T2 SDE (System Development Environment) is a highly customizable and portable build system for creating complete Linux distributions from source. It serves as a robust toolkit for building everything from embedded platforms to full desktop systems, offering unmatched flexibility and control.

🛠️ Project Origins: From ROCK Linux to T2

The T2 project traces its roots back to the pioneering ROCK Linux distribution, originally developed in the late 1990s by Claire Wolf. ROCK Linux was an ambitious source-based distribution designed to be clean, modular, and flexible. As the community and technical needs evolved, the core ideas and technologies of ROCK Linux were carried forward into a modern, more advanced system—T2 SDE.

Since its fork in 2004, T2 has expanded support for cross-compilation to dozens of CPU architectures, evolved its build system, and continued the legacy of a fully open, configurable Linux distribution framework.

🔧 Key Features

• Source-Based Build System: Every component is built from source, ensuring transparency, auditability, and control
• Cross-Compilation Support: Seamlessly build binaries for over 20 architectures, including x86, ARM, RISC-V, PowerPC, MIPS, and more
• Highly Modular: Over 5000 package recipes available, each independently maintained and configurable
• Customizable Targets: Build anything from minimal embedded firmware to full-featured desktop and server environments
• OtherOS Home-brew: Supports building packages on other OS, including macOS and BSD using one unified package repository
• Long-Term Upkeep: Active development with regular updates, security patches, and modern upstream software integration

🚀 Use Cases

• Embedded Linux systems and firmware
• Custom desktop or server distributions
• Hardened, auditable OS builds for secure deployments
• Academic and research environments
• Operating system experimentation and prototyping

💡 Why Choose T2?

Unlike binary distributions where much is hidden behind precompiled packages, T2 gives you total control over every piece of software on your system. Its clean and extensible design makes it ideal for developers who want to:

• Understand how their system works from the ground up
• Strip down Linux for minimal or embedded use
• Harden or customize builds for specialized environments
• Contribute to a transparent and powerful open-source ecosystem