$Id$ 1. INTRODUCTION:: This collection of scripts, known as jhalfs, strives to create accurate makefiles from the Linux From Scratch book series XML files. This software is an evolution of the original "jhalfs-0.2" code developed by Jeremy Huntwork. The usage of this script assumes you have read and are familiar with the book(s) and, therefore, the configuration variables found in menuconfig interface will have meaning to you. The list of supported books can be found at http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/alfs/wiki/SupportedBooks NOTES:: *. The resulting Makefile takes considerable time to run to completion. Lay in a supply of caffeine beverages. *. It is recommended that you temporarily unpack your linux kernel, run , configure the kernel as per the book and save the resulting .config file. *. Read carefully this file and the other README.* files before using this tool. 2. PREREQUISITES:: To use this tool you MUST: - have experience building {c,h,b}LFS packages - know how to edit and write shell scripts - know how a Makefile works - be able to trace build failures and to find what is causing them (user error, package bug, {c,h,b}LFS command bug, or jhalfs code bug) If you do not have the above skills, please don't use this tool. 3. INSTALLATION:: No installation is required. You should just run in this directory. 4. CONFIGURATION:: Configuration is done through a menu based interface. See the section RUNNING, for details. 5. RUNNING:: The command will launch a menu based configuration program. You will recognize the layout from building the kernel or uClibc/BusyBox. The underlying menu code was borrowed from BusyBox and slightly modified for our use. Help on parameter function is available from the on-line help. Please make use of that feature: it may contain additional information not duplicated in this file. You should first choose which book and flavour you want to build. Note that when you choose the BLFS book, the tool will just install the BLFS tool to your system. You'll have to run that installed tool to build packages in BLFS. See README.BLFS to know how. If you choose any other book, you'll have to configure the settings and the build parameters from the menu. Note that you may choose to install the blfs tools onto the newly built system (see below). It is not the same thing as choosing the BLFS book in the menu, which will install the blfs tools on the currently running system. Once you have set the parameters and saved the configuration, the script is launched. Its aim is to extract instructions from the selected book to generate scripts, and to generate a Makefile, which allows running the scripts in the right order. The script verifies first that the host can run it and build the xLFS system, then validates the configuration and lists the parameters. At this point, you may choose to quit or to continue with the listed parameters. The script will then proceed to generate the Makefile and the build scripts, optionally download packages, and eventually verify the host prerequisite. If you have selected "Run the makefile", the command make is launched in the adequate directory, and the build begins. If not, you'll have to run "make" manually, for example: "make -C /mnt/build_dir/jhalfs", if you have used the default parameters (see the layout under $BUILDDIR in the Q&A below). IMPORTANT:: You must be logged as a normal user with sudo privileges to run the Makefile. Furthermore, you are supposed to have enough privilege to become any user. If you are not bothered about security issues, the entry for the user "jhalfs_user" in /etc/sudoers could be jhalfs_user ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL NOTE:: If you run the jhalfs script directly the only function you can select is to display the version number running <./jhalfs -v> 6. BLFS_TOOL SUPPORT:: For books that support it (only LFS for jhalfs version 2.4), there is an option to install an automated framework for building BLFS packages. It is called blfs-tool. When you tick `BOOK Settings/Add blfs-tool support' in jhalfs configuration menu, the tools are installed in $BLFS_ROOT (default /blfs_root) on the xLFS system, and a few dependencies (which you may select) are built at the end of the jhalfs run, before the custom tools. The instructions for building the dependencies are taken from the BLFS book. (TODO: blfs-tools have not been tested with current (version 3.0) of CLFS, and certainly need some adaptation to run) WARNING:: If you add blfs-tool support on a CLFS Sysroot build you MUST edit the scripts to fix the installation paths. After booting the new xLFS system some steps are needed to finish the installation of the automated tools: - A user account must be created. You must be logged on that user account to use blfs-tool. This is not strictly necessary, since the packages can be built as root, too, but it is never a good idea to build packages as root. - Move /blfs-root to that user's home and change ownership of the directory and files to the user. - Give the user read and write privileges over the $TRACKING_DIR directory and the files that it contains. - Configure sudo, adding the needed privileges for the user. For newer sudo version, do not forget to add a line Defaults secure_path= containing /sbin and /usr/sbin (in /etc/sudoers), otherwise some executables are not found. - Although it is not strictly necessary, it is recommended to install the bash shell startup files (as per `3.After LFS Configuration Issues' of the BLFS book), as some instructions in BLFS rely on their being present. We assume that blfs-tool will be used on a running fresh xLFS system. To use it to build BLFS packages from the chroot jail is also possible, but not supported. To know how to use blfs-tool, see README.BLFS. 7. LAYOUT:: /BLFS (see README.BLFS) /CLFS/master.sh /clfs.xsl /CLFS2/master.sh /clfs2.xsl /CLFS3/master.sh /clfs3.xsl /HLFS/master.sh /hlfs.xsl /LFS/master.sh /lfs.xsl /common/common_functions /makefile_functions /packages.xsl /urls.xsl /create-sbu_du-report.sh /progress_bar.sh /blfs-tool-deps/9xx-* /libs/func_* /custom/template /config/ /examples/* /examples_CLFS-E/* /extras/do_copy_files /do_ica_prep /do_ica_work /farce /filelist /optimize/opt_config /opt_override /optimize_functions /opt_config.d/noOpt /noSymbols /O3pipe /O3pipe_march /defOpt_fPIC /menu/* README README.BLFS README.CLFS README.HLFS README.CUSTOM TODO LICENSE Config.in Makefile jhalfs blfs-tool 8. FAQ:: Q. "This 'help' file is very sparse" A. Yes, it is. This tool, jhalfs, is for those who understand the LFS books and wish to automate the build. 99% of any problems that arise can be solved by reading the book(s). Q. "It doesn't work!" A. Yes it does, try >> make Remember you must have 'sudo' privileges. Q. "It still doesn't work" A. jhalfs was designed to work against the development versions of the LFS series of books. Consequently changes in a book(s) sometimes breaks older versions of jhalfs. Before you start pulling out your hair download the latest version of jhalfs to see if that solves your problem. Q. "How do I specify the build location?" A. The original LFS document worked against the well known location /mnt/lfs. This script automates the build of all of the LFS series of books and uses a generic location $BUILDDIR with a default value of /mnt/build_dir. You may change this value to suit your needs. The layout below $BUILDDIR is as follows. $BUILDDIR/ jhalfs (Makefile, cmd scripts, logs, etc..) sources (where packages reside) tools (temporary bootstrap system) cross-tools (temporary CLFS only) ... FHS dir structure ... blfs_root (files to use blfs-tool if selected to install it) Q. "What is the function of the SRC_ARCHIVE variable?" A. When jhalfs runs and packages download was selected, it creates a local copy of the necessary packages in BUILDDIR/sources by downloading the files. If the variable SRC_ARCHIVE is defined the software will first look in this location for the file and, if found, will copy it to BUILDDIR/sources. If the files are not found in SRC_ARCHIVE _and_ you have write priv to the directory any downloaded files will be mirrored there. Q. "How do I set the SRC_ARCHIVE location?" A. The best way to set the value of SRC_ARCHIVE is export SRC_ARCHIVE=/wherever/you/store/downloaded/packages or you can set the full path in the proper menu entry. Q. "Why have 2 copies of the files?" A. The package files must be visible during the chroot phase and this is a simple and reliable method of doing so. This method also handles the CLFS boot build method where the final build may be done on a separate machine. Q. "What is the function of "User account" and "Group account" menu settings?" A. If you are running jhalfs from a low or non-privileged account you may not have the priv to create/delete the user needed to build temporary tools. These settings allow you to use your own user and group name to do those build steps. These variables are adjustable also when invoking make: $BUILDDIR make LUSER=myaccount LGROUP=mygroup The only changes to your account will be the creation of a NEW .bashrc after saving your original to .bashrc.XXX Q. "When I try to build CLFS the Makefile fails at mid-point" A. There could be numerous reasons for the failure but the most likely reason is you are doing a cross-build using the 'chroot' method and the target is not compatible with the host. If you choose to build using the chroot method a test is performed at the end of the temptools phase. If the test succeeds the build continues inside a chroot jail. However if the test fails, it means the host and target are not compatible an you should use the 'boot' method to create your target code. As an extreme example: You can build a sparc target on a x86 platform but only the temptools phase. You must select the 'boot' method and not the 'chroot.' You must transfer the toolchain to a sparc platform, reboot the sparc box and continue the build. Of all the LFS series of books Cross-LFS requires the greatest understanding of host/target hardware combination. Please read the book carefully and don't skip the easy parts (there are none...) Q. "How could I stop the build at a predefined chosen point?" A. Launch the Makefile manually passing the last numbered target to be build as the break point. For example: make BREAKPOINT=84-bash The build can be stopped also at the end of a top-level build phase by calling directly the appropriate mk_* target. For example: make mk_LUSER See the Makefile to know the proper target names for that book build. Authors: George Boudreau Manuel Canales Esparcia Pierre Labastie