%general-entities; ]> Six years ago I embarked on the adventure known as Linux. I did what most you guys have done: download a distribution, install it, and work with it for a while. Then you don't quite like it and you hear about a different distribution that is supposed to be great and fix everything your current distribution does wrong. So you try that new distribution out for a while. You may even repeat that same cycle a few times. After you have tried out a number of different distributions, you find that each has its strengths and weaknesses, but you can't seem to find that one system that brings you the most satisfaction. Personally, I came to the conclusion that to be truly satisfied with my Linux system, I would have to somehow combine those different systems into one perfect Linux system. It would then have all the strengths from various different systems, without their weaknesses. But that surely is an impossible and daunting task. Or is it? You can do better than simply combining several distributions into one. You can create your own Linux system from scratch. After figuring out things like circular dependencies, compile time errors and other related issues, a custom built Linux system was created and fully operational. I called this system a Linux From Scratch system, or LFS for short. This book will show you how it was done and how you can create your own LFS system, fully customized to your own needs and desires. I hope you will have a great time working on your own LFS! -- Gerard Beekmans gerard@linuxfromscratch.org