What is Devil-Linux?
Devil-Linux is a distribution which boots and runs completely from CDROM. The configuration can be saved to a floppy diskette or a USB pen drive. Devil Linux was originally intended to be a dedicated firewall/router but now Devil-Linux can also be used as a server for many applications. Attaching an optional hard drive is easy, and many network services are included in the distribution.
The system is designed to install without the use of a hard drive. It requires the use of a CDROM and a write-protected floppy. The CDROM provides the operating system, and the floppy provides the configuration information, via a tarball that is unpacked into the /etc directory. In this way, the system is fully configurable, yet the running system has no writeable device.
Devil-Linux is a Linux distribution for use as a router/firewall which boots and runs completely from CD-ROM which can be put on an older PC that would otherwise go to waste. This, combined with a hub or switch is a solution some Linux users prefer instead of using a dedicated router.
Devil-Linux does not provide a graphical interface, making it a very light-weight distribution. Nevertheless, it includes a wide range of services (E.g.: DNS, Web, FTP, SMTP, ...), tools (MySQL, Lynx, Wget, ...) and security utilities (OpenVPN, Shorewall, ...) ensuring a high level of flexibility. Saving the configuration to a (later write protected) floppy disk, the settings can be restored at boot. Without using writable media, Devil-Linux is extremely secure from outside attacks.
Devil-Linux uses a Linux from Scratch (LFS) build system that allows the user to create customized versions of this distribution.
It uses the grsecurity kernel-patch.
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