why.xml 17 KB

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  1. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
  2. <!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
  3. "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
  4. <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../general.ent">
  5. %general-entities;
  6. ]>
  7. <sect1 id="pre-why">
  8. <?dbhtml filename="package-choices.html"?>
  9. <title>Rationale for Packages in the Book</title>
  10. <para>As stated earlier, the goal of LFS is to build a complete and usable
  11. foundation-level system. This includes all packages needed to replicate
  12. itself while providing a relatively minimal base from which to customize
  13. a more complete system based on the choices of the user. This does not
  14. mean that LFS is the smallest system possible. Several important packages
  15. are included that are not strictly required. The lists below document the
  16. rationale for each package in the book.</para>
  17. <itemizedlist>
  18. <listitem>
  19. <para>Acl</para>
  20. <para>This package contains utilities to administer Access
  21. Control Lists, which are used to define more fine-grained
  22. discretionary access rights for files and directories.
  23. </para>
  24. </listitem>
  25. <listitem>
  26. <para>Attr</para>
  27. <para>This package contains programs for administering
  28. extended attributes on filesystem objects.
  29. </para>
  30. </listitem>
  31. <listitem>
  32. <para>Autoconf</para>
  33. <para>This package contains programs for producing shell scripts that
  34. can automatically configure source code from a developer's
  35. template. It is often needed to rebuild a package after updates
  36. to the build procedures.</para>
  37. </listitem>
  38. <listitem>
  39. <para>Automake</para>
  40. <para>This package contains programs for generating Make files from
  41. a template. It is often needed to rebuild a package after updates
  42. to the build procedures.</para>
  43. </listitem>
  44. <listitem>
  45. <para>Bash</para>
  46. <para>This package satisfies an LSB core requirement to provide
  47. a Bourne Shell interface to the system. It was chosen over
  48. other shell packages because of its common usage and extensive
  49. capabilities beyond basic shell functions.</para>
  50. </listitem>
  51. <listitem>
  52. <para>Bc</para>
  53. <para>This package provides an arbitrary precision numeric processing language.
  54. It satisfies a requirement needed when building the Linux kernel.</para>
  55. </listitem>
  56. <listitem>
  57. <para>Binutils</para>
  58. <para>This package contains a linker, an assembler, and other
  59. tools for handling object files. The programs in this package are
  60. needed to compile most of the packages in an LFS system and beyond.</para>
  61. </listitem>
  62. <listitem>
  63. <para>Bison</para>
  64. <para>This package contains the GNU version of yacc (Yet Another
  65. Compiler Compiler) needed to build several other LFS programs.</para>
  66. </listitem>
  67. <listitem>
  68. <para>Bzip2</para>
  69. <para>This package contains programs for compressing and decompressing
  70. files. It is required to decompress many LFS packages.</para>
  71. </listitem>
  72. <listitem>
  73. <para>Check</para>
  74. <para>This package contains a test harness for other programs.
  75. It is only installed in the temporary toolchain.</para>
  76. </listitem>
  77. <listitem>
  78. <para>Coreutils</para>
  79. <para>This package contains a number of essential programs for viewing
  80. and manipulating files and directories. These programs are needed for
  81. command line file management, and are necessary for the installation
  82. procedures of every package in LFS.</para>
  83. </listitem>
  84. <listitem revision="systemd">
  85. <para>D-Bus</para>
  86. <para>This package contains programs to implement a message bus system,
  87. which a simple way for applications to talk to one another.
  88. </para>
  89. </listitem>
  90. <listitem>
  91. <para>DejaGNU</para>
  92. <para>This package contains a framework for testing other programs.
