source: book/foreword.xml@ c8ce9b9

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

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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>Version 6.2.0 is the complement to the LFS 6.2 book. More time has
  elapsed between the release of the previous version (6.1) and this one than
  in any other release cycle. Much of this is due to the fact that LFS 6.2
  took much longer to be released than was originally anticipated. Many new
  packages have been introduced in the 6.2.0 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 400 packages. Some of the new packages introduced in this version are:
  autotooled XOrg, HAL, D-BUS, GStreamer (now broken out into separate plugin
  packages), usbutils, libquicktime, GraphViz, K3b, dvd+rw-tools, NSS, Libidn,
  GAIM, Poppler, SeaMonkey, XChat, Audacious, cairo and unixODBC. Major updates
  include GNOME-2.14.3 (with several new GNOME packages such as Totem,
  gnome-mount and gnome-volume-manager), KDE-3.5.6, Firefox-1.5.x,
  Thunderbird-1.5.x, and most 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>Unfortunately, BLFS activity was semi-stagnant for several months
  after (and shortly before) the LFS 6.2 release. Therefore, many of the
  packages are somewhat dated (compared to previous BLFS versions). This
  brings us to why the versioning scheme has changed. This release is 6.2.0
  as we fully anticipate releasing another version (6.2.1) just as soon as
  possible. The 6.2.1 release will also be based on the LFS-6.2 book, but
  will include updated packages, and fixes for any errors which may be
  discovered in 6.2.0.</para>

  <para>As always, the main thrust of BLFS development will be to support
  the changes in the current LFS development book, but any changes or
  updates to the BLFS development book (that are compatible with LFS 6.2)
  will also be merged into the BLFS 6.2 branch. This way, a 6.2.1 version
  of BLFS should be released fairly soon, and should provide a very current
  and stable Linux platform.</para>

  <para>Enjoy!</para>
  -->

  <para>This is the development version of the BLFS book. This version of the
  book is intended to be used when building on top of a system built using the
  LFS Development book. Though this version of the book is development in
  nature, every effort has been made to ensure accuracy and reliability of the
  instructions. Many people find that using the instructions in this book after
  building the development version of LFS provides a stable and very modern
  Linux system.</para>

  <para>If you have built LFS using a released version (the most recent being
  LFS-6.3), then you probably don't want to use this version of BLFS, as
  there could be incompatibilities. Instead, use the matching BLFS version
  which should be available on all the mirrors.</para>

  <para>Enjoy!</para>

  <blockquote>
<literallayout>Randy McMurchy
August 12th, 2008</literallayout>
  </blockquote>

</sect1>