lfs-book/chapter06/introduction.xml

<sect1 id="ch06-introduction">
<title>Introduction</title>
<?dbhtml filename="introduction.html" dir="chapter06"?>

<para>In this chapter we enter the building site, and start
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 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 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 a touch faster, but they may also cause
compilation difficulties and even problems when running the program. If a
package refuses to compile when using optimization, try to compile it without
optimization and see if the problem goes away. Even if the package does compile
when using optimization, there is the risk it may have been compiled
incorrectly due to compiler bugs or whatever. In short, the small gains achieved
in using compiler optimization are generally outweighed by the risk. First time
builders of LFS are encouraged not to bother. Your system will still be plenty
fast enough and very stable at the same time.</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">/tools</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">/tools</filename>,
which will cause the program to stop working when that directory
is removed.</para>

</sect1>