gerald_clark, OK I understand it's for creating a CD image, but I'm aiming for a core.gz as a stand-alone initrd image for a simpler network boot.
coreplayer2, I did try loading all extensions via 'app on initrd on boot' -- but a CDE directory with the base Xlib and flwm extensions is still there in the image dir.
As a shortcut solutions, (1) I tried including the extension filename in CDE into the onboot.lst, which ezremaster loaded in the 'extract to initrd' window, but this still produced the CDE and a non-X remaster. (2) Also tried chroot'ing into /tmp/ezremater/extract and looping 'tce-load -i $file' for the contents of CDE/optional/, but that silently failed. So still chipping away...