source: introduction/important/beyond.xml@ 516640ed

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<sect1 id="intro-important-beyond">
  <?dbhtml filename="beyond.html"?>

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

  <title>Going Beyond BLFS</title>

  <para>The packages that are installed in this book are only the tip of the
  iceberg. We hope that the experience you gained with the LFS book and 
  the BLFS book will give you the background needed to compile, install 
  and configure packages that are not included in this book.</para>

  <para>When you want to install a package to a location other than
  <filename class='directory'>/</filename>, or 
  <filename class='directory'>/usr</filename>, you are installing
  outside the default environment settings on most machines.  The following
  examples should assist you in determining how to correct this situation.
  The examples cover the complete range of settings that may need
  updating, but they are not all needed in every situation.</para>

  <itemizedlist>
    <listitem>
      <para>Expand the <envar>PATH</envar> to include
      <filename class='directory'>$PREFIX/bin</filename>.</para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>Expand the <envar>PATH</envar> for 
      <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> to include
      <filename class='directory'>$PREFIX/sbin</filename>.</para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>Add <filename class='directory'>$PREFIX/lib</filename>
      to <filename>/etc/ld.so.conf</filename> or expand
      <envar>LD_LIBRARY_PATH</envar> to include it. Before using the latter option,
      check out <ulink url="http://www.visi.com/~barr/ldpath.html"/>. If you
      modify <filename>/etc/ld.so.conf</filename>, remember to update
      <filename>/etc/ld.so.cache</filename> by executing <command>ldconfig</command>
      as the <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> user.</para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>Add <filename class='directory'>$PREFIX/man</filename>
      to <filename>/etc/man.conf</filename> or expand <envar>MANPATH</envar>.</para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>Add <filename class='directory'>$PREFIX/info</filename>
      to <envar>INFOPATH</envar>.</para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>Add <filename
      class='directory'>$PREFIX/lib/pkgconfig</filename> to
      <envar>PKG_CONFIG_PATH</envar>.</para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>Add <filename class='directory'>$PREFIX/include</filename> to 
      <envar>CPPFLAGS</envar> when compiling packages that depend on 
      the package you installed.</para>
    </listitem>
  </itemizedlist>

  <para>If you are in search of a package that is not in the book, the following
  are different ways you can search for the concerned package.</para>

  <itemizedlist>
    <listitem>
      <para>If you know the name of the package, then search FreshMeat for
      it at <ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/"/>. Also search Google at
      <ulink url="http://google.com/"/>. Sometimes a search for the rpm at
      <ulink url="http://rpmfind.net/"/> or the deb at
      <ulink url="http://www.debian.org/distrib/packages#search_packages"/> can also
      lead to a link to the package.</para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>If you know the name of the executable, but not the package 
      that the executable belongs to, first try a google search with the name of the 
      executable. If the results are overwhelming, try searching for the given 
      executable in the Debian repository at
      <ulink url="http://www.debian.org/distrib/packages#search_contents"/>.</para>
    </listitem>
  </itemizedlist>

  <para>Some general hints on handling new packages:</para>

  <itemizedlist>
    <listitem>
      <para>Many of the newer packages follow the <command>./configure
      &amp;&amp; make &amp;&amp; make install</command> process.
      Help on the options accepted by configure can be obtained via the 
      command <command>./configure --help</command>.</para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>Most of the packages contain documentation on compiling and
      installing the package. Some of the documents are excellent, some not so
      excellent. Check out the homepage of the package for any additional and updated
      hints for compiling and configuring the package.</para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>If you are having a problem compiling the package, try
      searching the lfs archives at <ulink url="http://search.linuxfromscratch.org/"/>
      for the error or if that fails try searching Google. If everything else fails,
      try the blfs-support mailing-list/news-group.</para>
    </listitem>
  </itemizedlist>

  <tip>
    <para>If you have found a package that is only available in .deb or .rpm
    format, there are two small scripts, <command>rpm2targz</command> and 
    <command>deb2targz</command> that are available at 
    <ulink url="&downloads-project;/deb2targz.tar.bz2"/> and 
    <ulink url="&downloads-project;/rpm2targz.tar.bz2"/> to convert the archives 
    into a simple <filename>tar.gz</filename> format.</para>
  </tip>

</sect1>