[lfs-support] Systemd 237 Build Instructions

[Mark Pokorny]

Hi all,

I just wanted to clarify something regarding the instructions for
building Systemd in LFS 8.2-rc1. Some of the commands include
“LANG=en_US.UTF-8” in them. Should this be adjusted for your local
language (i.e. “en_IE.UTF-8” in my case as I’m based in Ireland) or
should they be left verbatim?

Go raibh maith agat!

→ Mark
-- 
http://lists.linuxfromscratch.org/listinfo/lfs-support
FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/faq.html
Unsubscribe: See the above information page

Do not top post on this list.

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style

Re: [lfs-support] Page Table Isolation on AMD Processors

[Mark Pokorny]

On 11 February 2018 at 19:30, Ken Moffat <zarniwh...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Feb 11, 2018 at 07:10:41PM +0000, Mark Pokorny wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I’ve been away for a while, but am back now starting a new SVN build
>> of LFS. Since I’ve been away, however, the Spectre/Meltdown issue has
>> been discussed at length. I’ve been reading through the archives with
>> interest, but unfortunately little understanding.
>>
>> I am currently going through the motions of setting the configuration
>> options for the Linux kernel (4.15.2) and have come across the option
>> for Page Table Isolation. I have an AMD FX8350 processor, and from
>> reading the discussions on this mailing list, I understand that AMD
>> processors are _not_ vulnerable to the Meltdown issue that PTI is
>> supposed to address. So, my question is:
>>
>> tl;dr:
>> Should I compile Page Table Isolation into my kernel even though I
>> have (a pre-Ryzen) AMD processor? It seems some people were having
>> issues when PTI was compiled in, and others state the PTI is not
>> activated at runtime anyway. Any thoughts?
>>
>> Tschüß!
>>
>> Mark.
>
> Enable it ;)
>
> The statement that it will not be activated at runtime if you are on
> an AMD CPU is correct.  OTOH, if you will never use that .config to
> build on a different machine then I suppose it doesn't matter.
>
> ĸen

Cheers! Thanks Ken! Will do! ;)

Mark.
-- 
http://lists.linuxfromscratch.org/listinfo/lfs-support
FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/faq.html
Unsubscribe: See the above information page

Do not top post on this list.

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style

[lfs-support] Page Table Isolation on AMD Processors

[Mark Pokorny]

Hi all,

I’ve been away for a while, but am back now starting a new SVN build
of LFS. Since I’ve been away, however, the Spectre/Meltdown issue has
been discussed at length. I’ve been reading through the archives with
interest, but unfortunately little understanding.

I am currently going through the motions of setting the configuration
options for the Linux kernel (4.15.2) and have come across the option
for Page Table Isolation. I have an AMD FX8350 processor, and from
reading the discussions on this mailing list, I understand that AMD
processors are _not_ vulnerable to the Meltdown issue that PTI is
supposed to address. So, my question is:

tl;dr:
Should I compile Page Table Isolation into my kernel even though I
have (a pre-Ryzen) AMD processor? It seems some people were having
issues when PTI was compiled in, and others state the PTI is not
activated at runtime anyway. Any thoughts?

Tschüß!

Mark.
-- 
http://lists.linuxfromscratch.org/listinfo/lfs-support
FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/faq.html
Unsubscribe: See the above information page

Do not top post on this list.

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style

[lfs-support] Systemd-232 ‘test-path-util’ Test Failing

[Mark Pokorny]

Hi all,

Before running the test suite for Systemd-232 in LFS 8.0, the book
states it needs some modification to prevent searching for a programme
that will be installed with Util-Linux later on in the build. This is
done with a sed command:

—
sed -i 's:minix:ext4:g' src/test/test-path-util.c
—

However, when running the test suite, this test still fails. Looking
into the test logs, it seems that it fails because fsck.ext4 cannot be
found. This makes sense as E2FSProgs is not built until two packages
later.

I did some digging and found that the only fsck programme in the LFS
build at this stage is fsck.minix in /tools/sbin/, which I gather is
installed when Util-Linux is installed in §5. Thus, I have found that
creating a symlink in /sbin/ to /tools/sbin/fsck.minix instead of
executing the sed command allows the test to pass. (i.e.:)

—
ln -sfv {/tools,}/sbin/fsck.minix
—

→ Mark
-- 
http://lists.linuxfromscratch.org/listinfo/lfs-support
FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/faq.html
Unsubscribe: See the above information page

Do not top post on this list.

