lfs-book/chapter02/creatingpartition.xml

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<sect1 id="space-creatingpartition">
<title>Creating a New Partition</title>
<?dbhtml filename="creatingpartition.html"?>

<para>Like most other operating systems, LFS is usually installed on
a dedicated partition.  The recommended approach to building an LFS
system is to use an available empty partition or, if you have enough
unpartitioned space, to create one. However, an LFS system (in
fact even multiple LFS systems) may also be installed on a partition
already occupied by another operating system and the different systems
will co-exist peacefully.  The document
<ulink url="&hints-root;lfs_next_to_existing_systems.txt"/> explains
how to implement this, whereas this book discusses the method of
using a fresh partition for the installation.</para>

<para>A minimal system requires a partition of around 1.3 gigabytes
(GB).  This is enough to store all the source tarballs and compile 
the packages. However, if the LFS system is intended to be the primary
Linux system, additional software will probably be installed which
will require additional space (2-3 GB). The LFS system itself will
not take up this much room. A large portion of this requirement
is to provide sufficient free temporary storage. Compiling
packages can require a lot of disk space which will be reclaimed after
the package is installed.</para>

<para>Because there is not always enough Random Access Memory (RAM)
available for compilation processes, it is a good idea to use a small
disk partition as swap space.  This is used by the kernel to
store seldom-used data and leave more memory available for active processes.
The swap partition for an LFS system can be the same as the one used
by the host system, in which case it is not necessary to create another
one.</para>

<para>Start a disk partitioning program such as
<command>cfdisk</command> or <command>fdisk</command> with a command
line option naming the hard disk on which the new partition will be
created&mdash;for example <filename class="devicefile">/dev/hda</filename> for
the primary Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) disk. Create a Linux native
partition and a swap partition, if needed. Please refer to 
<filename>cfdisk(8)</filename> or <filename>fdisk(8)</filename> if you
do not yet know how to use the programs.</para>

<para>Remember the designation of the new partition (e.g.,
<filename class="devicefile">hda5</filename>). This book will refer to this as the LFS
partition. Also remember the designation of the swap partition. These
names will be needed later for the <filename>/etc/fstab</filename>
file.</para>

</sect1>