I used OpenFactory to build my own Linux distro overnight – this AI tool is going to be big

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ZDNET key takeaways

• OpenFactory is a new service to build custom Linux distros.
• Although it’s targeted toward businesses, users can also benefit.
• The service is currently in the early alpha stage.

Recently, a developer, Erik Ziegenbalg, reached out to me to test his new service, called OpenFactory. I was skeptical at first, because I’ve seen such services make lofty promises they didn’t deliver on. Still, I offered to give it a try.

What is Openfactory?

If you head over to openfactory.tech, you can scroll down and read the following description:

“Build bootable Linux images, multi-node labs, and fleet deployments from a prompt, Git repo, or reusable recipe. Boot and test them in VMs, apply CIS controls, deploy web apps, and record visual app tests.”

Sounds complicated, because it is. Anytime you’re dealing with such a service, most likely it’s going to speak in a language that only those in the IT industry will understand, so let me put it in simpler terms.

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With OpenFactory, you can build a bootable Linux distribution, create a remote lab of servers, or even generate reusable recipes so you can recreate those distros at a later time. Once built, you can download the ISO of your operating system and boot it.

You can even build an OS for a PinePhone. 

Or, you can simply try different distributions online. You can choose from the likes of AerynOS, AlmaLinux, Alpine Linux, AnduinOS, antiX, Archcraft, Arch Linux…okay, you get the idea. Including variants, there are 1356 different distributions for you to run.

That should sound a bit more appealing, right?

Keep in mind, this is pre-alpha software, so my experience was a bit bumpy. I had a lengthy back-and-forth with the developer to describe my experience, so he could resolve bugs along the way. In the end, I had a Debian-based, KDE Plasma distribution with the tools I needed as a creator. Even better, I could go back to that build, run tests, rebuild it (adding or removing features), view details, or download the ISO again.

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There are also two ways you can build your distro: Either via an AI prompt or a selection menu. I tried both paths and found each led to a successfully bootable distribution.

Imagine you need a Linux distribution to do a very specific thing, or a combination of things, and neither is offered by any other distribution on the market. Yes, you could take the time to build everything you need from a base (such as Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, or Arch), but in some cases, the pieces necessary to create what you need could be quite challenging to put together. Either that, or you need a reproducible recipe that can be shared across organizations, so every member of your IT team can deploy the same Linux distribution with the same feature set.

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How does it work?

The first thing you want to do is sign up for an account, so you can save your builds. You don’t want to put in the work, only to not have access to your downloadable ISOs.

Once you’ve logged into your account, you can click New Chat in the upper left corner to describe the operating system you want. In the prompt, I typed the following:

Build a desktop distribution geared specifically for creative types that uses the KDE Plasma desktop, customized to look like macOS, and includes several tools for writing, sound recording, video editing, podcasting, streaming, image editing, and desktop publishing. Include the KDE utilities, Ollama (and the Alpaca GUI), and make sure the distribution is installable with the Calamares installer.

After I finished the prompt, I clicked Validate Recipe. This takes a while to complete, as it has to validate everything that comes together to create the OS. When that completes, you can then click Start Build.

This is when you sit back and relax, tackle another project or chore, or take a nap, because the build process can take quite some time. When the build is complete, you’ll be presented with a download screen, where you can download the ISO in ZIP file format. Once the file is downloaded, extract it to reveal a new folder. Inside that new folder will be your ISO. You can then either burn that ISO to a USB flash drive and boot it, or use it for a new virtual machine.

On my second attempt, I did run into an issue. I clicked Download and received the following error:

{“detail”:”Failed to create download package”}

I went back and rebuilt the ISO to see if that would solve the issue. Turns out there was a credential issue that the developer had to fix.

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I said this was pre-alpha.

Third time’s the charm, correct? I started the build a third time and waited for it to complete. I had a good feeling about this one.

Again… pre-alpha.

The build process has to go through several steps:

• Git Agent
• Planning Agent
• Config Agent
• Apps Agent
• Package Agent
• Build Agent
• Test Agent
• Orchestrator

As you can see, OpenFactory does rely heavily on AI, but don’t let that take away from what the developer has created. Once Erik Ziegenbalg has finalized a general release, this service is going to be impressive.

The current build has been going strong for about 30 minutes, and it’s 58% done. That should give you an idea of how much time it takes to build an ISO. Of course, that will depend on how complex your distribution is.

The build completed. I downloaded the zip file, extracted it, booted it as a virtual machine, and found that it pretty much missed the mark. Instead of Ubuntu with KDE Plasma and the specific apps I requested, I wound up with Ubuntu with GNOME, and the only app that was preinstalled was LibreOffice. When I went to run the Calamares installer, it failed.

Another chat with the developer revealed this was another bug. He fixed it and relaunched the build. This is part of the fun of dealing with alpha software, when you can get the developer involved.

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Eventually, after an evening of chatting, an overnight build, and a two-hour download (the ISO was over 9 GB), I was able to boot my customized system that included everything I asked for.

Sweet.

The only remaining problem was installing the system to disk. According to the developer, an install-to-disk testing loop had yet to be implemented when I tested it, but he added it on Aug. 12.

Pricing

Ziegenbalg shared with me the pricing model for OpenFactory, which includes five tiers:

• Free – 15 ISO builds/month, 1 ISO download per month, 90 hosted VM minutes/month, 3 concurrent VMs, 2 vCPU, 4GB RAM, 20 GB of disk, and a 24-hour artifact window.
• Builder – $15/month – 50 ISO builds/month, 5 hosted VM hours/month, 3 concurrent hosted VMs, 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 30 GB space, 7-day artifact retention, and downloadable ISOs.
• Team – $59/seat/month – 200 ISO builds/month, 20 hosted VM hours/seat/month (pooled), 3 concurrent VMs on the first seat, 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 50 GB storage, SSH, snapshots, SBOMs, 14-day artifacts, and BYOK or self-hosted LLM ready.
• Compliance (contact sales) – CycloneDX SBOM and verification evidence, GxP and CIS workflow mapping, identity requirements scoped in pilot, ServiceNow drift workflow pilot, customer-controlled deployment pilot.
• BYOC Fleet (contact sales) – Customer cloud or on-prem boundary review, bring-your-own compute/GPU/LLM, air-gap readiness assessment, pilot image and validation plan, dedicated technical review.

According to Ziegenbalg, it should take at least 3 more months before the service is ready for general use. This is an exciting service that would appeal to users, developers, and organizations. Create an account and see what there is to see on this up-and-coming service before it gets big!