1 | <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
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2 | <!DOCTYPE preface PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.3//EN"
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3 | "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.3/docbookx.dtd" [
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4 | <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../general.ent">
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5 | %general-entities;
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6 | ]>
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7 |
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8 | <preface id="preface">
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9 | <?dbhtml filename="preface.html" dir="preface"?>
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10 | <title>Preface</title>
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11 |
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12 | <sect1 id="preface-foreword">
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13 | <?dbhtml filename="foreword.html"?>
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14 | <title>Foreword</title>
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15 |
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16 | <para>Having helped out with Linux From Scratch for a short time, I
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17 | noticed that we were getting many queries as to how to do things beyond
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18 | the base <acronym>LFS</acronym> system. At the time, the only assistance
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19 | specifically offered relating to <acronym>LFS</acronym> were the
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20 | <acronym>LFS</acronym> hints (<ulink url="&hints-root;">&hints-root;</ulink>).
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21 | Most of the <acronym>LFS</acronym> hints are extremely good and well written
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22 | but I (and others) could still see a need for more comprehensive help to
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23 | go Beyond <acronym>LFS</acronym> - hence <acronym>BLFS</acronym>.</para>
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24 |
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25 | <para><acronym>BLFS</acronym> aims to be more than the
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26 | <acronym>LFS</acronym>-hints converted to <acronym>XML</acronym> although
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27 | much of our work is based around the hints and indeed some authors write
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28 | both hints and the relevant <acronym>BLFS</acronym> sections. We hope that
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29 | we can provide you with enough information to not only manage to build your
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30 | system up to what you want, whether it be a web server or a multimedia desktop
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31 | system, but also that you will learn a lot about system configuration as
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32 | you go.</para>
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33 |
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34 | <para>Thanks as ever go to everyone in the <acronym>LFS</acronym>/<acronym>BLFS</acronym>
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35 | community; especially those who have contributed instructions, written text,
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36 | answered questions and generally shouted when things were wrong!</para>
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37 |
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38 | <para>Finally, we encourage you to become involved in the community; ask
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39 | questions on the mailing list or news gateway and join in the fun on #lfs at
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40 | irc.linuxfromscratch.org. You can find more details about all of these in the
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41 | <xref linkend="introduction"/> section of the book.</para>
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42 |
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43 | <para>Enjoy using <acronym>BLFS</acronym>.</para>
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44 |
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45 | <blockquote><literallayout>Mark Hymers
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46 | markh <at> linuxfromscratch.org
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47 | BLFS Editor (July 2001 - March 2003)</literallayout></blockquote>
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48 |
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49 | <para>I still remember how I found the <acronym>BLFS</acronym> project
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50 | and started using the instructions that were completed at the time. I could
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51 | not believe how wonderful it was to get an application up and running very
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52 | quickly, with explanations as to why things were done a certain way.
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53 | Unfortunately, for me, it wasn't long before I was opening applications that
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54 | had nothing more than "To be done" on the page. I did what most would do,
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55 | I waited for someone else to do it. It wasn't too long before I am looking
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56 | through <application>Bugzilla</application> for something easy to do.
