The LFS system will be built by using an already installed Linux distribution (such as Debian, OpenMandriva, Fedora, or openSUSE). This existing Linux system (the host) will be used as a starting point to provide necessary programs, including a compiler, linker, and shell, to build the new system. Select the “development” option during the distribution installation to be able to access these tools.

As an alternative to installing a separate distribution onto your machine, you may wish to use a LiveCD from a commercial distribution.

Chapter 2 of this book describes how to create a new Linux native partition and file system. This is the place where the new LFS system will be compiled and installed. Chapter 3 explains which packages and patches need to be downloaded to build an LFS system and how to store them on the new file system. Chapter 4 discusses the setup of an appropriate working environment. Please read Chapter 4 carefully as it explains several important issues you need be aware of before beginning to work your way through Chapter 5 and beyond.

Chapter 5, explains the installation of the initial tool chain, (binutils, gcc, and glibc) using cross compilation techniques to isolate the new tools from the host system.

Chapter 6 shows you how to cross-compile basic utilities using the just built cross-toolchain.

Chapter 7 then enters a "chroot" environment and uses the previously built tools to build the additional tools needed to build and test the final system.

This effort to isolate the new system from the host distribution may seem excessive. A full technical explanation as to why this is done is provided in Toolchain Technical Notes.

In Chapter 8, The full LFS system is built. Another advantage provided by the chroot environment is that it allows you to continue using the host system while LFS is being built. While waiting for package compilations to complete, you can continue using your computer as normal.

To finish the installation, the basic system configuration is set up in Chapter 9, and the kernel and boot loader are set up in Chapter 10. Chapter 11 contains information on continuing the LFS experience beyond this book. After the steps in this book have been implemented, the computer will be ready to reboot into the new LFS system.

This is the process in a nutshell. Detailed information on each step is discussed in the following chapters and package descriptions. Items that may seem complicated will be clarified, and everything will fall into place as you embark on the LFS adventure.

In this version of LFS, there has been a major reorganization of the book using techniques that avoid changing the host system and provides a more straight forward build process.

Below is a list of package updates made since the previous release of the book.

This is version 11.0-rc3 of the Linux From Scratch book, dated August 25th, 2021. If this book is more than six months old, a newer and better version is probably already available. To find out, please check one of the mirrors via https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/mirrors.html.

Below is a list of changes made since the previous release of the book.

If an issue or a question is encountered while working through this book, please check the FAQ page at https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/faq/#generalfaq. Questions are often already answered there. If your question is not answered on this page, try to find the source of the problem. The following hint will give you some guidance for troubleshooting: https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/downloads/files/errors.txt.

If you cannot find your problem listed in the FAQ, search the mailing lists at https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/search.html.

We also have a wonderful LFS community that is willing to offer assistance through the mailing lists and IRC (see the Section 1.4, “Resources” section of this book). However, we get several support questions every day and many of them can be easily answered by going to the FAQ and by searching the mailing lists first. So, for us to offer the best assistance possible, you need to do some research on your own first. That allows us to focus on the more unusual support needs. If your searches do not produce a solution, please include all relevant information (mentioned below) in your request for help.

gcc -DALIASPATH=\"/mnt/lfs/usr/share/locale:.\"
-DLOCALEDIR=\"/mnt/lfs/usr/share/locale\"
-DLIBDIR=\"/mnt/lfs/usr/lib\"
-DINCLUDEDIR=\"/mnt/lfs/usr/include\" -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I.
-g -O2 -c getopt1.c
gcc -g -O2 -static -o make ar.o arscan.o commands.o dir.o
expand.o file.o function.o getopt.o implicit.o job.o main.o
misc.o read.o remake.o rule.o signame.o variable.o vpath.o
default.o remote-stub.o version.o opt1.o
-lutil job.o: In function `load_too_high':
/lfs/tmp/make-3.79.1/job.c:1565: undefined reference
to `getloadavg'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make[2]: *** [make] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/lfs/tmp/make-3.79.1'
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/lfs/tmp/make-3.79.1'
make: *** [all-recursive-am] Error 2

make [2]: *** [make] Error 1

In this chapter, the host tools needed for building LFS are checked and, if necessary, installed. Then a partition which will host the LFS system is prepared. We will create the partition itself, create a file system on it, and mount it.

