Matthew Burges wrote:
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> > So I think the project needs a challenge. Trouble is I can't think what
> > it is!
>
> Yep, and that's why I can both understand Randy's and the community's
> concerns about the lack of activity, but then wonder what activity it is
> they'd like to see. Obviously, we've got the upcoming change in Linux
> headers, but that's unlikely to cause major headaches. The glibc-2.4
> upgrade, similarly, doesn't sound like it'll take too much work or cause
> too much pain.
I am interested in the (C/B)LFS project. For a while now, I have wanted to
make the move from Windows to Linux. I have been using cygwin for a long
time now, so am familiar with the Linux command line, and have been using
more and more Linux/opensource software (e.g. Firefox).
LFS is an ideal distribution for be, because:
* I already know how to use bash, rm, tar and the like from cygwin;
* it gives me the opportunity to discover Linux things gradually (like using
chmod to make scripts executable);
* the major distributions I have tried either don't support what I want out
of the box (e.g. mp3 support), don't allow the configuration I need (e.g.
have problems with loadkeys gb or loadkeys uk), have problems with my
hardware (e.g. problems with getting the soundcard on my laptop working),
or come with software I'll never use (how many variants of bash do you
need anyway?);
* it lets me set up things exactly the way I want with the packages I want;
* it gives me an understanding of how Linux works under the hood,
allowing me to better deal with configuration problems in the future;
* it's a challenge :).
I know it should be possible to solve the problems I am having with the
various major distributions, but each one has different advantages and
disadvantages.
At the moment I have completed chapter 5 of LFS 6.2. After a few
mis-steps in the early stages, I started putting the commands I was running
into shell scripts: one per package/sub-chapter. This then got refactored
into a generic package shell script which has evolved into a C++ project
for automating a build and install of a package. It is still very early in
development, but is building most of chapter 5 (the bootstrapper and
minilfs). It is also building other packages as well.
My aim is to build all of the boostrap stage and minilfs using my package
manager tool. The aim then is to use this to manage what packages (and
their versions) are installed on my system. The next phase is then to use
my tool to build the LFS system and then go beyond.. :)!
One of the problems I have found when using automated scripts is at the
changeover points. That is, when executing 'source ~/.bash_profile' after
the core tools have been build and executing chroot after minilfs has been
built, a new bash prompt is created, stopping the build process! If I don't
execute the 'source ~/.bash_profile' command, the bash in /tools/bin is
trying to look for libncursesw.so.5.5, but the ncurses step only builds
libncurses.so.5.5.
At the moment, I am building LFS on my laptop. Once I get it working,
I'll build it on my desktop. Then, I would like to get (C)LFS working on
a PDA - for that, I'll want to create a 'lean' version of CLFS.
On that note... are there any instructions on creating lean (C)LFS
distributions for space-critical devices like PDAs and smartphones. I
know that there are some details for creating a very lean Apache web
server :).
I haven't looked at CLFS yet, so it might already support this: it would
be useful to detail how to get a bare-bones (C)LFS distribution working,
for example you won't need gcc on your PDA (you would build the
packages from the host PC/laptop).
I also want to try out more up-to-date versions of the packages and then
start development work on some of them.
So that is where I am and where I want to go with LFS. I would be
saddened if LFS became a dead project.
- Reece
_________________________________________________________________
Be one of the first to try Windows Live Mail.
http://ideas.live.com/programpage.aspx?versionId=5d21c51a-b161-4314-9b0e-4911fb2b2e6d--
http://linuxfromscratch.org/mailman/listinfo/lfs-dev
FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/faq/
Unsubscribe: See the above information page
