source: introduction/welcome/conventions.xml@ 89e6d61

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<sect1 id="conventions">
  <?dbhtml filename="conventions.html"?>

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

  <title>Conventions Used in this Book</title>

  <sect2>
  <title>Typographical Conventions</title>
  <para>To make things easy to follow, there are a number of conventions used
  throughout the book.  Following are some examples:</para>

<screen><userinput>./configure --prefix=/usr</userinput></screen>

  <blockquote>
    <para>This form of text is designed to be typed exactly as seen unless
    otherwise noted in the surrounding text. It is also used to identify
    references to specific commands.</para>
  </blockquote>

<screen><computeroutput>install-info: unknown option
`--dir-file=/mnt/lfs/usr/info/dir'</computeroutput></screen>

  <blockquote>
    <para>This form of text (fixed width text) is showing screen
    output, probably a result from issuing a command. It is also used to
    show filenames such as <filename>/boot/grub/grub.conf</filename></para>
  </blockquote>

  <para><emphasis>Emphasis</emphasis></para>

  <blockquote>
    <para>This form of text is used for several purposes in the
    book but mainly to emphasize important points or to give examples as to
    what to type.</para>
  </blockquote>

  <para><ulink url="http://www.&lfs-domainname;/"/></para>

  <blockquote>
    <para>This form of text is used for hypertext links external to
    the book such as HowTos, download locations, websites, etc.</para>
  </blockquote>

  <para><xref linkend="seamonkey"/></para>

  <blockquote>
    <para>This form of text is used for links internal to
    the book such as another section describing a different package.</para>
  </blockquote>

<screen><userinput>cat &gt; $LFS/etc/group &lt;&lt; "EOF"
<literal>root:x:0:
bin:x:1:
......</literal>
EOF</userinput></screen>

  <blockquote>
    <para>This type of section is used mainly when creating configuration
    files.  The first command (in bold) tells the system to create
    the file <filename>$LFS/etc/group</filename> from whatever is typed on the
    following lines until the sequence EOF is encountered.
    Therefore, this whole section is generally typed as seen.</para>
  </blockquote>

  <para><replaceable>&lt;REPLACED TEXT&gt;</replaceable></para>

  <blockquote>
    <para>This form of text is used to encapsulate text that should be
    modified and is not to be typed as seen, or copy and pasted. Note that
    the square brackets are not part of the text, but should be substituted
    for as well.</para>
  </blockquote>

  <para><systemitem class='username'>root</systemitem></para>

  <blockquote>
    <para>This form of text is used to show a specific system user or group
    reference in the instructions.</para>
  </blockquote>

  </sect2>

  <sect2>
  <title>Conventions Used for Package Dependencies</title>

    <para>When packages are created, the authors depend on prior work.  In
    order to build a package in BLFS, these dependencies must be built prior to
    the desired package.  For each package, any prerequsite packages are listed
    in one or more separate sections:  Required, Recommended, and Optional.</para>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect3">Required Dependencies</bridgehead>

    <para>These dependencies are the minimum prerequsite packages required to
    build the package.  Omitted from the list are packages in LFS and required
    dependencies of other required packages.</para>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect3">Recommended Dependencies</bridgehead>
    
    <para>These dependencies are those that the BLFS editors have determined
    are important to give the package reasonable capabilities.  Ppackage
    installation instructions assume thay are installed.  If a recommended
    package is not desired, the instructions may need to be modified to
    accomodate the missing package.</para>
    
    <bridgehead renderas="sect3">Optional Dependencies</bridgehead>

    <para>These dependencies are those that the package may use.  Integration
    of optional dependencies may be automatic by the package or may need
    additional instructions not presented by BLFS.  Optional packages may be
    listed without corresponding BLFS instructions.  In this case it is up to
    the user to determine appropriate installation instructions. </para>

  </sect2>

</sect1>