Your host system should have the following software with the minimum versions indicated. This should not be an issue for most modern Linux distributions. Also note that many distributions will place software headers into separate packages, often in the form of “<package-name>-devel” or “<package-name>-dev”. Be sure to install those if your distribution provides them.

Earlier versions of the listed software packages may work, but have not been tested.

To see whether your host system has all the appropriate versions, and the ability to compile programs, run the following:

cat > version-check.sh << "EOF"
#!/bin/bash
# Simple script to list version numbers of critical development tools
export LC_ALL=C
bash --version | head -n1 | cut -d" " -f2-4
MYSH=$(readlink -f /bin/sh)
echo "/bin/sh -> $MYSH"
echo $MYSH | grep -q bash || echo "ERROR: /bin/sh does not point to bash"
unset MYSH

echo -n "Binutils: "; ld --version | head -n1 | cut -d" " -f3-
bison --version | head -n1

if [ -h /usr/bin/yacc ]; then
  echo "/usr/bin/yacc -> `readlink -f /usr/bin/yacc`";
elif [ -x /usr/bin/yacc ]; then
  echo yacc is `/usr/bin/yacc --version | head -n1`
else
  echo "yacc not found" 
fi

bzip2 --version 2>&1 < /dev/null | head -n1 | cut -d" " -f1,6-
echo -n "Coreutils: "; chown --version | head -n1 | cut -d")" -f2
diff --version | head -n1
find --version | head -n1
gawk --version | head -n1

if [ -h /usr/bin/awk ]; then
  echo "/usr/bin/awk -> `readlink -f /usr/bin/awk`";
elif [ -x /usr/bin/awk ]; then
  echo awk is `/usr/bin/awk --version | head -n1`
else 
  echo "awk not found" 
fi

gcc --version | head -n1
g++ --version | head -n1
ldd --version | head -n1 | cut -d" " -f2-  # glibc version
grep --version | head -n1
gzip --version | head -n1
cat /proc/version
m4 --version | head -n1
make --version | head -n1
patch --version | head -n1
echo Perl `perl -V:version`
python3 --version
sed --version | head -n1
tar --version | head -n1
makeinfo --version | head -n1  # texinfo version
xz --version | head -n1

echo 'int main(){}' > dummy.c && g++ -o dummy dummy.c
if [ -x dummy ]
  then echo "g++ compilation OK";
  else echo "g++ compilation failed"; fi
rm -f dummy.c dummy
EOF

bash version-check.sh

LFS is designed to be built in one session. That is, the instructions assume that the system will not be shut down during the process. That does not mean that the system has to be done in one sitting. The issue is that certain procedures have to be re-accomplished after a reboot if resuming LFS at different points.

Like most other operating systems, LFS is usually installed on a dedicated partition. The recommended approach to building an LFS system is to use an available empty partition or, if you have enough unpartitioned space, to create one.

A minimal system requires a partition of around 10 gigabytes (GB). This is enough to store all the source tarballs and compile the packages. However, if the LFS system is intended to be the primary Linux system, additional software will probably be installed which will require additional space. A 30 GB partition is a reasonable size to provide for growth. The LFS system itself will not take up this much room. A large portion of this requirement is to provide sufficient free temporary storage as well as for adding additional capabilities after LFS is complete. Additionally, compiling packages can require a lot of disk space which will be reclaimed after the package is installed.

Because there is not always enough Random Access Memory (RAM) available for compilation processes, it is a good idea to use a small disk partition as swap space. This is used by the kernel to store seldom-used data and leave more memory available for active processes. The swap partition for an LFS system can be the same as the one used by the host system, in which case it is not necessary to create another one.

Start a disk partitioning program such as cfdisk or fdisk with a command line option naming the hard disk on which the new partition will be created—for example /dev/sda for the primary disk drive. Create a Linux native partition and a swap partition, if needed. Please refer to cfdisk(8) or fdisk(8) if you do not yet know how to use the programs.

Remember the designation of the new partition (e.g., sda5). This book will refer to this as the LFS partition. Also remember the designation of the swap partition. These names will be needed later for the /etc/fstab file.

Now that a blank partition has been set up, the file system can be created. LFS can use any file system recognized by the Linux kernel, but the most common types are ext3 and ext4. The choice of file system can be complex and depends on the characteristics of the files and the size of the partition. For example:

Other file systems, including FAT32, NTFS, ReiserFS, JFS, and XFS are useful for specialized purposes. More information about these file systems can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_file_systems.

