FreeSBIE 1.x is a toolkit based on the original structure of the LiveCD project. When we started development, we didn’t know how many features were going to be added in future release. For example, we have included the graphic card recognition, as well as the sound card, and we also made extraordinary patches in order to make some particular programs work, such as OpenOffice or the BSD installer. Without having a modular structure from the start of development, these modifications lead to a patch-over-patch habit. Another quite annoying problem is that a user who wants to make a particular version of freesbie has to add his own patches to the scripts (e.g.: a firewall with a particular boot time configuration, or a kiosk). If those patches are unapplicable to the main tree, the user has to keep in sync his own modified scripts with the main tree by hand.

Which means: FreeSBIE 1.x toolkit isn’t modular.

FreeSBIE 2 is quite easy and familiar for an average (Free)BSD user. It is Makefile-based, and it has a default configuration file overridable by the user. The quick way to make an ISO image consists of four steps:

1. obtain FreeSBIE 2 toolkit from cvs (cvs -z3 -d :pserver:anonymous@cvs.freesbie.org:/cvs co -P freesbie2)
2. make sure you have mkisofs from the ‘cdrtools’ package (otherwise: pkg_add -rv cdrtools)
3. run `make pkgselect’ to select which packages to include in your image (optional, if you don’t want packages or if package selection is done in freesbie.conf)
4. modify conf/freesbie.conf and in some cases conf/freesbie.defaults.conf
5. run `make iso’ and go watch a movie, or spend some time with a loved one.

This will create a simple ISO image with a vanilla FreeBSD-based system plus the packages you selected, if any. If you want to customize it, read the configuration page.