last night i sat down at @ 6:00 and started working on my LFS project. install medium : 20gb WD0200 (hdb) partitions : hdb1 (ext2, 19.5gb), hdb2 (swap, 500mb)
i created an FHS compliant directory structure on (hdb1) and began compiling packages. the LFS manual gives some reason for all of the packages to be compiled staticly. i didn't exactly comprehend it and just went ahead with their instructions. this went without a hitch taking roughly four hours (with breaks for food and other neccesities). your time may vary, as i am a slow typer and frequently checked for mistakes before commiting to a command. i chroot'd to the new filesystem. this was possibly the coolest part. i had two functioning file systems running off the same kernel. once i was in the new filesystem, i began compiling. most of the packages are quite small and don't take more than a minute or two to compile (once again, your time may vary. some people have faster or slower computers...) gcc and perl are two notable exceptions. when compiling either, go get a sandwich and finish off that novel you've been meaning to read. it's even better to combine the compile commands for the two packages and go out for dinner. at @ 12:00, i decided it was time for bed. i am still not finished. i stopped after compiling the fileutils package this morning. i still have roughly half of the packages left to go and i haven't even begun writing the boot scripts. i have had two problems so far : ed-0.2 : this package had problems compiling and was never installed. the LFS documentation says this is an optional package used by patch, and that diff is more often used nowadays by patch. i decided to forgo ed-0.2 and save myself a headache. i may try installing it later. gcc-2.95.3 : REMEMBER to chroot into the new filesystem before compiling anything that isn't staticly linked. fortunately, i caught this one halfway through the make and simply killed it. otherwise, i would have had a new gcc on my debian system. this isn't necesarily a bad thing, but i didn't want to worry about it. i am very pleased with the LFS documentation. the author(s) was kind enough to make notes on anything that wasn't FHS compliant (which makes my job easier...) the compiling and installation instructions are comprehensive and explained well, and i learned a few new command line tricks along the way. several other programs are to added once the system is bootable : lynx mutt sendmail : so that mutt will work. there may be alternatives i'm also thinking of extra packages i'd like as part of the base install, but i'm not sure how much cruft will be added to support them : iptables mpg123 either way, this is turning out to be quite fun. i'm glad i went down this route. for now, and until i get the base system tar'ed up and ready to reinstall, i am not going to install x or any of it's support packages. -- Justin Bengtson ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) euglug= v+ e- eug++ bsd? gnu++ s++ "I called some kid "b" the other day. It's the price you pay for living hip-hop every day of your life." - Jerry (from the Point Blank Rangers)
