First things first. All necessary dependencies are downloaded and installed. This happens though both http and torrent network. Btw. having too much unused traffic? [Help us to reduce ours :)](https://forum.armbian.com/topic/4198-seed-our-torrents/)
We need to get some predefined variables about selected the board. Which kernel & uboot source to use, modules to load, which is the build number, do we need to have a single partition or dual with boot on fat, which extra drivers to compile out of the kernel tree ...
All this stuff is predefined for each and every single supported board.
When we know which sources to use and where they need to be the download or updated this process starts. This might take from several minutes to several hours.
When the root filesystem is ready we need to install the kernel image with modules, board definitions and firmwares. Along with this we set the CPU frequency min/max, hostname, modules, network interfaces templates. Here is also the place to install headers and fix + native compile them on the way.
You can build a desktop environment withing the image. Consider this feature as experimental. Do not expect to have working hardware acceleration since this is a very complicated task and needs individial care for different boards.
There is an option to add some extra commands just before closing an image which is also automaticaly shrink to it's actual size with some small reserve.
