Note: bootable here refers to an Installation CD, not to the El Torito bootable CD standard if narrowly construed, or to a Live CD if widely construed.

What tools exist to create a bootable CD based on Ubuntu 12.04? Unlike the Live CD used for the Desktop edition, the Server edition doesn't use Casper and that's exactly what I want. I.e. this question is not about a live CD!

I have read InstallCDCustomization, but that only covers preseeding, adding modules etc. What I would like to achieve is rather to build a bootable CD from scratch, preferably based on the kernel of my running system, the bash and other binaries from that running system. I know how to preseed my own installation CD, so I'm comfortable with the tools involved there. However, that skips important parts such as creating the directory structure that is expected on a bootable CD. And that's what I'm looking for.

I guess the question could be summed up as: what tools are the Ubuntu build masters using to author the alternate and server installation CDs and where can I find documentation for these?

I would prefer doing this on the terminal (because that's how I run the Ubuntu Server installations themselves). But if I need a second machine with GUI to do it, I can certainly live with that.