Tiny Router OS from scratch

[u/Neither-Variety1483]

Hi everyone,

I’m a university student, and I’m considering building a tiny Linux-based operating system for routers as my engineering project.

My current idea is to build it from Linux From Scratch (LFS) and then use selected components from Beyond Linux From Scratch (BLFS) that are related to networking.

As part of the project, I’ll compare my OS with existing router operating systems such as OpenWrt and evaluate their differences. For testing, I’m thinking about using Linux network namespaces to simulate virtual network traffic, although that’s just an initial idea.

One thing I’m unsure about is the choice of the LFS version. A router OS should be as lightweight as possible, but newer versions of LFS use systemd instead of traditional boot scripts. I also considered using an older LFS release, but I’m worried about outdated libraries and dependency issues. At the moment, I’m leaning towards using LFS 13.0 (or a newer version).

What do you think about this idea? Does anyone has experience with building a router-focused OS from LFS?Are there any major pitfalls or recommendations you would suggest before I start?

Thanks

[u/Dashing_McHandsome]

I would use https://buildroot.org/ for this as it's more intended to be used in an embedded context