Since I took an instant dislike to Unity, I've been playing about with other desktops. Took quite a liking to Xubuntu, and am trying to make a distro from it with Remastersys.
My problem is, it isn't starting the window manager after the post-install reboot. Here's the requisite details, and I've taked a couple of other questions on the bottom.
Base OS: Xubuntu 11.10
Desktop: Xfce4 with Xfwm
Login Manager: LightDM
Remastersys version: 3.0.1-1
Log:
Distribution Mode Selected
Enabling remastersys-firstboot
Checking filesystem type of the Working Folder as it must be a valid linux filesystem for permissions
/home/remastersys/remastersys is on an ext4 filesystem
Making sure popularity contest is not installed
Installing the Ubiquity GTK frontend
Checking if the /home/remastersys/remastersys folder has been created
Creating /home/remastersys/remastersys folder tree
Creating /home/remastersys/remastersys/ISOTMP folder tree
Copying /var and /etc to temp area and excluding extra files ... this will take a while so be patient
Cleaning up files not needed for the live in /home/remastersys/remastersys/dummysys
Cleaning up passwd, group, shadow and gshadow files for the live system
Making sure adduser and autologin functions of casper are set properly
Copying memtest86+ for the live system
Creating isolinux setup for the live system
Checking the ARCH of the system and setting the README.diskdefines file
Creating filesystem.manifest and filesystem.manifest-desktop
Creating the casper.conf file.
Checking and setting user-setup-apply for the live system
Setting up casper and ubiquity options for dist mode
Creating a new initial ramdisk for the live system
Copying your kernel and initrd for the livecd
Creating filesystem.squashfs ... this will take a while so be patient
Adding stage 1 files/folders that the livecd requires
Adding stage 2 files/folders that the livecd requires
------------------------------------------------------
Mount information
/dev/sda1 on / type ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro,commit=0)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
udev on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
tmpfs on /run type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,size=10%,mode=0755)
none on /run/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,size=5242880)
none on /run/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/newsie/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=newsie)
------------------------------------------------------
Disk size information
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1 16G 3.2G 12G 23% /
udev 365M 4.0K 365M 1% /dev
tmpfs 150M 748K 150M 1% /run
none 5.0M 0 5.0M 0% /run/lock
none 375M 124K 375M 1% /run/shm
------------------------------------------------------
Casper Script info
total 140
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 297 2011-11-08 15:40 01integrity_check
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 467 2011-11-08 15:40 05mountpoints
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 571 2011-11-08 15:40 07remove_oem_config
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 3375 2011-11-08 15:40 10adduser
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 400 2011-11-08 15:40 12fstab
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 830 2011-11-08 15:40 13swap
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1431 2011-11-08 15:40 14locales
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2554 2011-11-08 15:40 15autologin
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 577 2011-11-08 15:40 18hostname
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 8721 2011-11-08 15:40 19keyboard
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 546 2011-11-08 15:40 20xconfig
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 531 2011-11-08 15:40 22gnome_panel_data
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 867 2011-11-08 15:40 22screensaver
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 577 2011-11-08 15:40 22serialtty
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 410 2011-11-08 15:40 22sslcert
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 380 2011-11-08 15:40 23etc_modules
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 3295 2011-11-08 15:40 23networking
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2102 2011-11-08 15:47 24preseed
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1996 2011-11-08 15:40 25configure_init
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 644 2011-11-08 15:40 26disable_user_menu
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1421 2011-11-08 15:40 30accessibility
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1152 2011-11-08 15:40 31disable_update_notifier
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 463 2011-11-08 15:40 32disable_hibernation
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 369 2011-11-08 15:40 33enable_apport_crashes
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 928 2011-11-08 15:40 34disable_kde_services
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 562 2011-11-08 15:40 35fix_language_selector
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 407 2011-11-08 15:40 36disable_trackerd
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 908 2011-11-08 15:40 40install_driver_updates
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 518 2011-11-08 15:40 41apt_cdrom
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 847 2011-11-08 15:40 43disable_updateinitramfs
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 640 2011-11-08 15:40 44pk_allow_ubuntu
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 214 2011-11-08 15:40 48kubuntu_disable_restart_notifications
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 169 2011-11-08 15:40 49kubuntu_mobile_session
------------------------------------------------------
/etc/remastersys.conf info
#Remastersys Global Configuration File
# This is the temporary working directory and won't be included on the cd/dvd
WORKDIR="/home/remastersys"
# Here you can add any other files or directories to be excluded from the live filesystem
# Separate each entry with a space
EXCLUDES=""
# Here you can change the livecd/dvd username
LIVEUSER="newsie"
# Here you can change the name of the livecd/dvd label
LIVECDLABEL="Wikinewsie.org Linux"
# Here you can change the name of the ISO file that is created
CUSTOMISO="newsie-$1.iso"
# Here you can change the mksquashfs options
SQUASHFSOPTS="-no-recovery -always-use-fragments -b 1M -no-duplicates"
# Here you can prevent the Install icon from showing up on the desktop in backup mode. 0 - to not show 1 - to show
BACKUPSHOWINSTALL="1"
# Here you can change the url for the usb-creator info
LIVECDURL="http://distro.wikinewsie.org"
------------------------------------------------------
/etc/casper.conf info
# This file should go in /etc/casper.conf
# Supported variables are:
# USERNAME, USERFULLNAME, HOST, BUILD_SYSTEM
export USERNAME="newsie"
export USERFULLNAME="Live session user"
export HOST="newsie"
export BUILD_SYSTEM="Ubuntu"
------------------------------------------------------
/etc/passwd info
**** IN FOLLOWUP TO KEEP WITHIN POST SIZE LIMIT ****
------------------------------------------------------
/etc/X11/default-display-manager info
/usr/sbin/lightdm
