Linux LiveCD for software developers

Question

Hi all,

My primary development platform is Windows, however I sometimes need access to Linux for porting and testing my apps. To do so I use a preconfigured general purpose VMware image. However I'm looking for a simpler, more light-weight solution. I'm thinking about a zero-installation LiveCD dedicated to software development, booted inside VMware, and accessed through SSH (and XWin for graphical stuff).

Do you folks use, or know of existing Live-based solutions for software developers? I mainly use C/C++ and am perfectly happy with bash and vi most of the time, so I have no specific requirement on IDEs.

Answer 1

c++ is boxed in most distribution by default. I use ubuntu and it will work in your case too.

Edit using a live cd for development is not a very good idea. You will need persistence.

Answer 2

The team @ SUSE Studio allows you to include what you need in a Live Distro

Creating a custom Linux appliance is a simple process, after registration you can create custom distros with ability to select OS base, desktop environment, architecture, software's, configuration, overlay files, user-accounts, databases and scripts, once configured you can queue your distro for compilation and download it in format of your choice - Live CD/DVD, VMware image, HDD/USB image or Xen virtual image

have a look @ susestudio

Answer 3

You should try with Knoppix LiveDVD, it comes with most of the testing & development software you could need (KDevelop, Eclipse, Bluefish).

Anyway, C/C++ compilers are ready in almost all distros by default, so there's no trouble if you use your favourite distro for this purpose.