The modular concept

The modular concept of OGB with a very slim base system and extensions to that in the form of packages allows for a very flexible build solution for various needs. The packages are very simple and shouldn't be compared to RPM or DEB packages and their complex abilities, but rather to a very simple building plan for OGB extensions.

If you want to change how OGB behaves it is recommended to create a custom package instead of modifying the OGB script, so that your modification will be compatible with further updates of OGB. Of course some things can be done only in the base system (like fixing bugs for broken things like missing libraries), but in most cases a package is able to do the job and should then be used.

Please also send your packages back to the maintainer, so that they can be included in the next OGB distribution. packages should contain only configuration files, as all binaries and data file should be taken from the build system.

Making your own packages

The recommended way of adding new functionality to OGB is by creating a new package, which is very easy. Basically a package consist of a skeleton directory, lists of programs, libraries and files to copy and a prepare.sh script run before copying and a configure.sh script run after copying. Packages can also demand other packages which will then be included (for example, debug includes ssh).

Basically a package is the same as the main OGB system, with a skeleton directory of its own and lists of files to copy to the OGB system. The difference beeing that with packages these lists are maintained in text files and not hard coded into the OGB build script.

The debug and snmp packages can serve as a full example as they use most features available for a package. The order the packages are applied is the one given on the command line, included packages are appended to this list.

Other uses for OGB

OGB, besides beeing named after OpenVPN, could be useful also for other purposes where one needs to build a maintainable, small and secure mini Linux system. The OpenVPN package can be excluded from the default configuration and then OGB will just build a very basic Linux system. By adding other custom packages one can then create any Linux system desired.

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last modified 2007-09-18 09:27:34

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