LFS assumes that the root file system (/) is of type ext4. To create an ext4 file system on the LFS partition, run the following:

mkfs -v -t ext4 /dev/<xxx>

Replace <xxx> with the name of the LFS partition.

If you are using an existing swap partition, there is no need to format it. If a new swap partition was created, it will need to be initialized with this command:

mkswap /dev/<yyy>

Replace <yyy> with the name of the swap partition.

Throughout this book, the environment variable LFS will be used several times. You should ensure that this variable is always defined throughout the LFS build process. It should be set to the name of the directory where you will be building your LFS system - we will use /mnt/lfs as an example, but the directory choice is up to you. If you are building LFS on a separate partition, this directory will be the mount point for the partition. Choose a directory location and set the variable with the following command:

export LFS=/mnt/lfs

Having this variable set is beneficial in that commands such as mkdir -v $LFS/tools can be typed literally. The shell will automatically replace “$LFS” with “/mnt/lfs” (or whatever the variable was set to) when it processes the command line.

echo $LFS

Now that a file system has been created, the partition needs to be made accessible. In order to do this, the partition needs to be mounted at a chosen mount point. For the purposes of this book, it is assumed that the file system is mounted under the directory specified by the LFS environment variable as described in the previous section.

Create the mount point and mount the LFS file system by running:

mkdir -pv $LFS
mount -v -t ext4 /dev/<xxx> $LFS

Replace <xxx> with the designation of the LFS partition.

If using multiple partitions for LFS (e.g., one for / and another for /home), mount them using:

mkdir -pv $LFS
mount -v -t ext4 /dev/<xxx> $LFS
mkdir -v $LFS/home
mount -v -t ext4 /dev/<yyy> $LFS/home

Replace <xxx> and <yyy> with the appropriate partition names.

Ensure that this new partition is not mounted with permissions that are too restrictive (such as the nosuid or nodev options). Run the mount command without any parameters to see what options are set for the mounted LFS partition. If nosuid and/or nodev are set, the partition will need to be remounted.

/dev/<xxx>  /mnt/lfs ext4   defaults      1     1

If you are using a swap partition, ensure that it is enabled using the swapon command:

/sbin/swapon -v /dev/<zzz>

Replace <zzz> with the name of the swap partition.

Now that there is an established place to work, it is time to download the packages.

This chapter includes a list of packages that need to be downloaded in order to build a basic Linux system. The listed version numbers correspond to versions of the software that are known to work, and this book is based on their use. We highly recommend against using newer versions because the build commands for one version may not work with a newer version. The newest package versions may also have problems that require work-arounds. These work-arounds will be developed and stabilized in the development version of the book.

Download locations may not always be accessible. If a download location has changed since this book was published, Google (http://www.google.com/) provides a useful search engine for most packages. If this search is unsuccessful, try one of the alternative means of downloading at https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/mirrors.html#files.

Downloaded packages and patches will need to be stored somewhere that is conveniently available throughout the entire build. A working directory is also required to unpack the sources and build them. $LFS/sources can be used both as the place to store the tarballs and patches and as a working directory. By using this directory, the required elements will be located on the LFS partition and will be available during all stages of the building process.

To create this directory, execute the following command, as user root, before starting the download session:

mkdir -v $LFS/sources

Make this directory writable and sticky. “Sticky” means that even if multiple users have write permission on a directory, only the owner of a file can delete the file within a sticky directory. The following command will enable the write and sticky modes:

chmod -v a+wt $LFS/sources

There are several ways to optain all the necessary packages and patches to build LFS:

To download all of the packages and patches by using wget-list as an input to the wget command, use:

wget --input-file=wget-list --continue --directory-prefix=$LFS/sources

Additionally, starting with LFS-7.0, there is a separate file, md5sums, which can be used to verify that all the correct packages are available before proceeding. Place that file in $LFS/sources and run:

pushd $LFS/sources
  md5sum -c md5sums
popd

This check can be used after retrieving the needed files with any of the methods listed above.

Download or otherwise obtain the following packages:

Total size of these packages: about 430 MB

In addition to the packages, several patches are also required. These patches correct any mistakes in the packages that should be fixed by the maintainer. The patches also make small modifications to make the packages easier to work with. The following patches will be needed to build an LFS system:

Total size of these patches: about 194.4 KB

In addition to the above required patches, there exist a number of optional patches created by the LFS community. These optional patches solve minor problems or enable functionality that is not enabled by default. Feel free to peruse the patches database located at https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/downloads/ and acquire any additional patches to suit your system needs.

