1 | <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
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2 | <!DOCTYPE section [
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3 | <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../general.ent">
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4 | %general-entities;
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5 | ]>
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6 | <section xmlns="http://docbook.org/docbook-ng"
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7 | xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
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8 | xml:id="ch-system-introduction">
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9 | <info><title>Introduction</title></info>
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10 | <?dbhtml filename="introduction.html"?>
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11 |
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12 | <para>In this chapter we enter the building site, and start
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13 | constructing our LFS system in earnest. That is, we chroot into
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14 | our temporary mini Linux system, create some auxiliary things,
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15 | and then start installing all the packages, one by one.</para>
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16 |
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17 | <para>The installation of all this software is pretty straightforward,
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18 | and you will probably think it would be much shorter to give here
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19 | the generic installation instructions and explain in full only the
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20 | installation of those packages that require an alternate method.
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21 | Although we agree with that, we nevertheless choose to give the
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22 | full instructions for each and every package, simply to minimize
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23 | the possibilities for mistakes.</para>
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24 |
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25 | <para>The key to learning what makes a Linux system work is to know
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26 | what each package is used for and why the user (or the system) needs it.
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27 | For this purpose for every installed package a summary of its content is
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28 | given followed by concise descriptions of each program and library it
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29 | installed.</para>
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30 |
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31 | <para>If you plan to use compiler optimizations in this chapter, take a look at
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32 | the optimization hint at <uri xlink:href="&hints-root;optimization.txt"/>.
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33 | Compiler optimizations can make a program run slightly faster, but they may also
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34 | cause compilation difficulties and even problems when running the program. If a
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35 | package refuses to compile when using optimization, try to compile it without
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36 | optimization and see if the problem goes away. Even if the package does compile
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37 | when using optimization, there is the risk it may have been compiled incorrectly
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38 | due to complex interactions between the code and build tools. In short, the
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39 | small potential gains achieved in using compiler optimization are generally
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40 | outweighed by the risk. First time builders of LFS are encouraged to build
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41 | without custom optimizations. Your system will still be very fast and very
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42 | stable at the same time.</para>
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43 |
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44 | <para>The order in which packages are installed in this chapter has
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45 | to be strictly followed, to ensure that no program gets a path referring
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46 | to <filename class="directory">/tools</filename> hard-wired into it.
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47 | For the same reason, <emphasis>do not </emphasis> compile packages
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48 | in parallel. Compiling in parallel may save you some time (especially on
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49 | dual-CPU machines), but it could result in a program containing a
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50 | hard-wired path to <filename class="directory">/tools</filename>,
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51 | which will cause the program to stop working when that directory
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52 | is removed.</para>
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53 |
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54 | <para>Before the installation instructions each installation page gives some
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55 | information about the package: a concise description of what it contains,
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56 | approximately how long it will take to build it, how much disk space it needs
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57 | during this building process, and which other packages it
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58 | needs in order to be built successfully. After the installation instructions
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59 | follows a list of programs and libraries that the package installs, together
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60 | with a series of short descriptions of these.</para>
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61 |
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62 | <para>If you wish to keep track of which package installs what files, you may
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63 | want to use a package manager. For a general overview of package managers have
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64 | a look at <uri xlink:href="&blfs-root;view/cvs/introduction/pkgmgt.html"/>. And
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65 | for a package management method specifically geared towards LFS see
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66 | <uri xlink:href="&hints-root;more_control_and_pkg_man.txt"/>.</para>
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67 |
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68 | </section>
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