1 | <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
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2 | <!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
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3 | "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
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4 | <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../general.ent">
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5 | %general-entities;
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6 | ]>
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7 |
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8 | <sect1 id="foreword" xreflabel="Foreword">
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9 | <?dbhtml filename="foreword.html"?>
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10 |
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11 | <sect1info>
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12 | <othername>$LastChangedBy$</othername>
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13 | <date>$Date$</date>
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14 | </sect1info>
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15 |
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16 | <title>Foreword</title>
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17 |
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18 | <!--
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19 | <para>Version 6.0 is a major milestone in the evolution of BLFS. This
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20 | version provides installation instructions for 357 packages and an additional
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21 | 21 sections covering configuration and customization of different aspects
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22 | of your system.</para>
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23 |
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24 | <para>Changes and upgrades to the individual packages are detailed in the
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25 | <xref linkend="changelog"/>. There you will see literally hundreds of
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26 | changes made since the last edition. In this change log, one name that you
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27 | will see over and over is Randy McMurchy. Without his efforts this
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28 | release would not have been possible. I want to take this opportunity to thank
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29 | him for the hundreds of hours he has worked to produce this release. I
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30 | also want to thank the other editors, both past and present, whose insight
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31 | and effort have made this current version possible. Last, but certainly not least,
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32 | I want to thank our resident XSL wizard, Manuel Canales Esparcia, whose
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33 | ability to format a complicated document such as BLFS is truly amazing.</para>
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34 |
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35 | <para>There are two other areas of change that are worthy of note. First,
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36 | the license that BLFS is released under has changed significantly. In
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37 | fact, it is now released under two licenses. The first license, the
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38 | <xref linkend="CC"/>, covers the descriptive text in the book. The second, the
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39 | <xref linkend="AFL"/>, covers the instructions actually used to build and
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40 | install the packages. These licenses, along with the book itself, represent
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41 | our ongoing commitment to open and free software.</para>
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42 |
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43 | <para>The final area of change is the addition of an Index. This section of
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44 | the book is still incomplete, but as the book continues to be developed,
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45 | will become an excellent resource for finding programs, libraries,
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46 | configuration files, and references to kernel configuration requirements. I
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47 | hope you find it useful.</para>
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48 |
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49 | <blockquote>
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50 | <literallayout>Bruce Dubbs
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51 | March 17, 2005</literallayout>
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52 | </blockquote>
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53 |
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54 | <para>Version 6.1 is an incremental update of BLFS. This version
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55 | continues the tradition of providing an extensive set of instructions for
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56 | extending a basic Linux From Scratch system. The instructions in this
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57 | version of BLFS are based on the LFS 6.1 Book. As usual, the list of
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58 | packages that have been upgraded or added are in the
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59 | <xref linkend="changelog"/>.</para>
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60 |
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61 | <para>One major accomplishment in this
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62 | version of the book is the completion of the Index. This section
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63 | is now a relatively complete (but not perfect) reference for the components
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64 | of the various packages in the book.</para>
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65 |
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66 | <para>In any task as large and complex as this book, there are bound to
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67 | be errors. The editors of the book are dedicated to keeping the book up
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68 | to date. We appreciate any feedback in helping us to make the book as
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69 | accurate as possible. The best place to provide comments is via the
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70 | mailing list at <ulink url="mailto:blfs-dev@&lfs-domainname;"/>.</para>
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71 |
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72 | <para>Enjoy!</para>
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73 |
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74 | <blockquote>
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75 | <literallayout>Bruce Dubbs
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76 | August 1, 2005</literallayout>
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77 | </blockquote>
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78 |
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79 | <para>Version 6.2.0 is the complement to the LFS 6.2 book. More time has
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80 | elapsed between the release of the previous version (6.1) and this one than
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81 | in any other release cycle. Much of this is due to the fact that LFS 6.2
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82 | took much longer to be released than was originally anticipated. Many new
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83 | packages have been introduced in the 6.2.0 version, as well as many
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84 | updates, refinements and additions to the existing packages.</para>
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85 |
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86 | <para>The BLFS book now provides build and configuration instructions for
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87 | almost 400 packages. Some of the new packages introduced in this version are:
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88 | autotooled XOrg, HAL, D-BUS, GStreamer (now broken out into separate plugin
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89 | packages), usbutils, libquicktime, GraphViz, K3b, dvd+rw-tools, NSS, Libidn,
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90 | GAIM, Poppler, SeaMonkey, XChat, Audacious, cairo and unixODBC. Major updates
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91 | include GNOME-2.14.3 (with several new GNOME packages such as Totem,
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92 | gnome-mount and gnome-volume-manager), KDE-3.5.6, Firefox-1.5.x,
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93 | Thunderbird-1.5.x, and most of the mainline server packages. As always, the
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94 | list of packages that have been upgraded or added as well as configuration
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95 | and build command changes are annotated in the
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96 | <xref linkend="changelog"/>.</para>
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97 |
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98 | <para>Unfortunately, BLFS activity was semi-stagnant for several months
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99 | after (and shortly before) the LFS 6.2 release. Therefore, many of the
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100 | packages are somewhat dated (compared to previous BLFS versions). This
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101 | brings us to why the versioning scheme has changed. This release is 6.2.0
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102 | as we fully anticipate releasing another version (6.2.1) just as soon as
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103 | possible. The 6.2.1 release will also be based on the LFS-6.2 book, but
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104 | will include updated packages, and fixes for any errors which may be
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105 | discovered in 6.2.0.</para>
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106 |
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107 | <para>As always, the main thrust of BLFS development will be to support
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108 | the changes in the current LFS development book, but any changes or
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109 | updates to the BLFS development book (that are compatible with LFS 6.2)
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110 | will also be merged into the BLFS 6.2 branch. This way, a 6.2.1 version
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111 | of BLFS should be released fairly soon, and should provide a very current
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112 | and stable Linux platform.</para>
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113 |
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114 | <para>Enjoy!</para>
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115 | -->
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116 |
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117 | <para>This is the development version of the BLFS book. This version of the
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118 | book is intended to be used when building on top of a system built using the
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119 | LFS development book as well as the current stable version of LFS. Though this
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120 | version of the book is development in nature, every effort has been made to
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121 | ensure accuracy and reliability of the instructions. Many people find that
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122 | using the instructions in this book after building the current stable or
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123 | development version of LFS provides a stable and very modern Linux system.</para>
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124 |
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125 | <!--
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126 | <para>If you have built LFS using a released version (the most recent being
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127 | LFS-6.3), then you probably don't want to use this version of BLFS, as
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128 | there could be incompatibilities. Instead, use the matching BLFS version
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129 | which should be available on all the mirrors.</para>
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130 | -->
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131 |
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132 | <para>Enjoy!</para>
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133 |
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134 | <blockquote>
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135 | <literallayout>Randy McMurchy
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136 | August 24th, 2008</literallayout>
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137 | </blockquote>
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138 |
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139 | </sect1>
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