make_dvd.pl For Linux

make_dvd.pl is a Perl tool that allows you to build your own DVD ISO images.

I got the original idea for these scripts from the article http://www.linux.com/print.pl?sid=06/03/16/1724219, which referenced now unavailable site/script at http://www.nautopia.net

I did secure the copy of the "script" by using archived copies of the site, and while I liked the idea much, it consisted of distros that had little interest for me. Also it required the lot of manual work, as the main level "script" was just a wrapper for mkisofs.

So I first created a Perl script (Perl being my favourite scripting language) to convert ISOLINUX (http://syslinux.zytor.com/iso.php) isolinux.cfg files into GRUB (http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/) menu.lst files to help on this manual work. I named it cfg2menu.pl

After doing that, I noticed that the rest of the work was also tedious, so I made another Perl scipt (make_dvd.pl) to do it for me.

Both scripts are far for beautiful or perfect, and especially cfg2menu.pl will very likely break with some weird isolinux.cfg files. See included iso.list configuration file for distributions it have been tested with.

*** WARNING *** Check the generated menu.lst files before burning your DVD!! Failure to do so may well result in wasted DVD-R disc! *** WARNING ***

Feed '-h' to make_dvd.pl to get list of command line switches. If you just wish to experiment, there are three switches that can be used to skip phases:

-b will skip the actual DVD-ISO creation, i.e. call to mkisofs(1). Use this on first run, and check the menu.lst files! -n will make the script ignore missing CD-ISO files, i.e. the script will not attempt to download anything. Reasons for use should be obvious. Note that once the CD-ISO has been downloaded, the script will detect it and skip the specific download. -u will skip the unpacking of CD-ISOs into DVD-root. Use it after first run, as there is no point in re-unpacking after the first time. Note that unpacking requires running make_dvd.pl as root (NOTE!), and the script will detect that and will not unpack anything if not run with root privileges. This is because 'mount -o loop' requires root privileges.

That's it for now, I will be happy to accept _useful_ patches to both scripts; the license is GPLv2 obviously.