pearOS ISO

The ISO builder for pearOS, an Arch Linux-based distribution with a macOS-inspired experience. This repository contains the build system that creates bootable ISO images — used by 304+ GitHub stars and the pearOS community.

Table of Contents

• Overview
  • The Challenge
  • Links
• My Contributions
  • What I Worked On
  • Built With
  • What I Learned

Overview

The Challenge

The ISO build process was failing due to dependency mismatches — some packages referenced in the build scripts no longer existed in the Arch Linux ecosystem. Additionally, mirror lists and dependency sources needed updating to ensure reliable, reproducible builds across different environments.

Links

• GitHub: pearOS-archlinux/iso (304 stars)

My Contributions

What I Worked On

As a contributor, I focused on fixing the build pipeline and improving documentation:

• ISO build bug fix — identified and removed deprecated dependencies that no longer exist in the Arch Linux ecosystem, restoring the build process to a working state.
• Mirror and dependency list update — copied and updated the mirror lists and dependency sources used during ISO construction, ensuring reliable package downloads across different regions and build environments.
• README improvements — rewrote and clarified the README documentation, making build instructions more specific and easier to follow for new contributors and users building pearOS from source.

Built With

• Bash — build scripts and automation
• Arch Linux — base distribution
• pacstrap — package installation into chroot
• mksquashfs — compressed filesystem images
• xorriso — ISO 9660 filesystem creation
• Ploader — custom rEFInd bootloader fork

What I Learned

Working on the pearOS ISO builder deepened my understanding of Linux distribution build systems and the fragility of dependency chains in rolling-release ecosystems. I learned how to debug build pipeline failures and the importance of clear, maintainable documentation for complex build processes.