I completed my first manual LFS build a couple weeks ago using 6.6rc1,
and I wanted to give a little feedback to the devs. First and foremost,
thank you for enabling me to finally use a version of Linux that I feel
100% at home in. LFS is the Linux distro that I've been searching for
for the last 10 years, and I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to
any pre-built distros again.
I'd also like to point out a couple simple changes that I think would
make a good thing (i.e. the LFS Book) even better. I personally came to
LFS with about 90% of my previous Linux experience being limited to
either the GUI, or using tools that are designed to make distros "user
friendly" such as "sudo apt-get install that-new-package". I'm not
ashamed to admit this, because I know there are a lot of Linux users
just like that. One of the things I stumbled over (multiple times) when
I was first starting with LFS was relative paths. I know, I know, I
know, how could I possibly have used Linux off and on for 10 years and
still screw up something as simple as "mkdir -v ../binutils-build"? But
it happened. And it happened again when it was time to "tar -jxf
../mpfr-2.4.2.tar.bz2"... Simply adding one or two lines at the
_beginning_ of sections 5.4 and 5.5 (and maybe even 5.6 if you're
feeling generous), reminding the reader that they need to _always_
unpack the source code and cd into the directory _immediately_ when you
start working with a new package, would have saved me literally hours of
trying to figure out why these exceptionally detailed instructions in
the LFS book weren't working like they're supposed to. "WTF?!? I typed
exactly what they told me to type..."
I'm probably making too big of a deal about it, really. But it's true
what I said though, that one or two friendly reminders at the
_beginning_ of the first couple sections of chapter 5 can make the
transition into the LFS methodology so much smoother and easier for so
many users just like me.
For what it's worth, I successfully built an X server a couple days ago,
after having successfully installed around 75ish other non-Xorg BLFS
packages. Today I'm going to build KDE. Not everyone is as persistent
and determined as I am though. I know a lot of people would have gotten
fed up and frustrated and quit right away when the first few packages in
LFS just wouldn't $...@#$% build right after typing _exactly_ what the
directions said.
Another small suggestion I have is about what I believe is an overlooked
gold mine of information: $LFS/sources/linux-2.6.x.y/Documentation/00-
INDEX. I know, a lot of it is more in-depth than what the average LFS
user might need to know, but I promise you there's some good information
for _every_ LFS user buried in there somewhere, if they were just
pointed in the right direction and they took a minute or two to look
through the 00-INDEX.
And one last suggestion I have is actually somewhat of a question too,
something that in hindsight would have been good to know right when I
started. I have a couple third party drivers that are looking for my
kernal source in /lib/modules/$(shell uname -r)/{build,source}, which
are currently links to the now deleted (and non FHS compliant)
/sources/linux-2.6.32.7 directory. Needless to say, the modules.ko
aren't built when the kernel source isn't found, and one of the
Makefiles is even polite enough to tell me that it couldn't find the
kernal source and abort the installation.
I do appreciate how section 8.3.1 (in 6.6rc1) gives a warning on where
_not_ to unpack the kernal source, but what I think would be even more
helpful is a short explanation of good places _to_ unpack the source,
because it's worth keeping around for a while.
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