lfs-book/chapter03/introduction.xml

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

<para>Below is a list of packages you need to download for building a basic
Linux system. The listed version numbers correspond to versions of the
software that are <emphasis>known</emphasis> to work, and this book is
based upon them. Unless you are an experienced LFS builder, we highly
recommend not to try out newer versions, as the build commands for one
version may not work with a newer version. Also, there is often a good
reason for not using the latest version due to known problems that haven't
been worked around yet.</para>

<para>All the URLs, when possible, refer to the project's page at
<ulink url="http://www.freshmeat.net/"/>. The Freshmeat
pages will give you easy access to the official download sites as well as
project websites, mailing lists, FAQs, changelogs and more.</para>

<para>We can't guarantee that these download locations are always available.
In case a download location has changed since this book was published, please
try to google for the package. Should you remain unsuccessful with this, you
can consult the book's errata page at <ulink url="&lfs-root;lfs/print/"/>
or, better yet, try one of the alternative means of downloading listed on
<ulink url="&lfs-root;lfs/packages.html"/>.</para>

<para>You'll need to store all the downloaded packages and patches somewhere
that is conveniently available throughout the entire build. You'll also need a
working directory in which to unpack the sources and build them. A scheme that
works well is to use <filename class="directory">$LFS/sources</filename> as the place to store
the tarballs and patches, <emphasis>and</emphasis> as a working directory.
This way everything you need will be located on the LFS partition and available
during all stages of the building process.</para>

<para>So you may want to execute, as <emphasis>root</emphasis>, the following
command before starting your download session:</para>

<screen><userinput>mkdir $LFS/sources</userinput></screen>

<para>And make this directory writable (and sticky) for your normal user -- as
you won't do the downloading as <emphasis>root</emphasis>, we guess:</para>

<screen><userinput>chmod a+wt $LFS/sources</userinput></screen>

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