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The instructions below document the process I follow to build my own personal Linux distribution (based on Debian Live), which I call Jotz Live. I rebuild the .iso image every few months to update the versions of the included packages, as well as to add new packages. In between rebuilds, I can try out other packages as normal using apt install, but the changes will be lost at the next reboot.
When I originally began building Jotz Live, I used the examples provided here as my starting point:
First, boot the PC into Debian 13.1 (Trixie using the standard USB live image. (Alternatively, use Jotz Live 13.1)
sudo apt update
sudo apt install live-buildIf you're going to build the custom image on a removable drive, you may need to remount it with the appropriate flags set, as shown below (replace the path shown with the one for your device).
sudo mount -o remount,exec,dev /media/user/[YOUR DEVICE NAME GOES HERE]mkdir JotzLive
cd JotzLive/The following command creates a configuration for the build process.
lb config -d trixie --archive-areas "main contrib non-free-firmware" --parent-archive-areas "main contrib non-free-firmware" --bootappend-live "boot=live locales=en_GB.UTF-8 keyboard-layouts=gb timezone=Europe/Dublin user-default-groups=user,cdrom,floppy,sudo,audio,dip,video,plugdev,netdev,scanner,dialout"Notes:
Create a file my.list.chroot containing the list of packages to be included in the custom build.
echo "task-xfce-desktop firmware-linux build-essential printer-driver-all v4l2loopback-dkms exfatprogs live-build vim-gtk3 geany gedit hexedit inkscape gimp imagemagick feh ristretto gphoto2 ffmpeg mplayer vlc mpg123 audacity blender kdenlive obs-studio screenkey gromit-mpx chromium lynx w3m elinks wget curl filezilla freerdp3-x11 gcc clang rustc git gh gdb cgdb ddd freeglut3-dev gcc-arm-none-eabi gdb-multiarch openocd python3-matplotlib python3-scipy python3-serial python3-pygame python3-opencv php octave screen tmux figlet xterm stterm kitty pv xclip htop bpytop fzf gdu ncdu bat ranger mc trash-cli fastfetch wmctrl xdotool testdisk netcat-openbsd jq cmatrix hollywood pandoc texlive texlive-xetex psutils fonts-ibm-plex fonts-ebgaramond-extra fonts-ebgaramond fonts-adf-universalis librsvg2-bin fonts-beteckna fonts-linuxlibertine gpxviewer gpsbabel wine fontforge libfuse2 sshpass ncal datamash" > config/package-lists/my.list.chrootAdd some additional commands to a setup script, "setup.sh", that will be placed in the default user's home directory. This can be used to make some final tweaks to the desktop (e.g. set number of workspaces, remove desktop icon) at login time:
mkdir -p config/includes.chroot/etc/skel
cat > config/includes.chroot/etc/skel/setup.sh << 'EOF'
#!/bin/sh
# Set number of workspaces to two
xfconf-query -c xfwm4 -p /general/workspace_count -s 2
# Hide desktop icons
xfconf-query -c xfce4-desktop --create -t bool -p /desktop-icons/file-icons/show-filesystem -s false
xfconf-query -c xfce4-desktop --create -t bool -p /desktop-icons/file-icons/show-home -s false
xfconf-query -c xfce4-desktop --create -t bool -p /desktop-icons/file-icons/show-removable -s false
xfconf-query -c xfce4-desktop --create -t bool -p /desktop-icons/file-icons/show-trash -s false
# Remove window tiling keyboard shortcuts that use the numeric keypad
for k in `xfconf-query -c xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts -l | grep "/xfwm4/custom/<Super>KP"`; do xfconf-query -c xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts -p $k -r; done
# Set up new window tiling keyboard shortcuts
xfconf-query -c xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts -pn "/xfwm4/custom/<Super>Left" -t 'string' -s tile_left_key
xfconf-query -c xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts -pn "/xfwm4/custom/<Super>Right" -t 'string' -s tile_right_key
xfconf-query -c xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts -pn "/xfwm4/custom/<Super>Up" -t 'string' -s tile_up_key
xfconf-query -c xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts -pn "/xfwm4/custom/<Super>Down" -t 'string' -s tile_down_key
# Identify connected monitor and store name in shell variable
monitor=`xrandr -q | sed -n '0,\|[[:space:]]connected[[:space:]]| s/^\([^[:space:]]*\)[[:space:]]\+connected[[:space:]].*$/monitor\1/ p'`
# Disable wallpaper on connected monitor and set flat background colour
xfconf-query -c xfce4-desktop -pn /backdrop/screen0/$monitor/workspace0/color-style -t 'int' -s 0
