lfs-book/chapter05/setting-environment.xml

<sect1 id="ch05-settingenviron">
<title>Setting up the environment</title>
<?dbhtml filename="settingenviron.html" dir="chapter05"?>

<para>While logged in as user <emphasis>lfs</emphasis>, issue the
following commands to set up a good work environment:</para>

<para><screen><userinput>cat &gt; ~/.bash_profile &lt;&lt; "EOF"
umask 022
LFS=/mnt/lfs
LC_ALL=POSIX
CC="gcc -s"
export LFS LC_ALL CC
EOF
source ~/.bash_profile</userinput></screen></para>

<para>This profile sets the umask to 022, so newly created files will and
directories will have the correct permissions. To be more specific, only
the file owner will have write permission to new files and directories.
Other users of the system will be have read permission, and executable
permission to directories. It is advisable to keep this setting throughout
your LFS installation.</para>

<para>The LFS, LC_ALL, and CC environment variables are also set. The LFS
variable has been explained in previous chapters. LC_ALL is a variable used
for internationalization.</para>

<para>The LC_ALL variable controls the localization of certain programs,
making their messages follow the conventions of a specified country. If your
host system uses a version of <emphasis>glibc</emphasis> older than 2.2.4,
having LC_ALL set to something other than "C" or "POSIX" during Chapter 5
may cause trouble if you exit the chroot environment and wish to return later.
By setting LC_ALL to "POSIX" ("C" is an alias for "POSIX") we ensure that
everything will work as expected in the chroot environment.</para>

<para>CC is a variable we set in order to prevent debugging symbols from
being compiled into our static packages. By omitting these symbols during
the linking stage of compilation, we save hard drive space and decrease our
build time.</para>

<para>We are now prepared to begin building the temporary tools which will
support us in later chapters.</para>

</sect1>