In this chapter, we will perform a few additional tasks to prepare for building the temporary system. We will create a set of directories in $LFS for the installation of the temporary tools, add an unprivileged user to reduce risk, and create an appropriate build environment for that user. We will also explain the unit of time we use to measure how long LFS packages take to build, or “SBUs”, and give some information about package test suites.

The first task performed in the LFS partition is to create a limited directory hierarchy so that programs compiled in Chapter 6 (as well as glibc and libstdc++ in Chapter 5) may be installed in their final location. This is needed so that those temporary programs be overwritten when rebuilding them in Chapter 8.

Create the required directory layout by running the following as root:

mkdir -pv $LFS/{etc,var} $LFS/usr/{bin,lib,sbin}

for i in bin lib sbin; do
  ln -sv usr/$i $LFS/$i
done

case $(uname -m) in
  x86_64) mkdir -pv $LFS/lib64 ;;
esac

Programs in Chapter 6 will be compiled with a cross-compiler (more details in section Toolchain Technical Notes). In order to separate this cross-compiler from the other programs, it will be installed in a special directory. Create this directory with:

mkdir -pv $LFS/tools

When logged in as user root, making a single mistake can damage or destroy a system. Therefore, the packages in the next two chapters are built as an unprivileged user. You could use your own user name, but to make it easier to set up a clean working environment, create a new user called lfs as a member of a new group (also named lfs) and use this user during the installation process. As root, issue the following commands to add the new user:

groupadd lfs
useradd -s /bin/bash -g lfs -m -k /dev/null lfs

To log in as lfs (as opposed to switching to user lfs when logged in as root, which does not require the lfs user to have a password), give lfs a password:

passwd lfs

Grant lfs full access to all directories under $LFS by making lfs the directory owner:

chown -v lfs $LFS/{usr{,/*},lib,var,etc,bin,sbin,tools}
case $(uname -m) in
  x86_64) chown -v lfs $LFS/lib64 ;;
esac

If a separate working directory was created as suggested, give user lfs ownership of this directory:

chown -v lfs $LFS/sources

Next, login as user lfs. This can be done via a virtual console, through a display manager, or with the following substitute/switch user command:

su - lfs

The “-” instructs su to start a login shell as opposed to a non-login shell. The difference between these two types of shells can be found in detail in bash(1) and info bash.

Set up a good working environment by creating two new startup files for the bash shell. While logged in as user lfs, issue the following command to create a new .bash_profile:

cat > ~/.bash_profile << "EOF"
exec env -i HOME=$HOME TERM=$TERM PS1='\u:\w\$ ' /bin/bash
EOF

When logged on as user lfs, the initial shell is usually a login shell which reads the /etc/profile of the host (probably containing some settings and environment variables) and then .bash_profile. The exec env -i.../bin/bash command in the .bash_profile file replaces the running shell with a new one with a completely empty environment, except for the HOME, TERM, and PS1 variables. This ensures that no unwanted and potentially hazardous environment variables from the host system leak into the build environment. The technique used here achieves the goal of ensuring a clean environment.

The new instance of the shell is a non-login shell, which does not read, and execute, the contents of /etc/profile or .bash_profile files, but rather reads, and executes, the .bashrc file instead. Create the .bashrc file now:

cat > ~/.bashrc << "EOF"
set +h
umask 022
LFS=/mnt/lfs
LC_ALL=POSIX
LFS_TGT=$(uname -m)-lfs-linux-gnu
PATH=/usr/bin
if [ ! -L /bin ]; then PATH=/bin:$PATH; fi
PATH=$LFS/tools/bin:$PATH
CONFIG_SITE=$LFS/usr/share/config.site
export LFS LC_ALL LFS_TGT PATH CONFIG_SITE
EOF

[ ! -e /etc/bash.bashrc ] || mv -v /etc/bash.bashrc /etc/bash.bashrc.NOUSE

Finally, to have the environment fully prepared for building the temporary tools, source the just-created user profile:

source ~/.bash_profile

Many people would like to know beforehand approximately how long it takes to compile and install each package. Because Linux From Scratch can be built on many different systems, it is impossible to provide accurate time estimates. The biggest package (Glibc) will take approximately 20 minutes on the fastest systems, but could take up to three days on slower systems! Instead of providing actual times, the Standard Build Unit (SBU) measure will be used instead.

