Yeah same. There are some types of text file where gedit doesn't even appear as an option. Like sometimes I don't want to open .xml files in the browser.

I was able to set VScode for .xml files but not gedit. It's not a huge deal but that one thing makes gnome feel like immature software.

Gentoo is great because they give you step by step directions for systemd and openrc so you can see the differences in action. (If you choose to read both sets of directions)

What distro do you use with runnit?

I tried both. They have the exact same questions.

However the one op posted respects the "I don't want systemd" request. And I personally prefer to get multiple answers.

But the mobile webdesign on ops posted link was not great. So it's a wash for me.

Alright thanks. Well if you know of any good resources for xorriso particularly with the -b (boot) flag I'd like to read them.

Google has been mostly serving me 15 year old SO posts that aren't relevant to modern Linux anymore.

Going to try the penguins-eggs method you posted. I would love to be able to turn a virtual box environment into an installable medium to make my own version of debian with all my gnome tweaks.

I would also love a solution that doesn't require booting into the OS first. So that I can take a root dir and turn it into a bootable iso. I tried a bunch of old tutorials for making a boot.iso and linking it into mkisofs with -b but it never worked.

I am willing to learn/use any free tooling. Not picky at all.