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

$ wget -O- http://www.remastersys.com/ubuntu/remastersys.gpg.key | sudo apt-key add -

2. Add sources

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.”

3. Installation

$ 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.