  93. It is only installed in the temporary toolchain.</para>
  94. </listitem>
  95. <listitem>
  96. <para>Diffutils</para>
  97. <para>This package contains programs that show the differences
  98. between files or directories. These programs can be used to create
  99. patches, and are also used in many packages' build procedures.</para>
  100. </listitem>
  101. <listitem>
  102. <para>E2fsprogs</para>
  103. <para>This package contains the utilities for handling the ext2, ext3
  104. and ext4 file systems. These are the most common and thoroughly
  105. tested file systems that Linux supports.</para>
  106. </listitem>
  107. <listitem revision="sysv">
  108. <para>Eudev</para>
  109. <para>This package is a device manager. It dynamically controls the entries
  110. in the /dev directory as devices are added or removed from the system.
  111. </para>
  112. </listitem>
  113. <listitem>
  114. <para>Expat</para>
  115. <para>This package contains a relatively small XML parsing library. It
  116. is required by the XML::Parser Perl module.</para>
  117. </listitem>
  118. <listitem>
  119. <para>Expect</para>
  120. <para>This package contains a program for carrying out scripted
  121. dialogues with other interactive programs. It is commonly used
  122. for testing other packages. It is only installed in the temporary
  123. toolchain.</para>
  124. </listitem>
  125. <listitem>
  126. <para>File</para>
  127. <para>This package contains a utility for determining the type of a
  128. given file or files. A few packages need it to build.</para>
  129. </listitem>
  130. <listitem>
  131. <para>Findutils</para>
  132. <para>This package contains programs to find files in a file system.
  133. It is used in many packages' build scripts.</para>
  134. </listitem>
  135. <listitem>
  136. <para>Flex</para>
  137. <para>This package contains a utility for generating programs that
  138. recognize patterns in text. It is the GNU version of the lex
  139. (lexical analyzer) program. It is required to build several
  140. LFS packages.</para>
  141. </listitem>
  142. <listitem>
  143. <para>Gawk</para>
  144. <para>This package contains programs for manipulating text files.
  145. It is the GNU version of awk (Aho-Weinberg-Kernighan). It is used in
  146. many other packages' build scripts.</para>
  147. </listitem>
  148. <listitem>
  149. <para>Gcc</para>
  150. <para>This package is the Gnu Compiler Collection. It contains the
  151. C and C++ compilers as well as several others not built by LFS.
  152. </para>
  153. </listitem>
  154. <listitem>
  155. <para>GDBM</para>
  156. <para>This package contains the GNU Database Manager library. It
  157. is used by one other LFS package, Man-DB.</para>
  158. </listitem>
  159. <listitem>
  160. <para>Gettext</para>
  161. <para>This package contains utilities and libraries for
  162. internationalization and localization of numerous packages.</para>
  163. </listitem>
  164. <listitem>
  165. <para>Glibc</para>
  166. <para>This package contains the main C library. Linux programs would
  167. not run without it.</para>
  168. </listitem>
  169. <listitem>
  170. <para>GMP</para>
  171. <para>This package contains math libraries that provide useful functions
  172. for arbitrary precision arithmetic. It is required to build Gcc.</para>
  173. </listitem>
  174. <listitem>
  175. <para>Gperf</para>
  176. <para>This package contains a program that generates a perfect hash
  177. function from a key set. It is required for Eudev.</para>
  178. </listitem>
  179. <listitem>
  180. <para>Grep</para>
  181. <para>This package contains programs for searching through files. These
  182. programs are used by most packages' build scripts.</para>
  183. </listitem>
  184. <listitem>
  185. <para>Groff</para>
  186. <para>This package contains programs for processing and formatting text.
  187. One important function of these programs is to format man pages.</para>
  188. </listitem>
  189. <listitem>
  190. <para>GRUB</para>
  191. <para>This package is the Grand Unified Boot Loader. It is one
  192. of several boot loaders available, but is the most flexible.
  193. </para>
  194. </listitem>
  195. <listitem>
  196. <para>Gzip</para>
  197. <para>This package contains programs for compressing and
  198. decompressing files. It is needed to decompress many packages in LFS
  199. and beyond.</para>
  200. </listitem>
  201. <listitem>
  202. <para>Iana-etc</para>
  203. <para>This package provides data for network services and protocols.
