HOW TO MAKE A BOOTABLE SLACKWARE DVD ISO IMAGE To make a bootable Slackware install DVD, get into the top level Slackware directory (The one with ChangeLog.txt in it) and issue a command like this to build the ISO image in /tmp: xorriso -as mkisofs \ -iso-level 3 \ -full-iso9660-filenames \ -R -J -A "Slackware Install" \ -hide-rr-moved \ -v -d -N \ -eltorito-boot isolinux/isolinux.bin \ -eltorito-catalog isolinux/boot.cat \ -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table \ -isohybrid-mbr /usr/share/syslinux/isohdpfx.bin \ -no-emul-boot -isohybrid-gpt-basdat \ -m 'source' \ -volid "SlackDVD" \ -output /tmp/slackware-dvd.iso \ . On my system, here's the command I'd use to burn the resulting DVD ISO: growisofs -speed=2 -dvd-compat -Z /dev/sr0=slackware-dvd.iso If your burner is not /dev/sr0, replace the device with the one your system uses. I find discs burned at 2x are more reliable than ones burned at higher speeds, but you may see completely different results depending on media and burner type. The -dvd-compat option is also used so that a complete lead-out is written to the media for maximum compatibility. To write the ISO image to a USB stick use a command such as this (replace /dev/sdX with the device name for your USB stick): dd if=/tmp/slackware-dvd.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=1M Or, you can burn directly from the Slackware tree to a DVD(-/+)R(W): xorriso -as mkisofs \ -iso-level 3 \ -full-iso9660-filenames \ -R -J -A "Slackware Install" \ -hide-rr-moved \ -v -d -N \ -eltorito-boot isolinux/isolinux.bin \ -eltorito-catalog isolinux/boot.cat \ -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table \ -isohybrid-mbr /usr/share/syslinux/isohdpfx.bin \ -no-emul-boot -isohybrid-gpt-basdat \ -m 'source' \ -volid "SlackDVD" \ -output - \ . \ | xorrecord -v dev=/dev/sr0 speed=2 fs=8m blank=as_needed - Note that the source code directory will not be included on these DVD images in order to keep them under the limit for a single-layer disc. If you are using double layer DVD media and want to burn the complete tree to your disc, remove the -m option line from the command. HOW TO MAKE A SET OF BOOTABLE / INSTALLABLE CDROMS This is a little bit more tricky. Step one will be to split the tree into portions that will fit on the media that you plan to burn to. The first disc must contain these directories: /isolinux/ /kernels/ /slackware/ You'll need to make other /slackware/ directories on discs 2, 3, and maybe more, moving some of the disc series from disc 1 to other discs to make things fit. It is also possible to split a series to make more efficient use of the CD media. See the README_SPLIT.TXT example and instructional file in this directory for details about how to set that up. The rest of the splitting up of discs is left as an exercise for the reader. To make the first (bootable) ISO, a command like this is used within the directory where the disc tree is. Let's say the directory is 'd1' and you wish to output the ISO image in /tmp: cd d1 xorriso -as mkisofs \ -iso-level 3 \ -full-iso9660-filenames \ -R -J -A "Slackware Install 1" \ -hide-rr-moved \ -v -d -N \ -eltorito-boot isolinux/isolinux.bin \ -eltorito-catalog isolinux/boot.cat \ -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table \ -isohybrid-mbr /usr/share/syslinux/isohdpfx.bin \ -no-emul-boot -isohybrid-gpt-basdat \ -volid "SlackCD1" \ -output /tmp/slackware-install-1.iso \ . Making a non-bootable disc is similar. Just omit a few options: cd d2 xorriso -as mkisofs \ -iso-level 3 \ -full-iso9660-filenames \ -R -J -A "Slackware Install 2" \ -hide-rr-moved \ -v -d -N \ -volid "SlackCD2" \ -output /tmp/slackware-install-2.iso \ . To burn an ISO image to CD-R(W), the cdrecord command is used. For complete instructions, see the man page ('man cdrecord'). On my own machine where the burner is /dev/cdrw, disc one would be burned with the following command: cat /tmp/slackware-install-1.iso | cdrecord -v dev=/dev/cdrw speed=10 fs=8m -tao -eject -data - As before, it's possible to burn from the disc trees without the intermediate step of creating iso images by piping the output directly to cdrecord: cd d1 xorriso -as mkisofs \ -iso-level 3 \ -full-iso9660-filenames \ -R -J -A "Slackware Install 1" \ -hide-rr-moved \ -v -d -N \ -eltorito-boot isolinux/isolinux.bin \ -eltorito-catalog isolinux/boot.cat \ -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table \ -isohybrid-mbr /usr/share/syslinux/isohdpfx.bin \ -no-emul-boot -isohybrid-gpt-basdat \ -volid "SlackCD1" \ -output - \ . | cdrecord -v dev=/dev/cdrw speed=10 fs=8m -tao -eject -data - ----- NOTES: The isolinux/isolinux.boot file will be created on the disc; it's not supposed to be in the source tree. I mention this only because so many people report the "missing" isolinux/isolinux.boot file as a bug. The "-boot-load-size 4" is actually not large enough to hold the isolinux boot loader, but many BIOS implementations are broken and will *only* accept "4". Evidently many newer, more correct BIOS implementations expect this and will continue to load the boot loader file until the EOF is reached. Anyway, previous uses of larger values were correct, but led to the Slackware ISO not booting on some machines which contained broken BIOS implementations. It is my hope that by using the incorrect value of 4 sectors that the ISO will boot on most (if not all) machines that are supposed to be able to boot from an ISO image. I don't know how to create a bootable Slackware ISO on operating systems other than Linux, but it should be easy to burn the Linux-created ISO with most CD burning software on any operating system. Enjoy! -P.