>1) LFS/BLFS... is it just a "learning distro"... or is there a way to use it 
>as a full-blown everyday distro? E. g. write a few scripts to automate the 

No.  Let's look at what you get when you finish the book.  It's really the 
minimal bare bones of a typical working Linux system--one might use the term 
"stripped down to barest essentials" except that implies having proceeded in 
the other direction.  It will boot and run, but in common terms I would say 
it's not "usable".  It lacks many capabilities that a successful distro must 
provide.  While it "works" on the system it was compiled for, it would have 
trouble functioning on any arbitrary hardware.  (Knoppix is amazing.)  It lacks 
management.  One can "mess up" the pristine system very quickly, very easily.

If it fails as a common distro, even as a learning tool it is too specific a 
guide to installing one specific set of packages in one way to be educational.  
LFS ain't for newbies.  The explanations of the "options" address "what" they 
do, but understanding "why" requires more guidance than the book provides.  The 
section on udev is more expansive than most, but I'd say even that fails on 
this point.  I would say that basically all LFS systems at first boot look the 
same.  The book isn't expansive enough to enable every reader to build a unique 
system, even if it is only to the extent of getting a different selection of 
versions to play together, not to mention "leaving the reservation".

That said, I'm not "ragging" LFS.  I'm saying the fault is in the question: is 
it this or that?  Even the more general question, "what is it good for?" is 
difficult to answer.  The only answer I could suggest is the equally vague, "as 
a point of departure", because when readers begin BLFS the systems begin to 
scatter like rabbits.


Paul Rogers  ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
http://www.xprt.net/~pgrogers/
Rogers' Second Law: "Everything you do communicates."
(I do not personally endorse any additions after this line. TANSTAAFL :-)


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