Software remastering

Not to be confused with clone (computing) or fork (software development).

Software remastering is software development that recreates system software and applications while incorporating customizations, with the intent that it is copied and run elsewhere for "off-label" usage. The term comes from remastering in media production, where it is similarly distinguished from mere copying.

If the codebase does not continue to parallel an ongoing, upstream software development, then it is a fork, not a remastered version. If a codebase replicates the behaviour of the original but does not derive from the original codebase then it is a clone.

Knoppix family tree showing horizontal timelines of historic events in the Knoppix distro, and detailing the methods of influence by vertical connecting lines
Knoppix family tree. Note the vertical dotted line that indicates how two distros, WHAX and Auditor Security Linux, merged to discontinue themselves and remaster Auditor Security Linux to create the BackTrack distro.

Common examples of software remastering include Linux and Unix-like distributions, and video games. Remastered Linux, BSD and OpenSolaris operating system distributions are common because they are not copy protected, but also because of the allowance of such operating systems to grow an application for taking a snapshot of itself, and of installing that onto bootable media such as a thumb drive or a virtual machine in a hypervisor. Since 2001 over 1000 computer operating systems have arisen for download from the Internet.[1] A global community of Linux providers pushes the practice of remastering by developer switching, project overtaking or merging, and by sharing over the Internet.[2] Most distributions start as a remastered version of another distribution as evidenced by the announcements made at DistroWatch.[3] Notably, remastering SLS Linux forked Slackware, remastering Red Hat Linux helped fork Yellow Dog Linux and Mandriva and TurboLinux, and by remastering a Debian distribution, Ubuntu was started, which is itself remastered by the Linux Mint team.[2] These might involve critical system software, but the extent of the customizations made in remastering can be as trivial as a change in a default setting of the distribution and subsequent provision to an acquaintance on installation media. When a remastered version becomes public it becomes a distribution.[4]

Microsoft Windows has also been modified and remastered. Various utilities exist that combine Windows updates and device drivers with the original Windows CD/DVD installation media, a process known as slipstreaming.

When remastering a distro, remastering software can be applied from the "inside" of a live operating system to clone itself into an installation package. Remastering does not necessarily require the remastering software, which only facilitates the process. For example, an application is remastered just by acquiring, modifying and recompiling its original source code. Many video games have been modded by upgrading them with additional content, levels, or features. Notably, Counter-Strike was remastered from Half-Life and went on to be marketed as a commercial product.

  1. ^ Bodnar, Ladislav. "Home page". DistroWatch. Unsigned Integer Limited. Retrieved 28 April 2014. To verify the numbers choose a weekly report and search for "database summary" in it.
  2. ^ a b "Linux Distribution Timeline". GitHub. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  3. ^ "DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD". distrowatch.com.
  4. ^ Sentex, Rob. "Selecting a Linux Distribution". Beginner Tutorials. Lin. Archived from the original on 29 April 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.