Problem

Every once in a while, i buy a new laptop and would like to install an operating system on it which will then be configured the way i like it. Next, I would uninstall all software that came as defaults and install only the stuff i use. Last, I would copy over all my data from my current machine or a backup.
This process usually takes quite some time, but I do it only once a year on average.

Solution

Have some kind of customos.json file that describes the base image for my custom operating system and on top of that a bash script that does all the work of installing/uninstalling software and transitioning my configuration and data. So every time I have a new laptop, i might adjust my customos.json based on the learnings I made since the last time i did this process and then run customos customos.json customos.iso to generate my customos.iso that i can then put on a usb stick or other media to be used on my freshly bought "bare metal" laptop in order to start the installation of my customized operating system

Interesting Links

• http://www.os-builder.com/#WORKS
• https://github.com/Distroshare/distroshare-ubuntu-imager
• https://github.com/clearkimura/Customizer
• http://www.linux-live.org/
• http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/
• https://www.packer.io/docs/
• https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/openbsd-will-get-unique-kernels-on-each-reboot-do-you-hear-that-linux-windows/