Applied Alex\'s grammar patch

git-svn-id: http://svn.linuxfromscratch.org/LFS/trunk/BOOK@2082 4aa44e1e-78dd-0310-a6d2-fbcd4c07a689

appendixa/makedev-desc.xml

@@ -8,10 +8,11 @@
 <sect3><title>Descriptions</title>
 
 <sect4><title>MAKEDEV</title>
-<para>MAKEDEV is a script that can help in creating the necessary static
-device files that usually reside in the /dev directory.  More
-information on device nodes can be found in the Linux Kernel source tree
-in <filename>Documentation/devices.txt</filename>.</para></sect4>
+<para><filename>MAKEDEV</filename> is a script that creates the necessary
+static device nodes usually residing in the
+<filename class="directory">/dev</filename> directory.
+Detailed information on device nodes can be found in the Linux kernel source
+tree in <filename>Documentation/devices.txt</filename>.</para></sect4>
 
 </sect3>
 

chapter01/changelog.xml

@@ -53,6 +53,9 @@
 </itemizedlist>
 </para></listitem>
 
+<listitem><para>September 8th, 2002 [timothy]: Chapter 06: Applied Alex's
+grammar changes patch.</para></listitem>
+
 <listitem><para>September 7th, 2002 [timothy]: Chapter 06 - Gzip:
 Added gzip-1.2.4b.patch.</para></listitem>
 

chapter06/aboutdebug.xml

@@ -2,49 +2,49 @@
 <title>About debugging symbols</title>
 <?dbhtml filename="aboutdebug.html" dir="chapter06"?>
 
-<para>Most programs and libraries by default are compiled with debugging
-symbols (gcc option -g).</para>
+<para>Most programs and libraries are by default compiled with debugging
+symbols included (with gcc option -g).</para>
 
-<para>A program compiled with debugging symbols means a user can run a program 
-or library through a debugger and the debugger's output will be user
-friendly. These debugging symbols also enlarge the program or library 
-significantly.</para>
-
-<para>Before you start wondering whether these debugging symbols really make a 
-big difference, here are some statistics. Use them to draw your own
-conclusion.</para>
+<para>When debugging a program or library that was compiled with debugging
+information included, the debugger can give you not only memory addresses
+but also the names of the routines and variables.</para>
+ 
+<para>But the inclusion of these debugging symbols enlarges a program or
+library significantly. To get an idea of the amount of space these symbols
+occupy, have a look at the following:</para>
 
 <itemizedlist>
 
-<listitem><para>A dynamic Bash binary 
-with debugging symbols: 1.2 MB</para></listitem>
+<listitem><para>a bash binary 
+with debugging symbols: 1200 KB</para></listitem>
 
-<listitem><para>A dynamic Bash binary 
-without debugging symbols: 478 KB</para></listitem>
+<listitem><para>a bash binary
+without debugging symbols: 480 KB</para></listitem>
 
-<listitem><para>/lib and /usr/lib (glibc 
-and gcc files) with debugging symbols: 87 MB</para></listitem>
+<listitem><para>glibc and gcc files (/lib and /usr/lib)
+with debugging symbols: 87 MB</para></listitem>
 
-<listitem><para>/lib and /usr/lib (glibc 
-and gcc files) without debugging symbols: 16 MB</para></listitem>
+<listitem><para>glibc and gcc files
+without debugging symbols: 16 MB</para></listitem>
 
 </itemizedlist>
 
-<para>Sizes vary depending on which compiler was used and which C library
-version was used to link dynamic programs against, but results will be
-similar if you compare programs with and without debugging symbols.</para>
+<para>Sizes may vary a little, depending on which compiler was used and
+which C library. But when comparing programs with and without debugging
+symbols, the difference will generally be a factor between 2 and 5.</para>
+
+<para>As most people will probably never use a debugger on their system
+software, a lot of disk space can be regained by removing these symbols .</para>
 
-<para>To remove debugging symbols from a binary (must be an a.out or ELF
-binary) run <userinput>strip --strip-debug filename</userinput>. Wildcards
-can be used to strip debugging symbols from multiple files (use something 
-like <userinput>strip --strip-debug $LFS/usr/bin/*</userinput>). Most
-people will probably never use a debugger on software, so by removing
-those symbols a lot of disk space can be regained.</para>
+<para>To remove debugging symbols from a binary (which must be an a.out
+or ELF binary), run <userinput>strip --strip-debug filename</userinput>.
+Wildcards can be used to treat multiple files (use something like
+<userinput>strip --strip-debug $LFS/static/bin/*</userinput>).</para>
 
 <para>For your convenience, chapter 9 includes one simple command to strip
-all debugging symbols from the programs and libraries on your system. You
-might find additional information in the optimization hint which can be
-found at <ulink url="&hints-root;optimization.txt"/>.</para>
+all debugging symbols from all programs and libraries on your system.
+Additional information on optimization you can find in the hint at
+<ulink url="&hints-root;optimization.txt"/>.</para>
 
 </sect1>
 

chapter06/changingowner.xml

@@ -2,15 +2,20 @@
 <title>Changing ownership</title>
 <?dbhtml filename="changingowner.html" dir="chapter06"?>
 
-<para>Now we're in chroot, it is time to change the ownership of
-the files and directories that were installed in chapter 5 to root.
-Run the following command to do so:</para>
+<para>The first thing we'll do, now that we're <emphasis>root</emphasis>,
+is change the ownership of the files and directories installed in chapter 5
+to root -- because when later we don't delete the
+<filename class="directory">/static</filename> directory and start adding
+new users, one of these users might end up owning the statically linked
+programs, which is not a good idea.</para>
 
-<para><screen><userinput>chown -R 0:0 /</userinput></screen></para>
+<para>Run the following command to make root the owner of all the statically
+linked programs:</para>
 
-<para>This command changes the ownership of the root partition to
-root. The command uses 0:0 instead of root:root, because the user name
-"root" can't be resolved, as glibc is not installed yet.</para>
+<para><screen><userinput>chown -R 0:0 /static</userinput></screen></para>
+
+<para>The command uses "0:0" instead of "root:root", because there is no way
+to resolve the name "root", as glibc hasn't been installed yet.</para>
 
 </sect1>
 

chapter06/chapter06.xml

@@ -7,10 +7,10 @@
 &c6-chroot;
 &c6-changingowner;
 &c6-creatingdirs;
-&c6-pwdgroup;
-&c6-mtablink;
 &c6-mountproc;
+&c6-mtablink;
 &c6-createfiles;
+&c6-pwdgroup;
 &c6-makedev;
 &c6-kernel;
 &c6-manpages;

chapter06/chroot.xml

@@ -2,35 +2,41 @@
 <title>Entering the chroot'ed environment</title>
 <?dbhtml filename="chroot.html" dir="chapter06"?>
 
-<para>It's time to enter our chroot'ed environment in order to install the
-rest of the software we need. Before you can chroot you need to change to
-the <emphasis>root</emphasis> user since only user
-<emphasis>root</emphasis> can use the <userinput>chroot</userinput>
-command.</para>
-
-<para>Enter the following commands to enter the chroot'ed environment. From
-this point on there's no need to use the $LFS variable anymore, because
-everything a user does will be restricted to the LFS partition (since / is
-actually /mnt/lfs, but the shell doesn't know that).</para>
-
-<para>&c6-chrootcmd;</para>
-
-<para>The -i option will clear all environment variables for as long as you
-are in the chroot'ed environment and only the HOME, TERM, PS1 and PATH
-variables are set. The TERM=$TERM construction will set the TERM variable
-inside chroot to the same value as outside chroot which is needed for
-programs like vim and less to operate properly. If you need other variables
-present, such as CFLAGS or CXXFLAGS, you need to set them again.</para>
-
-<para>Now that we are inside a chroot'ed environment, we can continue to
-install all the basic system software. You have to make sure all the
-following commands in this and following chapters are run from within the 
-chroot'ed environment. If you ever leave this environment for any reason
-(when rebooting for example) you must remember to enter chroot and mount 
-$LFS/proc again (as will be discussed later) before continuing with the
-book.</para>
-
-<para>Note that the bash prompt will contain "I have no name!" This is
-normal because Glibc hasn't been installed yet.</para>
+<para>It is time to enter the chroot'ed environment in order to begin installing
+the packages we need. Before you can chroot, however, you need to become
+<emphasis>root</emphasis>, since only <emphasis>root</emphasis>
+can execute the <userinput>chroot</userinput> command.</para>
+
+<para>Become <emphasis>root</emphasis> and run the following command
+to enter the chroot'ed environment:</para>
+
+<para><screen><userinput>chroot $LFS /static/bin/env -i \
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;HOME=/root TERM=$TERM PS1='\u:\w\$ ' \
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/static/bin \
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;/static/bin/bash --login</userinput></screen>
+</para>
+
+<para>The <userinput>-i</userinput> option given to the
+<userinput>env</userinput> command will clear all variables of the chroot'ed
+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 you need other variables present,
+such as CFLAGS or CXXFLAGS, this is a good place to set them again.</para>
+
+<para>From this point on there's no need anymore to use the $LFS variable,
+because everything you do will be restricted to the LFS file system -- since
+what the shell thinks is <filename class="directory">/</filename> is actually
+<filename class="directory">/mnt/lfs</filename>.</para>
+
+<para>You have to make sure all the commands in the rest of this chapter and
+in the following chapters are run from within the chroot'ed environment.
+If you ever leave this environment for any reason (rebooting for example),
+you must remember to again enter chroot and mount proc (discussed later)
+before continuing with the installations.</para>
+
+<para>Note that the bash prompt will say "I have no name!" This is
+normal, as the Glibc package hasn't been installed yet.</para>
 
 </sect1>
+

chapter06/chrootcmd.xml

@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-<screen><userinput>chroot $LFS /static/bin/env -i HOME=/root TERM=$TERM \
-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;PS1='\u:\w\$ ' \
-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/static/bin \
-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;/static/bin/bash --login</userinput></screen>
+
+[delete me]
+

chapter06/createfiles.xml

@@ -3,11 +3,12 @@
 <?dbhtml filename="createfiles.html" dir="chapter06"?>
 
 <para>Some programs hard-wire paths to programs which don't exist yet. In
-order to satisfy these programs, we create the <filename>/bin/bash</filename>
-and <filename>/bin/sh</filename> symlinks.</para>
+order to satisfy these programs, we create the symbolic links
+<filename>/bin/bash</filename> and <filename>/bin/sh</filename>, both
+pointing to the static <filename>bash</filename> program.</para>
 
-<para>Create the /bin/bash and /bin/sh symlinks by running the following
-commands:</para>
+<para>Create the <filename>/bin/bash</filename> and <filename>/bin/sh</filename>
+symlinks by running the following commands:</para>
 
 <para><screen><userinput>ln -s /static/bin/bash /bin/bash &amp;&amp;
 ln -s bash /bin/sh</userinput></screen></para>

chapter06/creatingdirs.xml

@@ -2,10 +2,9 @@
 <title>Creating directories</title>
 <?dbhtml filename="creatingdirs.html" dir="chapter06"?>
 
-<para>Let's now create the directory tree on the LFS partition based on
-the FHS standard, which can be found at
-<ulink url="http://www.pathname.com/fhs/"/>.
-Issuing the following commands will create a default directory layout:</para>
+<para>Let's now create some structure in our LFS file system, let's create
+a directory tree. Issuing the following commands will create a more or less
+standard tree:</para>
  
 <para><screen><userinput>mkdir -p /{bin,boot,dev/pts,etc/opt,home,lib,mnt,proc} &amp;&amp;
 mkdir -p /{root,sbin,tmp,usr/local,var,opt} &amp;&amp;
@@ -23,35 +22,39 @@ mkdir /opt/{bin,doc,include,info} &amp;&amp;
 mkdir -p /opt/{lib,man/man{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8}} &amp;&amp;
 ln -s ../var/tmp /usr</userinput></screen></para>
 
-<para>Normally, directories are created with permission mode 755, which isn't
-desired for all directories. The first change is a mode 0750 for the 
-/root directory. This is to make sure that not just everybody can 
-enter the /root directory (the same a user would do with his /home/username 
-directory). The second change is a mode 1777 for the tmp 
-directories. In this way any user can write to the /tmp and /var/tmp 
-directories, but cannot remove other users's files from them (the latter is prohibited
-by the so-called "sticky bit" -- bit 1 in the 1777 bit mask).</para>
+<para>Directories are by default created with permission mode 755, but this
+isn't desirable for all directories. We will make two changes: one to the home
+directory of root, and another to the directories for temporary files.</para>
 
 <para><screen><userinput>chmod 0750 /root &amp;&amp;
 chmod 1777 /tmp /var/tmp</userinput></screen></para>
 
