| 1 | <sect1 id="ch-scatter-how">
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| 2 | <title>How things are going to be done</title>
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| 3 | <?dbhtml filename="how.html" dir="chapter01"?>
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| 4 |
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| 5 | <para>You are going to build your LFS system by using a previously installed
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| 6 | Linux distribution (such as Debian, Mandrake, Red Hat, or SuSE). This existing
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| 7 | Linux system (the host) will be used as a starting point, because you will need
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| 8 | programs like a compiler, linker and shell to build the new system. Normally
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| 9 | all the required tools are available if you selected <quote>development</quote>
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| 10 | as one of the options when you installed your distribution.</para>
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| 11 |
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| 12 | <para>In <xref linkend="chapter-making-space"/> you will first create a new
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| 13 | partition and file system, the place where your new LFS system will be compiled
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| 14 | and installed. Then in <xref linkend="chapter-getting-materials"/> you download
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| 15 | all the packages and patches needed to build an LFS system, and store them on
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| 16 | the new file system. In <xref linkend="chapter-preparation"/> you set up a good
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| 17 | environment to work in.</para>
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| 18 |
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| 19 | <para><xref linkend="chapter-temporary-tools"/> then discusses the installation
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| 20 | of a number of packages that form the basic development suite used to build the
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| 21 | actual system in <xref linkend="chapter-building-system"/>.</para>
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| 22 |
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| 23 | <para>The first thing to be done in <xref linkend="chapter-temporary-tools"/>
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| 24 | is build a first pass of the <emphasis>toolchain</emphasis>, consisting of
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| 25 | Binutils and GCC. The programs from these packages will be linked statically in
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| 26 | order for them to be usable independently of the host system (thus making it
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| 27 | in theory possible to skip the second passes). The second thing to do is build
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| 28 | Glibc, the C library. Glibc will be compiled by the just-built toolchain
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| 29 | programs. The third thing to do is build a second pass of the toolchain, this
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| 30 | time linking it dynamically against the newly built Glibc. The remaining <xref
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| 31 | linkend="chapter-temporary-tools"/> packages are all built using this second
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| 32 | pass toolchain and are dynamically linked against the new host-independent
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| 33 | Glibc. When this is done, the LFS installation process will no longer depend on
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| 34 | the host distribution, with the exception of the running kernel.</para>
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| 35 |
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| 36 | <para>You may be thinking that <quote>this seems like a lot of work, just to
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| 37 | get away from my host distribution</quote>. Well, a full technical explanation
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| 38 | is provided at the start of <xref linkend="chapter-temporary-tools"/>,
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| 39 | including some notes on the differences between statically and dynamically
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| 40 | linked programs.</para>
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| 41 |
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| 42 | <para>In <xref linkend="chapter-building-system"/> your real LFS system will be
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| 43 | built. The <command>chroot</command> (change root) program is used to enter a
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| 44 | virtual environment and start a new shell whose root directory will be set to
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| 45 | the LFS partition. This is very similar to rebooting and instructing the kernel
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| 46 | to mount the LFS partition as the root partition. The reason that you don't
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| 47 | actually reboot, but instead chroot, is that creating a bootable system
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| 48 | requires additional work which isn't necessary just yet. But the major
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| 49 | advantage is that chrooting allows you to continue using the host while LFS is
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| 50 | being built. While waiting for package compilation to complete, you can simply
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| 51 | switch to a different VC (Virtual Console) or X desktop and continue using the
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| 52 | computer as you normally would.</para>
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| 53 |
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| 54 | <para>To finish the installation, the bootscripts are set up in
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| 55 | <xref linkend="chapter-bootscripts"/>, the kernel and bootloader are set up in
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| 56 | <xref linkend="chapter-mixture"/>, and <xref linkend="chapter-finalizing"/>
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| 57 | contains some pointers to help you after you finish the book. Then, finally,
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| 58 | you're ready to reboot your computer into your new LFS system.</para>
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| 59 |
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| 60 | <para>This is the process in a nutshell. Detailed information on all the steps
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| 61 | taken is given in the chapters and sections as you progress through them. If
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| 62 | something isn't completely clear now, don't worry, everything will fall into
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| 63 | place soon.</para>
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| 64 |
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| 65 | </sect1>
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