xfconf-query -c xfce4-desktop -pn /backdrop/screen0/$monitor/workspace0/image-style -t 'int' -s 0
xfconf-query -c xfce4-desktop -pn /backdrop/screen0/$monitor/workspace0/rgba1 -t double -s 0.4 -t double -s 0.4 -t double -s 0.6 -t double -s 1.0
# Enable touchpad tap to click
xfconf-query -c pointers -pn /SynPS2_Synaptics_TouchPad/Properties/libinput_Tapping_Enabled -t 'int' -s 1
xfconf-query -c pointers -pn /DELL0A2000_06CBCE65_Touchpad/Properties/libinput_Tapping_Enabled -t 'int' -s 1
# Create browser profiles one and two
firefox -CreateProfile one
firefox -CreateProfile two
# Set up shortcuts
echo "firefox -P one -private-window about:profiles &" > ~/one
echo "firefox -P two -private-window about:profiles &" > ~/two
chmod 755 ~/one ~/two
EOFSet the mode of "setup.sh" so that it's executable:
chmod +x config/includes.chroot/etc/skel/setup.shTo run the above setup script automatically at login, autostart it by creating the file MyDebLive.setup.desktop, as follows:
mkdir -p config/includes.chroot/etc/skel/.config/autostart
cat > config/includes.chroot/etc/skel/.config/autostart/MyDebLive.setup.desktop << 'EOF'
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Version=0.9.4
Type=Application
Name=MyDebLive.setup
Comment=
Exec=/home/user/setup.sh
OnlyShowIn=XFCE;
RunHook=0
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
Hidden=false
EOFCreate ".vimrc":
cat > config/includes.chroot/etc/skel/.vimrc << 'EOF'
" Disable compatibility with vi
set nocompatible
" Filetype detection and configuration
filetype on
filetype plugin on
filetype indent on
" Syntax highlighting
syntax on
" Remap up and down arrow keys to move cursor
" one screen line in normal and visual modes
:noremap <Up> gk
:noremap <Down> gj
" Remap up and down arrow keys to move cursor
" one screen line in insert mode
:inoremap <Up> <C-o>gk
:inoremap <Down> <C-o>gj
" Enable line numbers
set number
"set nonumber
" Set tab width
set shiftwidth=4
set tabstop=4
set expandtab
" Set colour scheme
colorscheme ron
" Disable Vim mouse interaction, which re-enables
" regular terminal highlighting with mouse
set mouse=
EOFCreate ".tmux.conf":
cat > config/includes.chroot/etc/skel/.tmux.conf << 'EOF'
set-option -g escape-time 10
set-option default-terminal tmux-256color
EOFUse a heredoc to create a file "/lib/systemd/system-sleep/post-suspend.sh" in the live system that will reload the usbhid module every time the system resumes after suspend. The file permissions are also changed to make the file executable.
mkdir -p config/includes.chroot/lib/systemd/system-sleep
cat > config/includes.chroot/lib/systemd/system-sleep/post-suspend.sh << 'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
if [ "${1}" == "post" ]; then
modprobe -r usbhid && modprobe usbhid
fi
EOF
chmod +x config/includes.chroot/lib/systemd/system-sleep/post-suspend.shAs root, build the bootable live image. This may take several minutes.
sudo lb buildNB The following can be used instead to log the output during the build process:
sudo lb build 2>&1 | tee build.logN.B. It is extremely important to identify the correct device filename of your USB drive (e.g. /dev/sdb, /dev/sdc, etc.) before writing the image to it. Writing the image to the wrong device using the command provided below will destroy the data on that device.
Still as root, copy the completed image to a USB drive. This may take several minutes to complete. The sync command ensures that all data has been written to the USB drive before it is removed.
sudo cp live-image-amd64.hybrid.iso /dev/[USB DRIVE DEVICE FILE NAME GOES HERE]
sudo syncThe USB key can now be unplugged and should be ready to use.
Create a backup copy of the iso with today's date added to the filename:
mv live-image-amd64.hybrid.iso `date +%Y.%m.%d_live-image-amd64.hybrid.iso`Changes in next version:
openscad.xfconf-query -c xfce4-power-manager -p /xfce4-power-manager/presentation-mode -T. To check current status of presentation mode: xfconf-query -c xfce4-power-manager -p /xfce4-power-manager/presentation-mode -v~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-panel.xml to /etc/xdg/xfce4/panel/default.xml./etc/xdg/xfce4/panel/default.xmlpython3-tinycss2 to enable Inkscape's gear rendering extension.Changes in 30-Oct-2025 version:
trixie. Note change in first step, "lb config -d trixie..."librsvg2-bin) to support direct insertion of SVG images in a pandoc markdown document.datamash).python3-opencv for image processing in PythonChanges in 05-Jan-2025 version:
Changes in 15-Aug-2023 version:
Changes in 13-Jan-2023 version:
Changes in 13-Dec-2022 version: