lfs-book/prologue/hostreqs.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN"
  "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd" [
  <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../general.ent">
  %general-entities;
]>

<sect1 id="pre-hostreqs">
  <?dbhtml filename="hostreqs.html"?>

  <title>Host System Requirements</title>

  <para>The host must be running at least a 2.6.2 kernel compiled with GCC-3.0
  or higher. There are two main reasons for this requirement. First, the Native
  POSIX Threading Library (NPTL) test suite will segfault if the host's kernel
  has not been compiled with GCC-3.0 or a later version. Second, the 2.6.2 or
  later version of the kernel is required for the use of Udev. Udev creates
  devices dynamically by reading from the <systemitem
  class="filesystem">sysfs</systemitem> file system. However, support for this
  filesystem has only recently been implemented in most of the kernel drivers.
  We must be sure that all critical system devices get created properly.</para>

  <para>In order to determine whether the host kernel meets the requirements
  outlined above, run the following command:</para>

<screen role="nodump"><userinput>cat /proc/version</userinput></screen>

  <para>This will produce output similar to:</para>

<screen><computeroutput>Linux version 2.6.2 (user@host) (gcc version 3.4.0) #1
    Tue Apr 20 21:22:18 GMT 2004</computeroutput></screen>

  <para>If the results of the above command do not state that the host kernel
  is either 2.6.2 (or later), or that it was not compiled using a GCC-3.0 (or
  later) compiler, one will need to be installed. There are two methods you
  can take to solve this. First, see if your Linux vendor provides a 2.6.2 (or
  later) kernel package. If so, you may wish to install it. If your vendor
  doesn't offer a 2.6.2 (or later) kernel package, or you would prefer not to
  install it, then you can compile a 2.6 kernel yourself. Instructions for
  compiling the kernel and configuring the boot loader (assuming the host
  uses GRUB) are located in <xref linkend="chapter-bootable"/>. This second
  option can also be seen as a gauge of your current Linux skills. If this
  second requirement is too steep, then the LFS book will not likely be much
  use to you at this time.</para>

</sect1>