------------------------------------------------------
/etc/skel info
/etc/skel
/etc/skel/.gconf
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps/blueman
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps/blueman/plugins
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps/blueman/plugins/KillSwitch
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps/blueman/plugins/KillSwitch/%gconf.xml
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps/blueman/plugins/RecentConns
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps/blueman/plugins/RecentConns/%gconf.xml
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps/blueman/plugins/Headset
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps/blueman/plugins/Headset/%gconf.xml
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps/blueman/plugins/PulseAudio
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps/blueman/plugins/PulseAudio/%gconf.xml
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps/blueman/plugins/Indicator
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps/blueman/plugins/Indicator/%gconf.xml
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps/blueman/plugins/StatusIcon
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps/blueman/plugins/StatusIcon/%gconf.xml
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps/blueman/plugins/%gconf.xml
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps/blueman/plugins/SerialManager
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps/blueman/plugins/SerialManager/%gconf.xml
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps/blueman/plugins/DiscvManager
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps/blueman/plugins/DiscvManager/%gconf.xml
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps/blueman/transfer
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps/blueman/%gconf.xml
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps/%gconf.xml
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps/nm-applet
/etc/skel/.gconf/apps/nm-applet/%gconf.xml
/etc/skel/.gnome2
/etc/skel/.gnome2/keyrings
/etc/skel/.profile
/etc/skel/.mozilla
/etc/skel/.mozilla/extensions
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/profiles.ini
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/compatibility.ini
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/minidumps
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/urlclassifier.pset
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/extensions.ini
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/cookies.sqlite
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/places.sqlite
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/search.json
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/key3.db
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/signons.sqlite
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/Cache
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/Cache/_CACHE_003_
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/Cache/E
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/Cache/A
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/Cache/4
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/Cache/F
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/Cache/9
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/Cache/5
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/Cache/0
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/Cache/C
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/Cache/3
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/Cache/1
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/Cache/B
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/Cache/8
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/Cache/_CACHE_002_
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/Cache/6
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/Cache/7
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/Cache/_CACHE_MAP_
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/Cache/D
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/Cache/_CACHE_001_
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/Cache/2
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/formhistory.sqlite
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/webappsstore.sqlite
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/cert8.db
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/urlclassifierkey3.txt
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/secmod.db
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/urlclassifier3.sqlite
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/sessionstore.js
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/chromeappsstore.sqlite
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/localstore.rdf
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/downloads.sqlite
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/prefs.js
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/search.sqlite
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/startupCache
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/startupCache/startupCache.4.little
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/.parentlock
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/extensions.sqlite
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/mimeTypes.rdf
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/permissions.sqlite
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/bookmarkbackups
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/bookmarkbackups/bookmarks-2012-03-02.json
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/f4j908mu.default/content-prefs.sqlite
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/Crash Reports
/etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/Crash Reports/InstallTime20120216101208
/etc/skel/Desktop
/etc/skel/Desktop/README
/etc/skel/.xscreensaver
/etc/skel/.local
/etc/skel/.local/share
/etc/skel/.local/share/gvfs-metadata
/etc/skel/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/uuid-8ABD-BDD2
/etc/skel/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/home-2e4ebf44.log
/etc/skel/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/home
/etc/skel/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/uuid-8ABD-BDD2-7fd588f3.log
/etc/skel/.local/share/recently-used.xbel
/etc/skel/.config
/etc/skel/.config/user-dirs.dirs
/etc/skel/.config/ibus
/etc/skel/.config/ibus/bus
/etc/skel/.config/autostart
/etc/skel/.config/autostart/xfce4-settings-helper-autostart.desktop
/etc/skel/.config/leafpad
/etc/skel/.config/leafpad/leafpadrc
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/extensions
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/compatibility.ini
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/minidumps
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/urlclassifier.pset
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/extensions.ini
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/cookies.sqlite
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/places.sqlite
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/search.json
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/key3.db
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/signons.sqlite
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/Cache
