     -isohybrid-gpt-basdat \
 -append_partition 2 0xef EFI/boot/efiboot.img \
   "$HOME/live-ubuntu-from-scratch/image"

Make a bootable USB image

It is simple and easy, using “dd”

sudo dd if=ubuntu-from-scratch.iso of=<device> status=progress oflag=sync

Summary

This completes the process of creating a live Ubuntu installer from scratch. The generated ISO may be tested in a virtual machine such as VirtualBox or written to media and booted from a standard PC.

Contributing

Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for details on our code of conduct, and the process for submitting pull requests to us.

Versioning

We use GitHub for versioning. For the versions available, see the tags on this repository.

License

This project is licensed under the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE - see the LICENSE file for details

How to create a custom Ubuntu live from scratch

(Yes, the project is still alive 😃) This procedure shows how to create a bootable and installable Ubuntu Live (along with the automatic hardware detection and configuration) from scratch. A Linux to call your own.

How to create a custom Ubuntu live from scratch

Requirements

Steps

Authors

Ways of Using this Tutorial

Terms

Prerequisites (GNU/Linux Ubuntu)

Bootstrap and Configure Ubuntu

Define chroot environment

Create the image directory and populate it

GRUB menu configuration

Create manifest

Create diskdefines

Creating image

Cleanup the chroot environment

Unbind mount points

Compress the chroot

Create ISO Image for a LiveCD (BIOS + UEFI + Secure Boot)

Alternative way, if previous one fails, create an Hybrid ISO

Make a bootable USB image

Summary

Contributing

Versioning

License