+<para>The first mode change ensures that not just everybody can enter the
+<filename class="directory">/root</filename> directory -- the same
+a normal user would do with his or her home directory.
+The second mode change makes sure that any user can write to the
+<filename class="directory">/tmp</filename> and
+<filename class="directory">/var/tmp</filename> directories, but
+cannot remove other users's files from them. The latter is prohibited
+by the so-called "sticky bit" -- the highest bit in the 1777 bit mask.</para>
+
 <para>Now that the directories are created, copy the source files that were
-downloaded in chapter 3 to some subdirectory under /usr/src (you
-will need to create the desired directory yourself).</para>
+downloaded in chapter 3 to some subdirectory under
+<filename class="directory">/usr/src</filename> (you
+will have to create the desired subdirectory yourself).</para>
 
 <sect2>
-<title>FHS compliance notes</title>
-
-<para>The FHS stipulates that the /usr/local directory should contain the
-bin, games, include, lib, man, sbin, and share subdirectories. You can
-alter your /usr/local directory yourself if you want your system to be
-FHS-compliant.</para>
-
-<para>Also, the standard says that there should exist a /usr/share/games 
-directory, which we don't much like for a base system. But feel free to 
-make your system FHS-compliant if you wish. The FHS isn't precise as 
-to the structure of the /usr/local/share subdirectories, so we took the 
-liberty of creating the directories that we felt were needed.</para>
+<title>FHS compliance note</title>
+
+<para>We have based our directory tree on the FHS standard (available at
+<ulink url="http://www.pathname.com/fhs/"/>). Besides the above created
+tree this standard stipulates the existence of
+<filename class="directory">/usr/local/games</filename> and
+<filename class="directory">/usr/share/games</filename>, but we don't
+much like these for a base system. However, feel free to make your system
+FHS-compliant. As to the structure of the
+<filename class="directory">/usr/local/share</filename> subdirectory the FHS
+isn't precise, so we created here the directories that we think are needed.</para>
 
 </sect2>
 

chapter06/introduction.xml

@@ -7,29 +7,31 @@ constructing our LFS system in earnest.  That is, we chroot into
 our temporary mini Linux system, create some auxiliary things,
 and then start installing all the packages, one by one.</para>
  
-<para>The installation of all the software is pretty straightforward, and
-you will probably think it would be so much easier and shorter to give
-the generic installation instructions for a package here and only explain
-in full the installation of those packages that require an alternate
-method. Although we agree with that, we choose to give the 
-full instructions for each and every package, simply to avoid any 
-possible confusion and errors.</para>
+<para>The installation of all this software is pretty straightforward,
+and you will probably think it would be much shorter to give here
+the generic installation instructions and explain in full only the
+installation of those packages that require an alternate method.
+Although we agree with that, we nevertheless choose to give the 
+full instructions for each and every package, simply to minimize
+the possibilities for mistakes.</para>
 
-<para>If you plan to use compiler optimization for the packages
-installed in this chapter, take a look at the optimization hint 
-at <ulink url="&hints-root;optimization.txt"/>.
-Compiler optimization can make a program run
-faster, but may also cause compilation problems. If you run into problems
-when using optimization, always try it without optimization to see if 
-the problem persists.</para>
+<para>If you plan to use compiler optimizations in this chapter,
+take a look at the optimization hint at
+<ulink url="&hints-root;optimization.txt"/>.
+Compiler optimizations can make a program run faster, but they
+may also cause compilation difficulties. If a package refuses
+to compile when using optimization, try to compile it without
+optimization and see if  the problem goes away.</para>
 
-<para>Please refrain from installing more than one package at a time, even
-if it may save you time (especially with dual CPU machines). If you install
-the wrong package at the wrong time, it may hard-wire program paths to
-<filename class="directory">$LFS/static</filename> which will cause the
-programs to stop working once the static directory is removed. The order
-packages are installed in this chapter have to be followed exactly to be
-sure nothing is hard-wiring the static paths.</para>
+<para>The order in which packages are installed in this chapter has
+to be strictly followed, to ensure that no program gets a path referring
+to <filename class="directory">/static</filename> hard-wired into it.
+For the same reason, <emphasis>do not </emphasis> compile packages
+in parallel.  Compiling in parallel may save you some time (especially on
+dual-CPU machines), but it could result in a program containing a
+hard-wired path to <filename class="directory">/static</filename>,
+which will cause the program to stop working when the static directory
+is removed.</para>
 
