| 1 | <sect1 id="ch05-introduction">
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| 2 | <title>Introduction</title>
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| 3 | <?dbhtml filename="introduction.html" dir="chapter05"?>
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| 4 |
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| 5 | <para>In this chapter we will compile and install a minimal
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| 6 | Linux system. This system will contain just enough tools to be able
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| 7 | to start constructing the final LFS system in the next chapter.</para>
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| 8 |
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| 9 | <para>The building of this minimal system is done in two steps: first we
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| 10 | build a brand-new and host-independent toolchain (compiler, assembler,
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| 11 | linker and libraries), and then use this to build all the other essential
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| 12 | tools.</para>
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| 13 |
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| 14 | <para>The files compiled in this chapter will be installed under the
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| 15 | <filename class="directory">$LFS/tools</filename> directory
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| 16 | to keep them separate from the files installed in the next chapter.
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| 17 | Since the packages compiled here are merely temporary, we don't want
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| 18 | them to pollute the soon-to-be LFS system.</para>
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| 19 |
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| 20 | <para>The key to learning what makes a Linux system work is to know
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| 21 | what each package is used for and why the user or the system needs it.
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| 22 | For this purpose a short summary of the content of each package is given
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| 23 | before the actual installation instructions. For a short description of
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| 24 | each program in a package, please refer to the corresponding section in
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| 25 | <xref linkend="appendixa"/>.</para>
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| 26 |
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| 27 | <para>The build instructions assume that you are using the bash shell. There
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| 28 | is also a general expectation that you have already unpacked the sources for a
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| 29 | package and have performed a <userinput>cd</userinput> into the unpacked source
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| 30 | directory before issuing the build commands.</para>
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| 31 |
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| 32 | <para>Several of the packages are patched before compilation, but only when
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| 33 | the patch is needed to circumvent a problem. Often the patch is needed in
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| 34 | both this and the next chapter, but sometimes in only one of them. Therefore,
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| 35 | don't worry when instructions for a downloaded patch seem to be missing.</para>
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| 36 |
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| 37 | <para>During the installation of most packages you will
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| 38 | see all kinds of compiler warnings scroll by on your screen. These are
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| 39 | normal and can be safely ignored. They are just what they say they are:
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| 40 | warnings -- mostly about deprecated, but not invalid, use of the C or C++
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| 41 | syntax. It's just that C standards have changed rather often and some
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| 42 | packages still use the older standard, which is not really a problem.</para>
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| 43 |
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| 44 | <para><emphasis>Unless</emphasis> told not to, you should normally delete the
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| 45 | source and build directories after installing each package -- for cleanness
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| 46 | sake and to save space.</para>
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| 47 |
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| 48 | <para>Before continuing, make sure the LFS environment variable is set up
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| 49 | properly by executing the following:</para>
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| 50 |
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| 51 | <screen><userinput>echo $LFS</userinput></screen>
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| 52 |
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| 53 | <para>Make sure the output shows the path to your LFS partition's mount
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| 54 | point, which is <filename class="directory">/mnt/lfs</filename> if you
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| 55 | followed our example.</para>
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| 56 |
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| 57 | </sect1>
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| 58 |
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