source: introduction/important/beyond.xml@ 7df21b30

<sect1 id="intro-important-beyond">
<?dbhtml filename="beyond.html"?>
<title>Going Beyond <acronym>BLFS</acronym></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 <acronym>LFS</acronym> 
book and the <acronym>BLFS</acronym> 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'>$PREFIX/bin</filename>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Expand the <envar>PATH</envar> for root to include
<filename class='directory'>$PREFIX/sbin</filename>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add <filename class='directory'>$PREFIX/lib</filename>
to <filename>/etc/ld.so.conf</filename> or expand
<envar>LD_LIBRARY_PATH</envar> to include it. Before using the latter option,
check out <ulink url="http://www.visi.com/~barr/ldpath.html"/>. If you
modify <filename>/etc/ld.so.conf</filename> remember to update
<filename>/etc/ld.so.cache</filename> by executing <command>ldconfig</command>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Add <filename class='directory'>$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
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 the website for 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> <emphasis>dance</emphasis>
routine. 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-server.</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 rpm2targz and deb2targz that are available
at <ulink url="&downloads-root;/deb2targz.tar.bz2"/> and <ulink
url="&downloads-root;/rpm2targz.tar.bz2"/> to convert the archives into a
simple tar.gz format.</para></tip>

</sect1>