 </sect1>
 

chapter06/makedev-exp.xml

@@ -2,11 +2,12 @@
 <title>Command explanations</title>
 
 <para><userinput>./MAKEDEV -v generic:</userinput> This creates a whole
-bunch of generic devices. Normally, these are all the devices you need. It's possible 
-that you are missing some special devices that are needed for your hardware
-configuration. Create them with ./MAKEDEV -v &lt;device&gt;.  
-The <userinput>generic-nopty</userinput> option does a similar job, but skips
-some devices which are not needed if you are using devpts.</para>
+bunch of devices. Normally, these are all the devices you will need. But it
+is possible that some special devices needed for your hardware configuration
+are missing. Create these with ./MAKEDEV -v &lt;device&gt;.  
+The <userinput>generic-nopty</userinput> option mostly creates the same
+devices as <userinput>generic-nopty</userinput>, but skips those that aren't
+needed if you are using devpts.</para>
 
 </sect2>
 

chapter06/makedev-inst.xml

@@ -1,33 +1,31 @@
 <sect2>
 <title>Creating devices</title>
 
-<para>Note: the MAKEDEV-&makedev-version;.bz2 file you have unpacked is not
-an archive, so it won't create a directory for you to cd into.</para>
+<para>(Note that unpacking the MAKEDEV-&makedev-version;.bz2 file doesn't create
+a directory for you to cd into, as the file only contains a script.)</para>
 
-<para>Create the device files by running the following commands:</para>
+<para>Prepare for the creation of the device files by running the
+following commands:</para>
 
 <para><screen><userinput>cp MAKEDEV-&makedev-version; /dev/MAKEDEV &amp;&amp;
 cd /dev &amp;&amp;
 chmod 754 MAKEDEV</userinput></screen></para>
 
-<para>Now, depending on whether you are going to use devpts or not, you
-can run one of two commands:</para>
-
-<para>If you do not intend to use devpts, run:</para>
+<para>Most people will now want to create devices by running:</para>
 <para><screen><userinput>./MAKEDEV -v generic</userinput></screen></para>
 
-<para>If you do intend to use devpts, then run:</para>
+<para>But if you intend to use devpts, then run this instead:</para>
 <para><screen><userinput>./MAKEDEV -v generic-nopty</userinput></screen></para>
 
-<para>Note that if you aren't sure, it's best to use 
-the <userinput>./MAKEDEV -v generic</userinput> command as this will
-ensure you have the devices you need.  If you are sure you are going to
-use devpts however, the other command makes sure that you don't create a
-set of devices which you don't require.</para>
+<para>Note that if you aren't sure, it's best to use the
+<userinput>./MAKEDEV -v generic</userinput> command as this will ensure you
+have all the devices you need. But if you are certain you are going to use
+devpts, the other command skips creating a set of devices you won't need.</para>
 
-<para>MAKEDEV will create hda[1-20] to hdh[1-20] and such, but keep in mind
-that you may not be able to use all of these devices due to kernel 
-limits on the maximum number of partitions.</para>
+<para><filename>MAKEDEV</filename> will create hda[1-20] to hdh[1-20] and
+many more of such disk device nodes, but keep in mind that you probably won't
+be able to use all of these, due to kernel limits on the maximum number of
+partitions.</para>
 
 </sect2>
 

chapter06/mountproc.xml

@@ -1,16 +1,17 @@
 <sect1 id="ch06-proc">
-<title>Mounting /proc file system</title>
+<title>Mounting the proc file system</title>
 <?dbhtml filename="proc.html" dir="chapter06"?>
 
 <para>In order for certain programs to function properly, the proc file
-system must be available from within the chroot'ed environment.
-A file system can be mounted as many times and in as many places
-as you'd like, so it's not a problem that the proc file system is already
-mounted on your host system, especially so because proc is a
+system must be available within the chroot'ed environment.
+As a file system can be mounted as many times and in as many places
+as you like, it's not a problem that the proc file system is already
+mounted on your host system -- especially so because proc is a
 virtual file system.</para>
 
-<para>The proc file system is mounted under /proc by running the
-following command.</para>
+<para>The proc file system is mounted under
+<filename class="directory">/proc</filename> by running the
+following command:</para>
 