The SBU measure works as follows. The first package to be compiled from this book is binutils in Chapter 5. The time it takes to compile this package is what will be referred to as the Standard Build Unit or SBU. All other compile times will be expressed relative to this time.

For example, consider a package whose compilation time is 4.5 SBUs. This means that if a system took 10 minutes to compile and install the first pass of binutils, it will take approximately 45 minutes to build this example package. Fortunately, most build times are shorter than the one for binutils.

In general, SBUs are not entirely accurate because they depend on many factors, including the host system's version of GCC. They are provided here to give an estimate of how long it might take to install a package, but the numbers can vary by as much as dozens of minutes in some cases.

export MAKEFLAGS='-j4'

make -j4

Most packages provide a test suite. Running the test suite for a newly built package is a good idea because it can provide a “sanity check” indicating that everything compiled correctly. A test suite that passes its set of checks usually proves that the package is functioning as the developer intended. It does not, however, guarantee that the package is totally bug free.

Some test suites are more important than others. For example, the test suites for the core toolchain packages—GCC, binutils, and glibc—are of the utmost importance due to their central role in a properly functioning system. The test suites for GCC and glibc can take a very long time to complete, especially on slower hardware, but are strongly recommended.

A common issue with running the test suites for binutils and GCC is running out of pseudo terminals (PTYs). This can result in a high number of failing tests. This may happen for several reasons, but the most likely cause is that the host system does not have the devpts file system set up correctly. This issue is discussed in greater detail at https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/faq.html#no-ptys.

Sometimes package test suites will fail, but for reasons which the developers are aware of and have deemed non-critical. Consult the logs located at https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/build-logs/11.0-rc3/ to verify whether or not these failures are expected. This site is valid for all tests throughout this book.

This chapter shows how to build a cross-compiler and its associated tools. Although here cross-compilation is faked, the principles are the same as for a real cross-toolchain.

The programs compiled in this chapter will be installed under the $LFS/tools directory to keep them separate from the files installed in the following chapters. The libraries, on the other hand, are installed into their final place, since they pertain to the system we want to build.

This chapter shows how to cross-compile basic utilities using the just built cross-toolchain. Those utilities are installed into their final location, but cannot be used yet. Basic tasks still rely on the host's tools. Nevertheless, the installed libraries are used when linking.

Using the utilities will be possible in next chapter after entering the “chroot” environment. But all the packages built in the present chapter need to be built before we do that. Therefore we cannot be independent of the host system yet.

Once again, let us recall that improper setting of LFS together with building as root, may render your computer unusable. This whole chapter must be done as user lfs, with the environment as described in Section 4.4, “Setting Up the Environment”.

This chapter shows how to build the last missing bits of the temporary system: the tools needed by the build machinery of various packages. Now that all circular dependencies have been resolved, we can use a “chroot” environment, completely isolated the host operating system used for the build, except for the running kernel.

For proper operation of the isolated environment, some communication with the running kernel must be established. This is done through the so-called Virtual Kernel File Systems, which must be mounted when entering the chroot environment. You may want to check that they are mounted by issuing findmnt.

Until Section 7.4, “Entering the Chroot Environment”, the commands must be run as root, with the LFS variable set. After entering chroot, all commands are run as root, fortunately without access to the OS of the computer you built LFS on. Be careful anyway, as it is easy to destroy the whole LFS system with badly formed commands.

Currently, the whole directory hierarchy in $LFS is owned by the user lfs, a user that exists only on the host system. If the directories and files under $LFS are kept as they are, they will be owned by a user ID without a corresponding account. This is dangerous because a user account created later could get this same user ID and would own all the files under $LFS, thus exposing these files to possible malicious manipulation.

To address this issue, change the ownership of the $LFS/* directories to user root by running the following command:

chown -R root:root $LFS/{usr,lib,var,etc,bin,sbin,tools}
case $(uname -m) in
  x86_64) chown -R root:root $LFS/lib64 ;;
esac

Various file systems exported by the kernel are used to communicate to and from the kernel itself. These file systems are virtual in that no disk space is used for them. The content of the file systems resides in memory.

