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. There
is no 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 Linux was not installed yet, it is not possible to put this
book to use right away. I suggest to first install a Linux
distribution. It really doesn't matter which one is installed. It also 
doesn't need to be the latest version, though it shouldn't be too old. 
If it is about a year old or newer it should do just fine. It will save 
a lot of trouble if the 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 there is no choice.
</para>

</sect1>