After several failed attempts, I finally got an automagically generated
PyDAW-OS live Linux .iso image...  It's based on the standard Kickstart
.ks file way of customizing a live CD/DVD, which works well enough, but
isn't nearly as fast as using unsquashfs/squashfs/mkisofs.  I found that
encoding the .rpm file as a string and embedding it into the .ks file was
the only sane way to pass the latest PyDAW RPM into the install.

What didn't work:

Manipulating an existing .iso :  Never booted correctly, ever.  Also, the mkisofs image was nearly 2x bigger than the directory itself.
iUpdate .gitignore