  204. It is needed to enable proper networking capabilities.</para>
  205. </listitem>
  206. <listitem>
  207. <para>Inetutils</para>
  208. <para>This package contains programs for basic network
  209. administration.</para>
  210. </listitem>
  211. <listitem>
  212. <para>Intltool</para>
  213. <para>This package contains tools for extracting translatable
  214. strings from source files.</para>
  215. </listitem>
  216. <listitem>
  217. <para>IProute2</para>
  218. <para>This package contains programs for basic and advanced IPv4 and
  219. IPv6 networking. It was chosen over the other common network
  220. tools package (net-tools) for its IPv6 capabilities. </para>
  221. </listitem>
  222. <listitem>
  223. <para>Kbd</para>
  224. <para>This package contains key-table files, keyboard utilities
  225. for non-US keyboards, and a number of console fonts.</para>
  226. </listitem>
  227. <listitem>
  228. <para>Kmod</para>
  229. <para>This package contains programs needed to administer Linux
  230. kernel modules.</para>
  231. </listitem>
  232. <listitem>
  233. <para>Less</para>
  234. <para>This package contains a very nice text file viewer that
  235. allows scrolling up or down when viewing a file. It is also used by
  236. Man-DB for viewing manpages.</para>
  237. </listitem>
  238. <listitem>
  239. <para>Libcap</para>
  240. <para>This package implements the user-space interfaces to
  241. the POSIX 1003.1e capabilities available in Linux kernels.
  242. </para>
  243. </listitem>
  244. <listitem>
  245. <para>Libpipeline</para>
  246. <para>The Libpipeline package contains a library for manipulating
  247. pipelines of subprocesses in a flexible and convenient way. It is
  248. required by the Man-DB package.</para>
  249. </listitem>
  250. <listitem>
  251. <para>Libtool</para>
  252. <para>This package contains the GNU generic library support
  253. script. It wraps the complexity of using shared libraries in a
  254. consistent, portable interface. It is needed by the test
  255. suites in other LFS packages.</para>
  256. </listitem>
  257. <listitem>
  258. <para>Linux Kernel</para>
  259. <para>This package is the Operating System. It is the Linux in
  260. the GNU/Linux environment.</para>
  261. </listitem>
  262. <listitem>
  263. <para>M4</para>
  264. <para>This package contains a general text macro processor useful
  265. as a build tool for other programs.</para>
  266. </listitem>
  267. <listitem>
  268. <para>Make</para>
  269. <para>This package contains a program for directing the building
  270. of packages. It is required by almost every package in LFS.</para>
  271. </listitem>
  272. <listitem>
  273. <para>Man-DB</para>
  274. <para>This package contains programs for finding and viewing man pages.
  275. It was chosen instead of the <application>man</application> package
  276. due to superior internationalization capabilities. It supplies
  277. the man program.</para>
  278. </listitem>
  279. <listitem>
  280. <para>Man-pages</para>
  281. <para>This package contains the actual contents of the basic
  282. Linux man pages.</para>
  283. </listitem>
  284. <listitem>
  285. <para>MPC</para>
  286. <para>This package contains functions for the arithmetic of complex
  287. numbers. It is required by Gcc.</para>
  288. </listitem>
  289. <listitem>
  290. <para>MPFR</para>
  291. <para>This package contains functions for multiple precision
  292. arithmetic. It is required by Gcc.</para>
  293. </listitem>
  294. <listitem>
  295. <para>Ncurses</para>
  296. <para>This package contains libraries for terminal-independent
  297. handling of character screens. It is often used to provide
  298. cursor control for a menuing system. It is needed by a number of
  299. packages in LFS.</para>
  300. </listitem>
  301. <listitem>
  302. <para>Patch</para>
  303. <para>This package contains a program for modifying or creating files by
  304. applying a <emphasis>patch</emphasis> file typically created
  305. by the <application>diff</application> program. It is needed by
  306. the build procedure for several LFS packages.</para>
  307. </listitem>
  308. <listitem>
  309. <para>Perl</para>
