I started with a CLFS (Cross-compiled Linux From Scratch) installation yesterday. After major issues which I encountered when trying to boot the new kernel, I managed to create a very minimalistic kernel configuration which built a kernel that was able to boot up! I now have a very minimal Linux installation.

It’s not done yet, though. I will now have to install base system software, build a more advanced kernel, and then start building and integrating different software components of my personal choice. After this project I might either start my own Linux distribution (either from scratch, or based on Arch Linux) or just provide a repository for Arch Linux which contains some special software and help with Arch Linux development – because the goals of the Arch Linux distribution are very similar to mine. I also want to provide a repository with custom kernels and software which improve performance for all laptops that are sold by Hasselt University since 2008. I would however like to improve some things upstream as well, for example add a graphical installer and create an auto-system-configure tool which sets up Arch Linux for specific usage, and I’m not entirely sure yet whether these would be welcome changes upstream. If not, I might have to resort to an Arch Linux fork or my own distribution from scratch.