English — Build your own Linux distribution the easy way

Many people want to create their own Linux distro, perhaps for fun, perhaps to help them learn more about Linux, or perhaps because they have serious neds to solve. But the secret is this: it doesn't need to be hard to get the perfect distro for you. In fact, we've put together several ways that everyone - yes, even you - can make your own perfectly customised distro that suits your individual needs, applying as many or as few changes as you want - it's your Linux, your way.

Mainstream Linux distro developers have to make decisions that affect thousands of potential users. Should they include or remove a particular package? Should they apply a patch that may break compatibility with older machines? These matters are discussed fiercely in forums where trolls growl, flames burn and project leaders defend their decisions against an onslaught of dissidents.

But as an individual you have none of these issues. You can install and remove packages as and when you want to, and you can choose whether to install free or non-free software on your system. Why should you have to live with community decisions when you can make Linux work your way? However, the distribution you install will likely contain drivers and components that you don't really want or need on your system. Not only that, the software you always install on every new system has to be downloaded and installed separately each time, which is time-consuming and inconvenient.

That's where we come in. If you spend more time programming than you do playing games, you could replace the game packages with your favourite IDE. Or why not remove drivers for hardware you'll never need and save disk space? Those of you who found useful speed increases in our guide to making Linux faster could even apply those tweaks automatically from the install stage.

We've talked about how to build your own Linux distro from scratch before, but this time we're more interested in how to respin existing distros in various ways to get the end results you want, starting with the very easiest and ending with the hardest. Sound good? Let's go!