The Glibc build system is very well self-contained and will install perfectly, even though our compiler specs file and linker scripts are still pointing at /stage1. We cannot adjust the specs and ldscripts before the Glibc install, because the Glibc autoconf tests would then give bogus results and thus defeat our goal of achieving a clean build. The documentation that comes with Glibc recommends to build the package not in the source directory but in a separate, dedicated directory: mkdir ../glibc-build cd ../glibc-build Now prepare Glibc for compilation: ../glibc-&glibc-version;/configure --prefix=/usr \     --disable-profile --enable-add-ons \     --libexecdir=/usr/bin --with-headers=/usr/include The meaning of the configure options: --disable-profile: This disables the building of the libraries with profiling information. Omit this option if you plan to do profiling. --enable-add-ons: This enables any add-ons that we installed with Glibc, in our case Linuxthreads. --libexecdir=/usr/bin: This will cause the pt_chown program to be installed in the /usr/bin directory. --with-headers=/usr/include: This ensures that the kernel headers in /usr/include are used for this build. If you don't pass this switch then the headers from /stage1/include are used which of course is not ideal (although they should be identical). Using the switch has the advantage that you will be informed immediately should you have forgotten to install the kernel headers into /usr/include. Compile the package: make Check the results: make check And install the package: make install The locales that can make your system respond in a different language weren't installed by the above command. Do it with this: make localedata/install-locales An alternative to running the previous command is to install only those locales which you need or want. This can be achieved using the localedef command. Information on this can be found in the INSTALL file in the glibc-&glibc-version; tree. Finally, build the linuxthreads man pages: make -C ../glibc-2.3.2/linuxthreads/man And install these pages: make -C ../glibc-2.3.2/linuxthreads/man install