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style

[lfs-support] Attr Test Failure

[Mark Pokorny]

I am currently working my way through LFS 8.0 (systemd) and have
reached the Attr stage in Chapter 6. I am getting a test failure and
was wondering if anyone had any thoughts as to what might cause it and
whether it is a serious failure:

——
[95] $ ls -s f -- failed
0 f   != 4 f
——

Deviations:
→ I have compiled D, FORTRAN, ObjC and ObjC++ into GCC;
→ I am using the fakeroot method of package management;
→ I have moved BC, Readline and M4 to their SVN positions in the book
(to address the gold linker test issues highlighted in the lfs-dev
mailing list).

Thanks all!

Mark.
-- 
http://lists.linuxfromscratch.org/listinfo/lfs-support
FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/faq.html
Unsubscribe: See the above information page

Do not top post on this list.

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style

Re: [lfs-support] Building LFS with an existing toolkit

[Mark Pokorny]

Hi Hazel,

I just wanted to confirm that this is exactly what I do with my
toolchain on occasion. I am in the process of writing an automation
script for the full LFS-8.0 build (tailored to my
machine/circumstances), and frequently use the backed-up toolchain to
test the progress of the automated build. You do not need to create
the lfs user when using your backed-up toolchain.

G’luck!

Mark.

On 11 March 2017 at 15:39, Hazel Russman  wrote:
> I would like to build LFS-8.0 on my laptop using the toolkit I created for my 
> desktop build. I tarred it up before making the final adjustments to gcc and 
> ld. I have never done this before and I would like to run through my proposed 
> procedure so that more experienced people can tell me if I'm leaving anything 
> essential out. The host system will be LFS-7.8.
>
> 1. Make a new partition and format it for ext4.
> 2. Mount it on $LFS.
> 3. Create $LFS/sources and give myself write access. I intend to populate it 
> from the desktop machine using ftp.
> 4. Create $LFS/tools by unpacking the tools tarball into $LFS.
> 5. Create the /tools link to $LFS/tools.
> 6. Continue from the beginning of Chapter 6.
>
> As far as I can see, I shall not need an LFS user for this build. Is that 
> correct?
>
> --
>
> H Russman
> --
> http://lists.linuxfromscratch.org/listinfo/lfs-support
> FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/faq.html
> Unsubscribe: See the above information page
>
> Do not top post on this list.
>
> A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
> Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
> A: Top-posting.
> Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style
-- 
http://lists.linuxfromscratch.org/listinfo/lfs-support
FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/faq.html
Unsubscribe: See the above information page

Do not top post on this list.

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style

Re: [lfs-support] LFS 8.0 Section 6.10 possible typo (or else confusing statement)

[Mark Pokorny]

> I don't understand your question.
> $ ls -ld /lib64
> drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Feb 13 19:28 /lib64
> ls -l /lib64
> total 0
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 27 Feb 13 19:28 ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 ->
> ../lib/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 27 Feb 13 19:28 ld-lsb-x86-64.so.3 ->
> ../lib/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2
>-- Bruce


Ah, my apologies; I misunderstood what was happening. I thought this
was a leftover reference to /lib64 itself being a symlink – I didn’t
cop that the contents were, themselves, symlinks, and that these
symlinks pointed to the linkers held in /lib (even though these
symlinks were created in the previous chapter).

Thanks for clarifying,

Mark.
-- 
http://lists.linuxfromscratch.org/listinfo/lfs-support
FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/faq.html
Unsubscribe: See the above information page

Do not top post on this list.

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style

[lfs-support] New Compile Options for GLibC 2.25 in §6.9

[Mark Pokorny]

Hi all,

Just wanted to say a quick thanks for all the hard work in making the
LFS-8.0 book.

In Chapter 6.9 of LFS-8.0-systemd, GLibC-2.25 is configure with two
new options that were not present in LFS-7.10
(‘--enable-stack-protector=strong’ and ‘libc_cv_slibdir=/lib’), and
the information about them is not listed underneath. What do these new
options do?

Regards,

Mark
-- 
http://lists.linuxfromscratch.org/listinfo/lfs-support
FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/faq.html
Unsubscribe: See the above information page

Do not top post on this list.

