| 12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849505152535455565758596061626364656667 | <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?><!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.3//EN" "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.3/docbookx.dtd" [  <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../general.ent">  %general-entities;]><sect1 id="ch-system-introduction"><title>Introduction</title><?dbhtml filename="introduction.html"?><para>In this chapter we enter the building site, and startconstructing our LFS system in earnest. That is, we chroot intoour temporary mini Linux system, create some auxiliary things,and then start installing all the packages, one by one.</para> <para>The installation of all this software is pretty straightforward,and you will probably think it would be much shorter to give herethe generic installation instructions and explain in full only theinstallation of those packages that require an alternate method.Although we agree with that, we nevertheless choose to give the full instructions for each and every package, simply to minimizethe possibilities for mistakes.</para><para>The key to learning what makes a Linux system work is to knowwhat each package is used for and why the user (or the system) needs it.For this purpose for every installed package a summary of its content isgiven followed by concise descriptions of each program and library itinstalled.</para><para>If you plan to use compiler optimizations in this chapter, take a look atthe optimization hint at <ulink url="&hints-root;optimization.txt"/>. Compileroptimizations can make a program run slightly faster, but they may also causecompilation difficulties and even problems when running the program. If apackage refuses to compile when using optimization, try to compile it withoutoptimization and see if the problem goes away. Even if the package does compilewhen using optimization, there is the risk it may have been compiled incorrectlydue to complex interactions between the code and build tools. In short, thesmall potential gains achieved in using compiler optimization are generallyoutweighed by the risk. First time builders of LFS are encouraged to buildwithout custom optimizations. Your system will still be very fast and verystable at the same time.</para><para>The order in which packages are installed in this chapter hasto be strictly followed, to ensure that no program gets a path referringto <filename class="directory">/tools</filename> hard-wired into it.For the same reason, <emphasis>do not </emphasis> compile packagesin parallel. Compiling in parallel may save you some time (especially ondual-CPU machines), but it could result in a program containing ahard-wired path to <filename class="directory">/tools</filename>,which will cause the program to stop working when that directoryis removed.</para><para>Before the installation instructions each installation page gives someinformation about the package: a concise description of what it contains,approximately how long it will take to build it, how much disk space it needsduring this building process, the official download location of the package(in case you just want to update a few of them), and which other packages itneeds in order to be built successfully. After the installation instructionsfollows a list of programs and libraries that the package installs, togetherwith a series of short descriptions of these.</para><para>If you wish to keep track of which package installs what files, you maywant to use a package manager. For a general overview of package managers havea look at <ulink url="&blfs-root;view/cvs/introduction/pkgmgt.html"/>. And fora package management method specifically geared towards LFS see<ulink url="&hints-root;more_control_and_pkg_man.txt"/>.</para></sect1>
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