lfs-book/chapter01/how.xml

<sect1 id="ch01-how">
<title>How things are going to be done</title>

<para>
We are going to build the LFS system by using an already installed Linux
distribution such as Debian, SuSe, Slackware, Mandrake, RedHat, etc. You
don't need to have any kind of bootdisk. We will use an existing Linux
system as the base (since we need a compiler, linker, text editor and other
tools).
</para>

<para>
If you don't have Linux installed yet, you won't be able to put this
book to use right away. I suggest you first install a Linux
distribution. It really doesn't matter which one you install. It also 
doesn't need to be the latest version, though it shouldn't be a too old one. 
If it is about a year old or newer it should do just fine. You will save 
yourself a lot of trouble if your normal system uses glibc-2.1 or newer. 
Libc5 isn't supported by this book, though it isn't impossible to use a 
libc5 system if you have no choice.
</para>

</sect1>