Host System Requirements not accurate

[tushar@…]

This is in response to the "required" symlinks mentioned in the host system requirements section. The thread on lfs-dev that deals with this begins at <​http://linuxfromscratch.org/pipermail/lfs-dev/2008-April/061219.html>.

I bootstrapped LFS with the following symlinks: 1) /bin/sh -> /bin/dash 2) /usr/bin/awk -> /usr/bin/mawk 3) /usr/bin/yacc -> /usr/bin/byacc

The awk symlink required me to patch glibc-2.7 (already fixed upstream) because a Makefile did not use ${AWK}. The patch is available at <​http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/downloads/glibc/glibc-2.7-awk-may-not-be-gawk.patch> but should be replaced with a sed.

The book should revert the text that says that the above symlinks are required to point to bash, gawk and bison respectively.

[bdubbs@…]

I don't understand. The book now says: "/usr/bin/awk must be a link to gawk" and you ran into a problem with /usr/bin/awk -> /usr/bin/mawk ?

It sounds like you didn't follow the instructions and ran into a problem.

Please clarify.

[tushar@…]

What the book says is incorrect. The book says: 1) /bin/sh *must* be a symlink to /bin/bash 2) /usr/bin/awk *must* be a symlink to /usr/bin/gawk 3) /usr/bin/yacc *must* be a symlink to /usr/bin/bison All 3 are not correct. They can be symlinks to any other implementations.

[bdubbs@…]

If they are as specified, then LFS definitely builds.

You say in the base that awk -> mawk requires a patch, so the book is accurate although there is another work around.

We can't test every possible variation of shell, awk, and yacc substitutes, known now or in the future.

Would you feel better if the text said something like "a symlink from {awk,sh,yacc} to a program other than {gawk,bash,bison} may not work"

[tushar@…]

Replying to bdubbs@linuxfromscratch.org:

Would you feel better if the text said something like "a symlink from {awk,sh,yacc} to a program other than {gawk,bash,bison} may not work"

That would be a step in the right direction. Plus glibc should be patched as indicated.

Ideally, anything that does not build with the symlinks I mentioned would be regarded as a bug.

[steve.crosby@…]

Suggest adding the following after the first paragraph, and before the software\version list:

Note that the symlinks mentioned below are required to build an LFS system using the instructions contained within this document. Symlinks that point to other software (such as dash, mawk, etc.) may work, but are not tested or supported by the LFS development team, and may require either deviation from the instructions or additional patches to some packages.

That might be a little wordy though - feel free to mangle as appropriate.

[bdubbs@…]

Added a note to host requirements that symlinks should be as specified, but the build may be able to work with others. It is essentially the note Steve Crosby suggested.

Fixed in revision 8583.