Remastering HOWTO for Damn Small Linux 

This appears to work using DSL 0.9.1. If you're gonna do this, you have to
already have a burnt copy of DSL and be running it on your current box. Once
that's done, you can follow these directions. Please note, I'm not taking
credit for any of this...it's all info taken off of the DSL form. Give credit
where credit is due (Meo in the DSL forum and John Andrews and Robert
Shingledecker at the DSL Organization)!

1) Mount the partition where you have stored the files you want to add

$sudo su
#mount -rw /dev/hda3 /mnt/hda3   (location of junk you want to add)

2) Make the directories needed:

cd /mnt/hda3

#mkdir source
#mkdir newcd
#mkdir newcd/KNOPPIX

3) Copy necessary files to directory /newcd

#cp -Rp /cdrom/boot newcd
#cp -Rp /cdrom/lost+found newcd
#cp -Rp /cdrom/index.html newcd

4) Copy the sources to the right directory

#cp -Rp /KNOPPIX/* source
#cp -Rp /KNOPPIX/.bash_profile source

5) Go through and copy wanted stuff to the source directory

(These are examples)
#cp -Rp /mnt/hda3/backgrounds source/etc/skel/.fluxbox
	put ./whatever in here and you'll get it as a default login
		example: .inputrc that contains:
			set editing-mode vi

		edit .bashrc to have:
			#
			# Aliases
			#			
			INPUTRC=$HOME/.inputrc
			export INPUTRC
			alias c='clear'
			alias which='type -path'
			alias RE='sudo'

		add .ssh directory with ssh keys
			permissions:

	dsl@box:/mnt/hda3/source/etc/skel$ ls -ld .ssh
	drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root         4096 Dec 29 15:46 .ssh
	
		maybe copy the .mozilla directory over with goodies?

		maybe edit source/etc/skel/.xinitrc and comment out the
		dillo command on boot?
Basically:

#cp -Rp /mnt/hda3/whatever/* source/usr/share/what/ever

#
# Other Interesting files...
#
	source/opt/bootlocal.sh 
		stuff you want to start on boot...like "/etc/init.d/ssh start"
  	source/etc/ssh/ssh_config and sshd_config
		Protocol 2,1 for ssh_config..make 1,2
		Protocol 2 for sshd_config..make it default
	source/etc/shadow
		edit what root's password is
		edit what dsl's password is

  	newcd/boot/isolinux/boot.msg
  	newcd/boot/isolinux/f2 and f3
  	newcd/boot/isolinux/logo.?? that you can change w/boot.msg

Damn Small Linux myDSL Internet & Network Extensions:

If you want to add any mydsl extensions, you'll want to put a
copy to the root of your "newcd" myDSL directory for it to be incorporated
into your remaster and be run at automatic boot time loading. An example
is download the gaim-1.0.0.dsl extention and place it in /mnt/hda3/newcd
if you are doing the above remaster method.

Make all the changes you need/want..then...

6) When done hacking, Create the custom compressed image file: From /mnt/hda3 do this (as one line of text command):

#mkisofs -R source | create_compressed_fs - 65536 > \
    newcd/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX

7) Create the iso you're gonna burn to CD as follows. (Use the `mkisofs' 
command be all on one long command line):

#cd /mnt/hda3/newcd

#mkisofs -no-pad -l -r -J -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -b \
     boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin -c boot/isolinux/boot.cat -hide-rr-moved -o \
        mydsl.iso ../newcd

8) Copy the iso-file to somewhere so you can burn the newly built iso.
Once done, burn it! I do this under FC3:

#cd /mnt/hda3/newcd
#cdrecord -v -dummy -pad speed=8 dev=0,0,0 blank=fast
#cdrecord -v speed=8 dev=0,0,0 mydsl.iso

Now just try out your newly build distro by rebooting and trying to use it!

+++
(I haven't tried this, but according to:

http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=11;t=3613

...it works)

5. Editing the bootmanager

5.1 DSL restore as default option
I was boreded to type everytime in the bootmanagers command line "dsl
restore=sda1" so i changed it that i can hit enter or wait. If you want this
open in linux Xterminal and type "sudo scite /cdrom/syslinux.cfg". In the
second line wich starts with APPEND add between lang and apm the command
restore=<backup device> in my example i added restore=sda1. Save it and now
your default solution is with the restore command. Dont forget to save and
reboot. If you see the saves directory it works. 

###############################################################################

Remaster and add extentions:

I had to post a question to the DSL Forum to figure this out. One of the
members "Friedgold" gave me this reply:

http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=11;t=5836;hl=remaster+gaim

+++
Firstly remember gaim depends on gtk2 so whatever you do you'll need to add
that.

Do you want to include as a permenant part of the compressed filesytem, or do
you just wish to have the extension the .dsl extension included on the livecd
and loaded automatically.

If you just want it on the lived cd and loaded automatically the .dsl just
needs to go in the root dir of the cd (/mnt/hda3/newcd in your example).

If you want it included in the compressed filesystem, you need to remember
that .dsl files are just renamed .tar.gz files. So to include a .dsl file in
the compressed image you'd do

cd source
tar -tzf <package>.dsl (this shows you what it's going to extract)
tar -xzf <package>.dsl

you then need to tidy up by moving everything copied to source/home/dsl into
source/etc/skel, adding a menu item for your application to
source/etc/skel/.fluxbox/menu, and removing anything in source/tmp/mydsl.menu

Again remember you need to do this for both gtk and gaim. You can then create
cd with the commands in the tutorial you linked to

Good luck with the remastering
+++

Awesome...