source: book/preface.xml@ bccbdaea

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  <title>Preface</title>

  <sect1 id="preface-foreword">
    <?dbhtml filename="foreword.html"?>

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    <title>Foreword</title>

    <para>Having helped out with Linux From Scratch for a short time, I
    noticed that we were getting many queries as to how to do things beyond
    the base LFS system.  At the time, the only assistance specifically offered
    relating to LFS were the LFS hints (<ulink url="&hints-root;"/>).
    Most of the LFS hints are extremely good and well written
    but I (and others) could still see a need for more comprehensive help to
    go Beyond LFS - hence BLFS.</para>

    <para>BLFS aims to be more than the LFS-hints converted to XML although
    much of our work is based around the hints and indeed some authors write
    both hints and the relevant BLFS sections.  We hope that we can provide
    you with enough information to not only manage to build your system up to
    what you want, whether it be a web server or a multimedia desktop system,
    but also that you will learn a lot about system configuration as you go.</para>

    <para>Thanks as ever go to everyone in the LFS/BLFS
    community; especially those who have contributed instructions, written text,
    answered questions and generally shouted when things were wrong!</para>

    <para>Finally, we encourage you to become involved in the community; ask
    questions on the mailing list or news gateway and join in the fun on #lfs at
    irc.linuxfromscratch.org. You can find more details about all of these in the
    <xref linkend="introduction"/> section of the book.</para>

    <para>Enjoy using BLFS.</para>

    <blockquote>
<literallayout>Mark Hymers
markh &lt;at&gt; linuxfromscratch.org
BLFS Editor (July 2001&ndash;March 2003)</literallayout>
    </blockquote>

    <para>I still remember how I found the BLFS project
    and started using the instructions that were completed at the time.  I could
    not believe how wonderful it was to get an application up and running very
    quickly, with explanations as to why things were done a certain way.
    Unfortunately, for me, it wasn't long before I was opening applications that
    had nothing more  than "To be done" on the page.  I did what most would do,
    I waited for someone else to do it.  It wasn't too long before I am looking
    through  <application>Bugzilla</application> for something easy to do.
    As with any learning experience, the definition of what was easy kept
    changing.</para>

    <para>We still encourage you to become involved as BLFS is
    never really finished.  Contributing or just using, we hope you enjoy
    your BLFS experience.</para>

    <blockquote>
<literallayout>Larry Lawrence
larry &lt;at&gt; linuxfromscratch.org
BLFS Editor (March 2003&ndash;June 2004)</literallayout>
    </blockquote>

    <para>The BLFS project is a natural progression of
    LFS.  Together, these projects provide a unique resource for
    the Open Source Community.  They take the mystery out of the process of
    building a complete, functional software system from the source code contributed
    by many talented individuals throughout the world.  They truly allow users
    to implement the slogan "Your distro, your rules."</para>

    <para>Our goal is to continue to provide the best resource available that shows
    you how to integrate many significant Open Source applications.  Since these
    applications are constantly updated and new applications are developed, this
    book will never be complete.  Additionally, there is always room for
    improvement in explaining the nuances of how to install the different packages.
    To make these improvements, we need your feedback.  I encourage you to
    participate on the different mailing lists, news groups, and
    IRC channels to help meet these goals.</para>

    <blockquote>
<literallayout>Bruce Dubbs
bdubbs &lt;at&gt; linuxfromscratch.org
BLFS Editor (June 2004&ndash;Present)</literallayout>
    </blockquote>


    <sect2>
      <title>Preface to Version 6.0</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='intro-welcome-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>

    </sect2>

    <sect2>
      <title>Preface to Version 6.1</title>

      <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='intro-welcome-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@linuxfromscratch.org"/>.</para>

      <para>Enjoy!</para>

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

</sect2>

  </sect1>

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    <title>Who Would Want to Read this Book</title>

    <para>This book is mainly aimed at those who have built a system based
    on the LFS book.  It will also be useful for those who are
    using other distributions, but for one reason or another want to manually build
    software and are in need of some assistance.  BLFS can be
    used to create a range of diverse systems and so the target audience is
    probably nearly as wide as that of the LFS book.  If you
    found LFS useful, you should also like this!</para>

    <para>Since Release 5.0, the BLFS book version matches
    the LFS book version. This book may be incompatible with
    a previous or latter release of the LFS book.</para>

  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="preface-organization">
    <?dbhtml filename="organization.html"?>

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    <title>Organization</title>

    <para>This book is divided into the following parts.</para>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect2">Part I - Introduction</bridgehead>

    <para>This part contains information which is essential to
    the rest of the book.</para>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect2">Part II - Post LFS Configuration and Extra
    Software</bridgehead>

    <para>Here we introduce basic configuration and security issues.  We also
    discuss a range of editors, file systems, and shells which aren't covered in
    the main LFS book.</para>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect2">Part III - General Libraries and Utilities</bridgehead>

    <para>In this section we cover libraries which are often needed by the rest
    of the book as well as system utilities.  Information on Programming
    (including recompiling <application>GCC</application> to support its full range
    of languages) concludes this part.</para>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect2">Part IV - Connecting to a Network</bridgehead>

    <para>Here we cover how to connect to a network when you aren't using the
    simple static IP setup given in the main LFS book.</para>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect2">Part V - Basic Networking</bridgehead>

    <para>Networking libraries and command-line networking tools make up the
    bulk of this part.</para>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect2">Part VI - Major Servers</bridgehead>

    <para>Here we deal with setting up mail and other servers (such as
    <application>SSH</application>, <application>Apache</application>, etc.).</para>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect2">Part VII - X + Window Managers</bridgehead>

    <para>This part explains how to set up a basic <application>X Window
    System</application> installation along with some generic
    <application>X</application> libraries and Window managers.</para>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect2">Part VIII - KDE</bridgehead>

    <para>For those who want to use the <application>K Desktop
    Environment</application> or some parts of it, this part covers it.</para>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect2">Part IX - GNOME</bridgehead>

    <para><application>GNOME</application> is the main alternative to
    <application>KDE</application> in the Desktop Environment arena and
    we cover both <application>GNOME</application>-1.4
    and <application>GNOME</application>-&gnome-version; here.</para>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect2">Part X - X Software</bridgehead>

    <para>Office programs and graphical web browsers are important to most people.
    They, along with some generic <application>X</application> software can be
    found in this part of the book.</para>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect2">Part XI - Multimedia</bridgehead>

    <para>Here we cover setting multimedia libraries and drivers along with some
    audio, video and CD-writing programs.</para>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect2">Part XII - Printing, Scanning and
    Typesetting (PST)</bridgehead>

    <para>The PST part of the book covers document handling with applications like
    <application>Ghostscript</application>, <application>CUPS</application> and
    <application>DocBook</application> to installing
    <application>TeX</application>.</para>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect2">Appendices</bridgehead>

    <para>The Appendices cover information which doesn't belong in the main
    book; they are mainly there as a reference.</para>

  </sect1>

</preface>