Begin by creating directories onto which the file systems will be mounted:

mkdir -pv $LFS/{dev,proc,sys,run}

mknod -m 600 $LFS/dev/console c 5 1
mknod -m 666 $LFS/dev/null c 1 3

mount -v --bind /dev $LFS/dev

mount -v --bind /dev/pts $LFS/dev/pts
mount -vt proc proc $LFS/proc
mount -vt sysfs sysfs $LFS/sys
mount -vt tmpfs tmpfs $LFS/run

if [ -h $LFS/dev/shm ]; then
  mkdir -pv $LFS/$(readlink $LFS/dev/shm)
fi

Now that all the packages which are required to build the rest of the needed tools are on the system, it is time to enter the chroot environment to finish installing the remaining temporary tools. This environment will be in use also for installing the final system. As user root, run the following command to enter the environment that is, at the moment, populated with only the temporary tools:

chroot "$LFS" /usr/bin/env -i   \
    HOME=/root                  \
    TERM="$TERM"                \
    PS1='(lfs chroot) \u:\w\$ ' \
    PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/sbin     \
    /bin/bash --login +h

The -i option given to the env command will clear all variables of the chroot environment. After that, only the HOME, TERM, PS1, and PATH variables are set again. The TERM=$TERM construct will set the TERM variable inside chroot to the same value as outside chroot. This variable is needed for programs like vim and less to operate properly. If other variables are desired, such as CFLAGS or CXXFLAGS, this is a good place to set them again.

From this point on, there is no need to use the LFS variable anymore because all work will be restricted to the LFS file system. This is because the Bash shell is told that $LFS is now the root (/) directory.

Notice that /tools/bin is not in the PATH. This means that the cross toolchain will no longer be used in the chroot environment. This occurs when the shell does not “remember” the locations of executed binaries—for this reason, hashing is switched off by passing the +h option to bash.

Note that the bash prompt will say I have no name! This is normal because the /etc/passwd file has not been created yet.

It is time to create the full structure in the LFS file system.

Create some root-level directories that are not in the limited set required in the previous chapters by issuing the following command:

mkdir -pv /{boot,home,mnt,opt,srv}

Create the required set of subdirectories below the root-level by issuing the following commands:

mkdir -pv /etc/{opt,sysconfig}
mkdir -pv /lib/firmware
mkdir -pv /media/{floppy,cdrom}
mkdir -pv /usr/{,local/}{include,src}
mkdir -pv /usr/local/{bin,lib,sbin}
mkdir -pv /usr/{,local/}share/{color,dict,doc,info,locale,man}
mkdir -pv /usr/{,local/}share/{misc,terminfo,zoneinfo}
mkdir -pv /usr/{,local/}share/man/man{1..8}
mkdir -pv /var/{cache,local,log,mail,opt,spool}
mkdir -pv /var/lib/{color,misc,locate}

ln -sfv /run /var/run
ln -sfv /run/lock /var/lock

install -dv -m 0750 /root
install -dv -m 1777 /tmp /var/tmp

Directories are, by default, created with permission mode 755, but this is not desirable for all directories. In the commands above, two changes are made—one to the home directory of user root, and another to the directories for temporary files.

The first mode change ensures that not just anybody can enter the /root directory—the same as a normal user would do with his or her home directory. The second mode change makes sure that any user can write to the /tmp and /var/tmp directories, but cannot remove another user's files from them. The latter is prohibited by the so-called “sticky bit,” the highest bit (1) in the 1777 bit mask.

Historically, Linux maintains a list of the mounted file systems in the file /etc/mtab. Modern kernels maintain this list internally and exposes it to the user via the /proc filesystem. To satisfy utilities that expect the presence of /etc/mtab, create the following symbolic link:

ln -sv /proc/self/mounts /etc/mtab

Create a basic /etc/hosts file to be referenced in some test suites, and in one of Perl's configuration files as well:

cat > /etc/hosts << EOF
127.0.0.1  localhost $(hostname)
::1        localhost
EOF

In order for user root to be able to login and for the name “root” to be recognized, there must be relevant entries in the /etc/passwd and /etc/group files.

Create the /etc/passwd file by running the following command:

cat > /etc/passwd << "EOF"
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
bin:x:1:1:bin:/dev/null:/bin/false
daemon:x:6:6:Daemon User:/dev/null:/bin/false
messagebus:x:18:18:D-Bus Message Daemon User:/run/dbus:/bin/false
uuidd:x:80:80:UUID Generation Daemon User:/dev/null:/bin/false
nobody:x:99:99:Unprivileged User:/dev/null:/bin/false
EOF

The actual password for root will be set later.

