source: book/foreword.xml@ 24e9c23c

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<sect1 id="foreword" xreflabel="Foreword">
  <?dbhtml filename="foreword.html"?>

  <sect1info>
    <othername>$LastChangedBy$</othername>
    <date>$Date$</date>
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  <title>Foreword</title>

  <!--
  <para>Version 6.0 is a major milestone in the evolution of BLFS.  This
  version provides installation instructions for 357 packages and an additional
  21 sections covering configuration and customization of different aspects
  of your system.</para>

  <para>Changes and upgrades to the individual packages are detailed in the
  <xref linkend="changelog"/>.  There you will see literally hundreds of
  changes made since the last edition.  In this change log, one name that you
  will see over and over is Randy McMurchy.  Without his efforts this
  release would not have been possible.  I want to take this opportunity to thank
  him for the hundreds of hours he has worked to produce this release.  I
  also want to thank the other editors, both past and present, whose insight
  and effort have made this current version possible.  Last, but certainly not least,
  I want to thank our resident XSL wizard, Manuel Canales Esparcia, whose
  ability to format a complicated document such as BLFS is truly amazing.</para>

  <para>There are two other areas of change that are worthy of note.  First,
  the license that BLFS is released under has changed significantly.  In
  fact, it is now released under two licenses.  The first license, the
  <xref linkend="CC"/>, covers the descriptive text in the book. The second, the
  <xref linkend="AFL"/>, covers the instructions actually used to build and
  install the packages.  These licenses, along with the book itself, represent
  our ongoing commitment to open and free software.</para>

  <para>The final area of change is the addition of an Index.  This section of
  the book is still incomplete, but as the book continues to be developed,
  will become an excellent resource for finding programs, libraries,
  configuration files, and references to kernel configuration requirements.  I
  hope you find it useful.</para>

  <blockquote>
<literallayout>Bruce Dubbs
March 17, 2005</literallayout>
  </blockquote>

  <para>Version 6.1 is an incremental update of BLFS.  This version
  continues the tradition of providing an extensive set of instructions for
  extending a basic Linux From Scratch system. The instructions in this
  version of BLFS are based on the LFS 6.1 Book.  As usual, the list of
  packages that have been upgraded or added are in the
  <xref linkend="changelog"/>.</para>

  <para>One major accomplishment in this
  version of the book is the completion of the Index.  This section
  is now a relatively complete (but not perfect) reference for the components
  of the various packages in the book.</para>

  <para>In any task as large and complex as this book, there are bound to
  be errors.  The editors of the book are dedicated to keeping the book up
  to date.  We appreciate any feedback in helping us to make the book as
  accurate as possible.  The best place to provide comments is via the
  mailing list at <ulink url="mailto:blfs-dev@&lfs-domainname;"/>.</para>

  <para>Enjoy!</para>

  <blockquote>
<literallayout>Bruce Dubbs
August 1, 2005</literallayout>
  </blockquote>
  -->

  <para>BLFS version 6.3 is the complement to the LFS 6.3 book. It has been
  15 months since the last release of BLFS and almost nine months since LFS-6.3
  was released. Though we would like to release BLFS versions as quickly as
  possible after an LFS release, this version lagged a bit due to Editor
  inactivity. However, early on in 2008 several new Editors were brought on
  board which helped stimulate a flurry of activity.  Many new packages have
  been introduced in the 6.3 version, as well as many updates, refinements and
  additions to the existing packages.</para>

  <para>The BLFS book now provides build and configuration instructions for
  almost 500 packages (many more than that if you want to count each individual
  package in the autotooled X Window instructions). Some of the new packages
  introduced in this version are:
  Dash, ksh, D-Bus bindings, Wireshark (formerly named Ethereal), rxvt-unicode,
  Gutenprint (formerly name Gimp-Print), Pidgin (formerly name Gaim), GnuTLS
  (and many of its dependencies), Qt version 4.x, GnuPG version 2.x, and
  Amarok. Major updates include GNOME-2.18.3 (with several new GNOME packages),
  KDE-3.5.9, Firefox-2.x, Thunderbird-2.x, and most (if not all) of the
  mainline server packages. As always, the list of packages that have been
  upgraded or added as well as configuration and build command changes are
  annotated in the <xref linkend="changelog"/>.</para>

  <para>As always, the main thrust of BLFS development will be to support
  the changes in the current LFS development book, but we're releasing this
  version of BLFS so that builders of the stable LFS book can continue on
  into BLFS with known good instructions that should be 100% compatible to
  provide a semi current and very stable Linux platform.</para>

  <para>Enjoy!</para>

  <blockquote>
<literallayout>Randy McMurchy
May 11th, 2008</literallayout>
  </blockquote>

</sect1>