Duplicating a partition's directory structure - How?

[Richard Owlett]

I wish to duplicate a partition's directory structure without any 
of the existing file contents. The immediate application is a 
heavily customized version of an installation DVD. There are two 
underlying goals. I wish to reuse some existing utilities which 
expect to find data in a particular branch of the directory tree. 
The second is very similar in that a person familiar with a 
structure would assume that certain types of information will be 
in a particular sub-directory.

Also this will be an educational experience as I expect the 
answer will be elegant in its simplicity and point me towards 
chasms in my understanding of Linux.

Thank you.