Create the /etc/group file by running the following command:

cat > /etc/group << "EOF"
root:x:0:
bin:x:1:daemon
sys:x:2:
kmem:x:3:
tape:x:4:
tty:x:5:
daemon:x:6:
floppy:x:7:
disk:x:8:
lp:x:9:
dialout:x:10:
audio:x:11:
video:x:12:
utmp:x:13:
usb:x:14:
cdrom:x:15:
adm:x:16:
messagebus:x:18:
input:x:24:
mail:x:34:
kvm:x:61:
uuidd:x:80:
wheel:x:97:
nogroup:x:99:
users:x:999:
EOF

The created groups are not part of any standard—they are groups decided on in part by the requirements of the Udev configuration in Chapter 9, and in part by common convention employed by a number of existing Linux distributions. In addition, some test suites rely on specific users or groups. The Linux Standard Base (LSB, available at http://refspecs.linuxfoundation.org/lsb.shtml) only recommends that, besides the group root with a Group ID (GID) of 0, a group bin with a GID of 1 be present. All other group names and GIDs can be chosen freely by the system administrator since well-written programs do not depend on GID numbers, but rather use the group's name.

Some tests in Chapter 8 need a regular user. We add this user here and delete this account at the end of that chapter.

echo "tester:x:101:101::/home/tester:/bin/bash" >> /etc/passwd
echo "tester:x:101:" >> /etc/group
install -o tester -d /home/tester

To remove the “I have no name!” prompt, start a new shell. Since the /etc/passwd and /etc/group files have been created, user name and group name resolution will now work:

exec /bin/bash --login +h

Note the use of the +h directive. This tells bash not to use its internal path hashing. Without this directive, bash would remember the paths to binaries it has executed. To ensure the use of the newly compiled binaries as soon as they are installed, the +h directive will be used for the duration of this and the next chapter.

The login, agetty, and init programs (and others) use a number of log files to record information such as who was logged into the system and when. However, these programs will not write to the log files if they do not already exist. Initialize the log files and give them proper permissions:

touch /var/log/{btmp,lastlog,faillog,wtmp}
chgrp -v utmp /var/log/lastlog
chmod -v 664  /var/log/lastlog
chmod -v 600  /var/log/btmp

The /var/log/wtmp file records all logins and logouts. The /var/log/lastlog file records when each user last logged in. The /var/log/faillog file records failed login attempts. The /var/log/btmp file records the bad login attempts.

In this chapter, we start constructing the LFS system in earnest.

The installation of this software is straightforward. Although in many cases the installation instructions could be made shorter and more generic, we have opted to provide the full instructions for every package to minimize the possibilities for mistakes. The key to learning what makes a Linux system work is to know what each package is used for and why you (or the system) may need it.

We do not recommend using optimizations. They can make a program run slightly faster, but they may also cause compilation difficulties and problems when running the program. If a package refuses to compile when using optimization, try to compile it without optimization and see if that fixes the problem. Even if the package does compile when using optimization, there is the risk it may have been compiled incorrectly because of the complex interactions between the code and build tools. Also note that the -march and -mtune options using values not specified in the book have not been tested. This may cause problems with the toolchain packages (Binutils, GCC and Glibc). The small potential gains achieved in using compiler optimizations are often outweighed by the risks. First-time builders of LFS are encouraged to build without custom optimizations. The subsequent system will still run very fast and be stable at the same time.

Before the installation instructions, each installation page provides information about the package, including a concise description of what it contains, approximately how long it will take to build, and how much disk space is required during this building process. Following the installation instructions, there is a list of programs and libraries (along with brief descriptions) that the package installs.

Package Management is an often requested addition to the LFS Book. A Package Manager allows tracking the installation of files making it easy to remove and upgrade packages. As well as the binary and library files, a package manager will handle the installation of configuration files. Before you begin to wonder, NO—this section will not talk about nor recommend any particular package manager. What it provides is a roundup of the more popular techniques and how they work. The perfect package manager for you may be among these techniques or may be a combination of two or more of these techniques. This section briefly mentions issues that may arise when upgrading packages.

Some reasons why no package manager is mentioned in LFS or BLFS include:

There are some hints written on the topic of package management. Visit the Hints Project and see if one of them fits your need.

./configure --prefix=/usr/pkg/libfoo/1.1
make
make install

./configure --prefix=/usr
make
make DESTDIR=/usr/pkg/libfoo/1.1 install