A new important feature has been added in SystemRescueCd-1.1.0-beta8. It’s now possible to add your own packages to SystemRescueCd using the Gentoo-Linux package management system (SystemRescueCd is based on Gentoo).

The development tools (gcc, automake, autoconf, …) and the Gentoo-Linux package management tools (emerge, equery, …) have been added to recent SystemRescueCd-1.1.0 versions. These tools are required to install new packages since everything is compiled when you install new stuff on Gentoo. With this new programs, the ISO image grew by about 20MiB only because we are using a squash filesystem with the very efficient lzma compression.

Now it’s possible to install new packages with a command such as “emerge gparted” during the customization. You still have to use sysresccd-custom, it’s just an extra step.

Here is the summarized procedure:
1. expand the sysrcd.dat in /mnt/custom
2. mount -o bind /proc /mnt/custom/proc
3. extract a recent gentoo portage in /mnt/custom/files/usr/portage
4. chroot /mnt/custom
5. install new packages using the gentoo commands (emerge yourpkg)
6. umount everything properly
7. clean /usr/portage
8. recreate sysrcd.dat with mksquashfs
9. recreate the iso image

The complete procedure with details and examples can be found in the official handbook.

All feed back is welcome about this new feature. Please, post questions and suggestions in this section of the forums.