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style

Re: [lfs-support] LFS 8.0 Section 6.10 possible typo (or else confusing statement)

[Mark Pokorny]

On 19 February 2017 at 22:28, Bruce Dubbs  wrote:
> Hazel Russman wrote:
>>
>> In the sanity tests for glibc, the book says:
>> [Requesting program interpreter: /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2]
>> Note that /lib is now the prefix of our dynamic linker.
>>
>> The output is as shown but the explanation is confusing. The linker is
>> indeed in /lib but the output actually says
>> /lib64, referring to the symbolic link.
>
>
> OK, I'll clarify that.
>
>   -- Bruce

I am currently building an LFS-8.0 (systemd) (having already built
LFS-7.10) and have just come to this section. Hasn’t the /lib64 → /lib
symlink been removed in this version of the book (i.e. /lib64 is now a
full-blown directory in its own right)?

Mark
-- 
http://lists.linuxfromscratch.org/listinfo/lfs-support
FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/faq.html
Unsubscribe: See the above information page

Do not top post on this list.

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style

Re: [lfs-support] LFS 8.0 chapter 8.26: Coreutils tests

[Mark Pokorny]

OK, I'll make the change in my next commit.

  -- Bruce

Cheers Bruce! ;-D
-- 
http://lists.linuxfromscratch.org/listinfo/lfs-support
FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/faq.html
Unsubscribe: See the above information page

Do not top post on this list.

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style

Re: [lfs-support] LFS 8.0 chapter 8.26: Coreutils tests

[Mark Pokorny]

> Hazel Russman wrote:
>>
>> Minor niggle: I got a failure when running test-getlogin on an Xterm.
>> According to the book, this should pass (it's known to fail on a console).
>
>
> In chapter 6, you are not in an xterm (directly), you are in chroot.  Try
> building coreutils directly in an xterm.
>
>   -- bruce
>

Hi Bruce,

Forgive me for wading in here. Can I suggest that the text in the book
be updated to clarify what you said in your email? I made the
assumption (wrongly in this case) that the phrase “but passes if run
in a X terminal.” would apply even in a chroot environment as the
underlying terminal is still an xterm (LFS 7.10 has a similar phrase
that for a test that DOES pass in a chroot environment). I think it
would be clearer if it said:

“The test-getlogin test is known to fail on a virtual console (such as
in this chroot environment), but passes if run in an X terminal
directly.”

I have a feeling this might crop up a good few times in the future otherwise.

Mark.
-- 
http://lists.linuxfromscratch.org/listinfo/lfs-support
FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/faq.html
Unsubscribe: See the above information page

Do not top post on this list.

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style

Re: [lfs-support] Fwd: Kernel Panic Booting From USB Hard Drive

[Mark Pokorny]

Hi again all,

I have a slight confession to make – it seems the issue was more
related to a PEBKAC/PICNIC error than anything else *blush*. When I
changed the kernel configuration to include the USB 3.0 subsystem
yesterday and recompiled the kernel, I somehow forgot to copy it to
the /boot directory of my LFS system. *sigh*. I say this here in the
hopes that anyone else reading can learn from my clumsiness!

The USB 3.0 susbsystem does indeed need to be compiled into the kernel
as Michele said, and a ‘rootdelay=’ flag also needs to be appended to
the bootloader configuration to wait for the USB subsystem to settle
down on boot, just as Bruce mentioned, so your efforts were not
totally in vain! Thank you both!

I am now going to make a large cup of tea and relax before I try to do
(aka break) anything more with my system! (Still SMH).

Go raibh míle maith agaibh

Mark
-- 
http://lists.linuxfromscratch.org/listinfo/lfs-support
FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/faq.html
Unsubscribe: See the above information page

Do not top post on this list.

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style

Re: [lfs-support] Fwd: Kernel Panic Booting From USB Hard Drive

[Mark Pokorny]

> Thanks Bruce. I gave that a go. It delayed the boot and I could see
> some of the other USB devices being detected (such as the mouse,
> keyboard and an attached printer) as it booted. Unfortunately the part
> where the error begins scrolls off the top of the screen before I can
> read it. Is it possible to attach a photo? I’ll see if I can…
> …it seems not…

Try not turning the printer on until after linux has booted :
probably not relevant to this issue, but from memory people have had
problems using a usb printer if it was powered on at boot.  And my
own epson claims to include a disk drive (according to the log after
I turn it on), which might upset things.

Beyond that - maybe you need a different usb config option for that
disk (or partition, or filesystem).

ĸen
--
`I shall take my mountains', said Lu-Tze. `The climate will be good
for them.' -- Small Gods
--

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the suggestion. The printer is not powered on during boot, its
presence is merely just detected by the kernel during its scan. I tried
disconndcting it anyway and trying again. No change I'm afraid.

Mark
-- 
http://lists.linuxfromscratch.org/listinfo/lfs-support
FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/faq.html
Unsubscribe: See the above information page

Do not top post on this list.

