Workaround for Remastersys on Xubuntu 14.04

Remastersys is a very useful remastering tool though developing has ceased now.
Many reported that they could make Remastersys work on Ubuntu 14.04, but I encountered an error with Xubuntu 14.04.

I found workaround for this error.

Short answer: Comment out the line 245 of “/usr/bin/remastersys” beginning with [ “grep lightdm /etc/X11/default-display-manager” != “” ]

Below is the long answer.

  • Installation
  • Installation is simple.

    1. Import GPG key
    2. $ wget -O- http://www.remastersys.com/ubuntu/remastersys.gpg.key | sudo apt-key add -
      
    3. Add sources
    4. Add the line to /etc/apt/sources.list

      deb http://www.remastersys.com/ubuntu precise main

      Please note that you don’t have to replace “precise” with “trusty.”

    5. Installation
    6. $ sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install remastersys
      
  • Error with “remastersys dist”
  • “sudo remastersys dist” terminated with error. The below is error message;

    $ sudo remastersys dist
    Distribution Mode Selected
    Enabling remastersys-firstboot
    Adding system startup for /etc/init.d/remastersys-firstboot …
    /etc/rc0.d/K20remastersys-firstboot -> ../init.d/remastersys-firstboot
    ……
    /etc/rc5.d/S20remastersys-firstboot -> ../init.d/remastersys-firstboot
    Checking filesystem type of the Working Folder
    /home/remastersys/remastersys is on a ext4 filesystem
    Making sure popularity contest is not installed
    Installing the Ubiquity GTK frontend
    Lightdm not setup properly. You must set your default desktop with lightdm prior to remastering

    I examined the script /usr/bin/remastersys with the keyword “Lightdm.” Then I found the description below in the line 245

    [ “`grep lightdm /etc/X11/default-display-manager`” != “” ] && [ ! -f /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf ] && [ ! -f /usr/share/xsessions/ubuntu.desktop ] && echo “Lightdm not setup properly. You must set your default desktop with lightdm prior to remastering” && echo “Lightdm not setup properly. You must set your default desktop with lightdm prior to remastering” >> $WORKDIR/remastersys.log && exit 1

    Though this line checks if the file “/etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf” exists, The latest Xubuntu 14.04 doesn’t have that lightdm.conf file in /etc/lightdm.

    So I commented out this line, just adding “#” to the beginning of the line.

    Then I tried sudo remastersys dist again, with success!

    If you want to use Remastersys in Xubuntu 14.04, it’s worth trying it.