A group of former high-level execs from Red Hat are planning to launch a startup called rPath that will support customized Linux distributions. RPath’s core Linux offering, based on the Conary open-source project, represents a new way to build and maintain Linux without the overhead associated with RPM specification files and large binaries required for mainstream Linux distributions such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux, sources said. Conary is a distributed software management system for Linux distributions that enables developers to branch a distribution and intermingle other components from the Internet, rather than use a full distribution from a single vendor....