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57 | As with any learning experience, the definition of what was easy kept
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58 | changing.</para>
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59 |
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60 | <para>We still encourage you to become involved as <acronym>BLFS</acronym> is
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61 | never really finished. Contributing or just using, we hope you enjoy
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62 | your <acronym>BLFS</acronym> experience.</para>
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63 |
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64 | <blockquote><literallayout>Larry Lawrence
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65 | larry <at> linuxfromscratch.org
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66 | BLFS Editor (March 2003 - June 2004)</literallayout></blockquote>
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67 |
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68 | </sect1>
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69 |
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70 | <sect1 id="preface-whoread">
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71 | <?dbhtml filename="whoread.html"?>
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72 | <title>Who would want to read this book</title>
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73 |
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74 | <para>This book is mainly aimed at those who have built a system based
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75 | on the <acronym>LFS</acronym> book. It will also be useful for those who are
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76 | using other distributions, but for one reason or another want to manually build
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77 | software and are in need of some assistance. <acronym>BLFS</acronym> can be
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78 | used to create a range of diverse systems and so the target audience is
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79 | probably nearly as wide as that of the <acronym>LFS</acronym> book. If you
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80 | found <acronym>LFS</acronym> useful, you should also like this!</para>
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81 |
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82 | <para>Since Release 5.0, the <acronym>BLFS</acronym> book version matches
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83 | the <acronym>LFS</acronym> book version. This book may be incompatible with
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84 | a previous or latter release of the <acronym>LFS</acronym> book.</para>
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85 |
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86 | </sect1>
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87 |
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88 | <sect1 id="preface-organization">
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89 | <?dbhtml filename="organization.html"?>
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90 | <title>Organization</title>
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91 |
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92 | <para>This book is divided into the following parts.</para>
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93 |
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94 | <sect2><title>Part I - Introduction</title>
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95 | <para>This part contains information which is essential to
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96 | the rest of the book.</para></sect2>
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97 |
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98 | <sect2><title>Part II - Post <acronym>LFS</acronym> Configuration and Extra
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99 | Software</title>
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100 | <para>Here we introduce basic configuration and security issues. We also
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101 | discuss a range of editors, file systems and shells which aren't covered in
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102 | the main <acronym>LFS</acronym> book.</para></sect2>
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103 |
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104 | <sect2><title>Part III - General Libraries and Utilities</title>
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105 | <para>In this section we cover libraries which are often needed by the rest
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106 | of the book as well as system utilities. Information on Programming
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107 | (including recompiling <application>GCC</application> to support its full range
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108 | of languages) concludes this part.</para></sect2>
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109 |
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110 | <sect2><title>Part IV - Connecting to a Network</title>
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111 | <para>Here we cover how to connect to a network when you aren't using
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112 | the simple static <acronym>IP</acronym> setup given in the main
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113 | <acronym>LFS</acronym> book.</para></sect2>
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114 |
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115 | <sect2><title>Part V - Basic Networking</title>
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116 | <para>Networking libraries and command-line networking tools make up the
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117 | bulk of this part.</para></sect2>
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118 |
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119 | <sect2><title>Part VI - Server Networking</title>
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120 | <para>Here we deal with setting up mail and other servers (such as
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121 | <application><acronym>SSH</acronym></application>, <application><acronym>CVS
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122 | </acronym></application>, etc.).</para></sect2>
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123 |
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124 | <sect2><title>Part VII - Content Serving</title>
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125 | <para>In this part we deal with databases and web server software.</para></sect2>
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126 |
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127 | <sect2><title>Part VIII - X + Window Managers</title>
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128 | <para>This part explains how to set up a basic
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129 | X Window System installation along
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130 | with some generic <application>X</application> libraries and Window managers.</para></sect2>
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131 |
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132 | <sect2><title>Part IX - KDE</title>
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133 | <para>For those who want to use the K Desktop Environment or some parts of
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134 | it, this part covers it.</para></sect2>
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135 |
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136 | <sect2><title>Part X - GNOME</title>
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137 | <para>GNOME is the main alternative to KDE in the Desktop Environment arena and
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138 | we cover both GNOME-1.4
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139 | and GNOME-&gnome-version; here.</para></sect2>
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140 |
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141 | <sect2><title>Part XI - X Software</title>
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142 | <para>Office programs and graphical web browsers are important to most people.
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143 | They, along with some generic <application>X</application> software can be
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144 | found in this part of the book.</para></sect2>
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145 |
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146 | <sect2><title>Part XII - Multimedia</title>
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147 | <para>Here we cover setting multimedia libraries and drivers along with some
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148 | audio, video and <acronym>CD</acronym>-writing programs.</para></sect2>
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149 |
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150 | <sect2><title>Part XIII - Printing, Scanning and Typesetting</title>
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151 | <para>The <acronym>PST</acronym> part of the book covers things from
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152 | <application>Ghostscript</application>, <application><acronym>CUPS</acronym>
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153 | </application> and <application>DocBook</application>
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154 | to installing <application>TeX</application>.</para></sect2>
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155 |
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156 | <sect2><title>Appendices</title>
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157 | <para>The Appendices cover information which doesn't belong in the main
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158 | book; they are mainly there as a reference.</para></sect2>
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159 |
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160 | </sect1>
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161 |
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162 | </preface>
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