Ubuntu from source

[Rashkae]

Odd wrote:
> Amedee Van Gasse (Ubuntu) wrote:
>> Suppose I wanted to (re)compile Ubuntu from source. I mean not just a few
>> packages but the entire distro, everything that I have installed. And in
>> some (semi) automated way, like Gentoo offers.
>> Would that be possible?
>>
>> This is just a hypothetical question. I wouldn't do such a thing because
>> it is *useful*, only because it is *possible*. Like taking apart a radio
>> to see how it works.
> 
> http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/jaunty/main/source/
> 
> But do realize that this is only Ubuntu without any
> software added.
> 
> I should have added that for the whole distro, you need
> to collect the source code for all the apps from their
> respective places on the net. Let's just say you've got
> your work cut out for you.
> 

Not really, the ubuntu repos include source for all packages, as
required by GPL.

http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/apt-howto/ch-sourcehandling.en.html

If you were really hell bent on doing it, you could certainly create a
list of all packages installed on your system then feed them one by one
into apt-get -b source packagename


There is probably no guarantee that *everything* will work bug free, ie,
some binary packages may have been built a long time ago with older
libraries / compiler, and while they still work perfectly fine, may not
build as well on current system.