With TKLDev, building a TurnKey image from scratch is as easy as grabbing the source and running make:
root@tkldev ~$ cd core /turnkey/fab/products/turnkey/core root@tkldev turnkey/core$ make
If you can handle that you're ready to roll.
"Simple things should be simple. Hard things should be possible."
—Alan Kay
If you have the skills to setup a Debian/Ubuntu system to do what you want you are already 95% of the way to using TKLDev to create a "productized" version of that. The learning curve isn't steep. What TKLDev does is provide a convenient framework that supports a rapid development cycle and automates away most of the drudge work.
The source code to the existing library of 100+ TurnKey images provides a rich source of working examples you can borrow from.
TKLDev isn't TurnKey specific. You can build any Debian based Linux distribution with it. We do use it a lot for TurnKey though so we've been continually refining it to scratch our own itches and make common tasks (e.g., installing packages, configuration files) as simple and easy as possible.
The code footprint for most integrations is small, because most of the basic functionality is inherited from the common repository. For example, TurnKey Core is just 6 lines of TKLDev "code":
root@tkldev ~$ cd /turnkey/fab/products /turnkey/fab/products root@tkldev fab/products$ git-clone https://github.com/turnkeylinux-apps/core Cloning into core... root@tkldev fab/products# wc -l $(find core -type f|grep -v '\.git\|png\|jpg\|changelog\|README.rst\|txt$') 3 core/Makefile 1 core/plan/main 2 core/conf.d/main 6 total
The code for Core doesn't do much beyond inheriting from the common base:
root@tkldev fab/products# cat core/Makefile WEBMIN_FW_TCP_INCOMING = 22 12320 12321 include $(FAB_PATH)/common/mk/turnkey.mk root@tkldev fab/products# cat core/plan/main #include <turnkey/base> root@tkldev fab/products# cat core/conf.d/main #!/bin/sh -ex echo "do nothing - core requires no post-package configuration commands"
TurnKey LAMP stack, which is slightly more complicated is still just 147 lines of "code":
root@tkldev fab/products$ git-clone https://github.com/turnkeylinux-apps/lamp Cloning into lamp... root@tkldev fab/products$ wc -l $(find lamp -type f | grep -v '\.git\|png\|jpg\|changelog\|README.rst\|txt$') 11 lamp/plan/main 1 lamp/overlay/etc/skel/.bashrc.d/php-xdebug 17 lamp/overlay/etc/apache2/mods-available/status.conf 23 lamp/overlay/etc/apache2/sites-available/default 10 lamp/overlay/var/www/cgi-bin/test.cgi 73 lamp/overlay/var/www/index.php 1 lamp/overlay/var/www/phpinfo.php 5 lamp/conf.d/main 1 lamp/removelist 5 lamp/Makefile 147 total
The hard part usually isn't using TKLDev but getting the integration details right (e.g., combining packages and configurations).
If you're going to integrate a Linux system you're going to have to do that anyway and test it, so why not to do it in a way that is well documented and repeatable as opposed to an error prone manual process. Your future self will appreciate it and so will everyone else that wants to benefit from and build on your work.
No! You can build any type of Debian based distribution you want. Desktops, servers, embedded systems.
There are no strings attached. If you don't want to, you don't have to include common TurnKey functionality or any of the custom TurnKey components.
Sadly, we've gotten into the nasty habit of pre-pending TKL - the TurnKey Linux initials - to all things TurnKey but don't let that fool you. Under the hood TKLDev is 100% general purpose.
Of course we'll be delighted if you end up using TKLDev to help us improve TurnKey but everyone is more than welcome to use it for other things as well.
It's recommended to read through documentation in the following order:
- Setup: build your first image.
- Hello world: say hello by making your first change.
- Development: understand how stuff works in greater detail.
- Tips and tricks: reference collection of tips and tricks.
More advanced Linux users may be able to fast forward through most of it and learn the most by examining a few real-life examples from the TurnKey library: https://github.com/turnkeylinux-apps
If you find yourself confused, take a step back and read through the rest of the documentation first to get an overview of how things works, learn more about development best practices, etc. We've made this easy enough so anyone that wants to can jump in and make cool stuff happen.