 <para><screen><userinput>mount proc /proc -t proc</userinput></screen></para>
 

chapter06/mtablink.xml

@@ -1,24 +1,25 @@
 <sect1 id="ch06-mtablink">
-<title>Creating the /etc/mtab symlink</title>
+<title>Creating the mtab symlink</title>
 <?dbhtml filename="mtablink.html" dir="chapter06"?>
 
 <para>The next thing to do is to create a symlink pointing from
-/etc/mtab to /proc/mounts.  This is done using the following
-command:</para>
+<filename>/etc/mtab</filename> to <filename>/proc/mounts</filename>.
+This is done using the following command:</para>
 
 <para><screen><userinput>ln -s /proc/mounts /etc/mtab</userinput></screen></para>
 
-<para>Creating this symlink avoids problems which can occur if / is
-mounted read-only and the information in /etc/mtab is stale (i.e. out of
-date).  By creating the symlink to /proc/mounts, we ensure that
-/etc/mtab will always be up-to-date.</para>
+<para>Creating this symlink avoids problems which can occur if
+<filename class="directory">/</filename> is mounted read-only and the
+information in <filename>/etc/mtab</filename> is stale (i.e. out of date).
+By creating the symlink to <filename>/proc/mounts</filename>, we ensure that
+the information on currently mounted devices is always up-to-date.</para>
 
-<para>Note that using this symlink requires that you have /proc
-filesystem support compiled into your kernel.  This is included by
-default and should not be removed unless you <emphasis>really</emphasis>
-know what you are doing as  many more things than just the /etc/mtab
-symlink depend on /proc being present.  In summary, make sure you have
-/proc filesystem support in your kernel.</para>
+<para>Note that using this symlink requires that you have support for the
+proc filesystem compiled into your kernel. This support is included by
+default, and should not be removed unless you <emphasis>really</emphasis>
+know what you are doing, as some more things besides the
+<filename>/etc/mtab</filename> symlink depend on proc being present.
+In short, make sure you have proc filesystem support in your kernel.</para>
 
 </sect1>
 

chapter06/pwdgroup.xml

@@ -1,25 +1,21 @@
 <sect1 id="ch06-pwdgroup">
-<title>Creating passwd and group files</title>
+<title>Creating the passwd and group files</title>
 <?dbhtml filename="pwdgroup.html" dir="chapter06"?>
 
-<para>In order for the user and the group "root" to be recognized and to be
-able to login, there need to be entries in the /etc/passwd and /etc/group file. 
-Besides the group "root", a couple of other groups are recommended or needed
-by some packages. The groups created below aren't part of any standard.
-The LSB only recommends a group "bin" with GID 1 to be present besides 
-"root". Other group names and GIDs can be chosen by the user.
-Well-written packages don't depend on GID numbers, but use the group's
-name; so it doesn't matter which GID a group has. Since there
-aren't any standards for groups, the groups created here are the groups the
-MAKEDEV script (the script that creates the device files in the /dev
-directory) mentions.</para>
-
-<para>Create a new file <filename>/etc/passwd</filename> by running the
+<para>In order for root to be able to login and for the name "root" to be
+recognized, there need to be relevant entries in the
+<filename>/etc/passwd</filename> and
+<filename>/etc/group</filename> files.</para>
+
+<para>Create the <filename>/etc/passwd</filename> file by running the
 following command:</para>
 
 <para><screen><userinput>echo "root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash" &gt; /etc/passwd</userinput></screen></para>
 
-<para>Create a new file <filename>/etc/group</filename> by running the
+<para>The actual password for root (the "x" here is just a placeholder) will
+be set later.</para>
+
+<para>Create the <filename>/etc/group</filename> file by running the
 following command:</para>
 
 <para><screen><userinput>cat &gt; /etc/group &lt;&lt; "EOF"</userinput>
@@ -37,5 +33,12 @@ dialout:x:10:
 audio:x:11:
 <userinput>EOF</userinput></screen></para>
 
+<para>The created groups aren't part of any standard -- they are the groups
+that the MAKEDEV script in the next section uses.
+Besides the group "root", the LSB recommends only a group "bin" with a GID
+of 1 to be present. All other group names and GIDs can be chosen freely by
+the user, as well-written packages don't depend on GID numbers but use the
+group's name.</para>
+
 </sect1>