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style

[lfs-support] Fwd: Kernel Panic Booting From USB Hard Drive

[Mark Pokorny]

>> I have just finished running through a build of LFS 7.10-systemd and have 
>> rebooted my computer. I am currently getting a kernel panic when the kernel 
>> is booting. According to the messages on the screen (which I can try and 
>> transcribe if anyone needs them), it looks like the kernel cannot locate my 
>> ‘/’ partition on the USB hard disk, and tells me that I need to correct my 
>> ‘root=’ line in the bootloader configuration to one of the partitions on the 
>> internal HD. It seems like the kernel is not detecting the USB disk at all.
>
>You need to enable built-in support for USB 3.0 in the kernel to load the 
>system. You could also use a initial ramdisk but that for me is a hassle. It's 
>better to have it built in. Make defconfig does not enable usb 3.0 by default. 
>This is based on my personal experience playing with source made distros made 
>by me before I started to follow LFS.

Thanks Michele. I actually noticed this just yesterday after several
attempts at booting. I felt a little stupid that I’d missed it!
Unfortunately that doesn’t seem to have made a difference, but it was
certainly worth confirming!

>Try adding rootdelay=10 to the kernel command line to give the kernel time to 
>detect the usb drive.
>
> -- Bruce

Thanks Bruce. I gave that a go. It delayed the boot and I could see
some of the other USB devices being detected (such as the mouse,
keyboard and an attached printer) as it booted. Unfortunately the part
where the error begins scrolls off the top of the screen before I can
read it. Is it possible to attach a photo? I’ll see if I can…
…it seems not…
-- 
http://lists.linuxfromscratch.org/listinfo/lfs-support
FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/faq.html
Unsubscribe: See the above information page

Do not top post on this list.

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style

[lfs-support] Kernel Panic Booting From USB Hard Drive

[Mark Pokorny]

Hi All, it’s been a while since I posted here!

I have just finished running through a build of LFS 7.10-systemd and have
rebooted my computer. I am currently getting a kernel panic when the kernel
is booting. According to the messages on the screen (which I can try and
transcribe if anyone needs them), it looks like the kernel cannot locate my
‘/’ partition on the USB hard disk, and tells me that I need to correct my
‘root=’ line in the bootloader configuration to one of the partitions on
the internal HD. It seems like the kernel is not detecting the USB disk at
all.

The only significant deviations I have made from the book is that I am
using Extlinux as my USB bootloader, which is being chainloaded from
Ubuntu’s GRUB2, which is on the internal disk. I also have FORTRAN, D and
Obj-C(++) compiled into GCC (though I can’t imagine this being an issue).

My disks:

--
# /dev/sda (internal, GRUB2)

# Partition  LabelFS Notes
/dev/sda1System Reserved  ntfs   Windows8 Recovery
/dev/sda2Windows8 ntfs
/dev/sda3Extended -
/dev/sda5-cryptswap  Ubuntu’s Swap (host system)
/dev/sda6Root ext4   Ubuntu’s Root (host system)
/dev/sda7Home ext4   Ubuntu’s Home (host system)

--
# /dev/sdb (USB 3.0, Extlinux)

# Partition  LabelFS Notes
/dev/sdb1MiraBoot ext2   LFS’s /boot partition
/dev/sdb2VegaSwap swap   LFS’s swap partition
/dev/sdb3Mira ext4   LFS’s / partition
/dev/sdb4Extended -
/dev/sdb5Vega xfsExternal storage
/dev/sdb6MiraHome xfsLFS’s /home partition

--
# /boot/extlinux.conf

UI vesamenu.c32

MENU TITLE Vega Boot Menu

DEFAULT lfs
TIMEOUT 300

LABEL lfs
  MENU LABEL ^Mira (LFS-7.10-systemd)
  LINUX /vmlinuz-4.9.9-lfs-7.10-systemd
  APPEND root=/dev/sdb3 rw

LABEL lfstwo
  MENU LABEL Mira (^Second option)
  LINUX /vmlinuz-4.9.9-lfs-7.10-systemd
  APPEND root=LABEL=Mira rw

# Note that both menu entries point to the same partition – both have the
same result.

--

Any thoughts? Will I need an initramfs to load the USB drivers, or am I
missing something from the kernel configuration?

Thanks all!

Mark.
-- 
http://lists.linuxfromscratch.org/listinfo/lfs-support
FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/faq.html
Unsubscribe: See the above information page

Do not top post on this list.

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style