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/formhistory.sqlite
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/webappsstore.sqlite
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/cert8.db
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/urlclassifierkey3.txt
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/secmod.db
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/urlclassifier3.sqlite
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/sessionstore.js
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/chromeappsstore.sqlite
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/localstore.rdf
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/downloads.sqlite
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/prefs.js
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/search.sqlite
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/startupCache
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/startupCache/startupCache.4.little
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/.parentlock
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/extensions.sqlite
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/mimeTypes.rdf
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/permissions.sqlite
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/bookmarkbackups
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/bookmarkbackups/bookmarks-2012-03-02.json
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/prof.default/content-prefs.sqlite
/etc/skel/.config/.mozilla/firefox/profiles.ini
/etc/skel/.config/Thunar
/etc/skel/.config/Thunar/accels.scm
/etc/skel/.config/Thunar/thunarrc
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/xfwm4
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/panel
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-18
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-18/13302743486.desktop
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-17
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-17/13302743465.desktop
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-20
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-20/13302743498.desktop
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-19
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-19/13306762501.desktop
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-15
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-15/13302743403.desktop
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-16
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-16/13302743434.desktop
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/xfconf
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfwm4.xml
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-mixer.xml
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-panel.xml
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-desktop.xml
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-settings-manager.xml
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts.xml
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/desktop
/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/desktop/icons.screen0.rc
/etc/skel/.config/enchant
/etc/skel/.config/dconf
/etc/skel/.config/dconf/user
/etc/skel/.config/update-notifier
/etc/skel/.bashrc
------------------------------------------------------
lsb-release info
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=11.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=oneiric
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 11.10"
------------------------------------------------------
remastersys version info
REMASTERSYSVERSION="3.0.1-1"
------------------------------------------------------
ISOTMP info
/home/remastersys/remastersys/ISOTMP:
total 20
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2012-03-02 13:59 casper
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2012-03-02 13:55 install
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2012-03-02 13:56 isolinux
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2012-03-02 13:55 preseed
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 201 2012-03-02 13:56 README.diskdefines
/home/remastersys/remastersys/ISOTMP/casper:
total 698432
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 34886 2012-03-02 13:56 filesystem.manifest
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 34826 2012-03-02 13:56 filesystem.manifest-desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 689577984 2012-03-02 14:28 filesystem.squashfs
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 20890766 2012-03-02 13:59 initrd.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 201 2012-03-02 13:56 README.diskdefines
-rw------- 1 root root 4637760 2012-03-02 13:59 vmlinuz
/home/remastersys/remastersys/ISOTMP/install:
total 176
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 176764 2012-03-02 13:55 memtest
/home/remastersys/remastersys/ISOTMP/isolinux:
total 604
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 24576 2012-03-02 13:56 isolinux.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 902 2012-03-02 13:56 isolinux.cfg
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 429403 2012-03-02 13:56 splash.png
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 155792 2012-03-02 13:56 vesamenu.c32
/home/remastersys/remastersys/ISOTMP/preseed:
total 4
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 721 2012-03-02 13:55 custom.seed
------------------------------------------------------
/home/remastersys/remastersys/tmpusers info
newsie
setup
------------------------------------------------------
Command-line options = dist
------------------------------------------------------
Removing the ubiquity frontend as it has been included and is not needed on the normal system
Calculating the installed filesystem size for the installer
Removing remastersys-firstboot from system startup
Making disk compatible with Ubuntu Startup Disk Creator.
Creating md5sum.txt for the livecd/dvd
Creating newsie-dist.iso in /home/remastersys/remastersys
Creating newsie-dist.iso.md5 in /home/remastersys/remastersys
/home/remastersys/remastersys/newsie-dist.iso which is 684M in size is ready to be burned or tested in a virtual machine.
I've kept the ubiquity-slideshow-xubuntu installed so that there is a slideshow during installation (I'll customise that once I'm reliably creating usable .ISOs), and that works fine. I
do get an error relating to gdm, but didn't catch that during the remastersys dist run; since I'm not using gdm, that's not unexpected.
What I suspect I have to do is tweak the remastersys script to take the relevant bits for xfce4 and xfwm and put them in-place.
I can use ALT-F4, log in, and run startx to get a GUI; so, I'm
really close to what I want.
I've then two remaining queries on this.
First, the ubiquity installer says it's installing "Wikinewsie.org", and I'm wanting it to say it's installing "Wikinewsie.org Linux" (a backslash somewheres?)
Second, I want to use a preseed to pull in a bunch of packages towards the end of the install. Ubiquity's documentation is somewhat obscure on this.
If, for argument's sake, I wanted to install openoffice.org, gimp, and evolution, what would I put in the preseed and what would I call the preseed?
Any advice on this greatly appreciated.