  310. <para>This package is an interpreter for the runtime language
  311. PERL. It is needed for the installation and test suites of several LFS
  312. packages.</para>
  313. </listitem>
  314. <listitem>
  315. <para>Pkg-config</para>
  316. <para>This package provides a program to return meta-data about an
  317. installed library or package.</para>
  318. </listitem>
  319. <listitem>
  320. <para>Procps-NG</para>
  321. <para>This package contains programs for monitoring processes. These
  322. programs are useful for system administration, and are also used by
  323. the LFS Bootscripts.</para>
  324. </listitem>
  325. <listitem>
  326. <para>Psmisc</para>
  327. <para>This package contains programs for displaying information
  328. about running processes. These programs are useful for system
  329. administration.</para>
  330. </listitem>
  331. <listitem>
  332. <para>Readline</para>
  333. <para>This package is a set of libraries that offers command-line
  334. editing and history capabilities. It is used by Bash.</para>
  335. </listitem>
  336. <listitem>
  337. <para>Sed</para>
  338. <para>This package allows editing of text without opening it in a
  339. text editor. It is also needed by most LFS packages' configure
  340. scripts.</para>
  341. </listitem>
  342. <listitem>
  343. <para>Shadow</para>
  344. <para>This package contains programs for handling passwords
  345. in a secure way.</para>
  346. </listitem>
  347. <listitem revision="sysv">
  348. <para>Sysklogd</para>
  349. <para>This package contains programs for logging system messages,
  350. such as those given by the kernel or daemon processes when unusual
  351. events occur.</para>
  352. </listitem>
  353. <listitem revision="systemd">
  354. <para>Systemd</para>
  355. <para>This package provides and <application>init</application> program
  356. and several additional boot and system control capabilities as an
  357. alternative to Sysvinit. It is used by many commercial distributions.
  358. </para>
  359. </listitem>
  360. <listitem revision="sysv">
  361. <para>Sysvinit</para>
  362. <para>This package provides the <application>init</application>
  363. program, which is the parent of all other processes on the Linux
  364. system. </para>
  365. </listitem>
  366. <listitem>
  367. <para>Tar</para>
  368. <para>This package provides archiving and extraction capabilities
  369. of virtually all packages used in LFS.</para>
  370. </listitem>
  371. <listitem>
  372. <para>Tcl</para>
  373. <para>This package contains the Tool Command Language used
  374. in many test suites in LFS packages. It is only installed in
  375. the temporary toolchain.</para>
  376. </listitem>
  377. <listitem>
  378. <para>Texinfo</para>
  379. <para>This package contains programs for reading, writing, and
  380. converting info pages. It is used in the installation
  381. procedures of many LFS packages.</para>
  382. </listitem>
  383. <listitem>
  384. <para>Util-linux</para>
  385. <para>This package contains miscellaneous utility programs.
  386. Among them are utilities for handling file systems, consoles,
  387. partitions, and messages.</para>
  388. </listitem>
  389. <listitem>
  390. <para>Vim</para>
  391. <para>This package contains an editor. It was chosen because of its
  392. compatibility with the classic vi editor and its huge number of powerful
  393. capabilities. An editor is a very personal choice for
  394. many users and any other editor could be substituted if desired.</para>
  395. </listitem>
  396. <listitem>
  397. <para>XML::Parser</para>
  398. <para>This package is a Perl module that interfaces with Expat.</para>
  399. </listitem>
  400. <listitem>
  401. <para>XZ Utils</para>
  402. <para>This package contains programs for compressing and decompressing
  403. files. It provides the highest compression generally available
  404. and is useful for decompressing packages in XZ or LZMA format.</para>
  405. </listitem>
  406. <listitem>
  407. <para>Zlib</para>
  408. <para>This package contains compression and decompression routines
  409. used by some programs.</para>
  410. </listitem>
  411. </itemizedlist>
  412. </sect1>