Richard A Downing wrote:
On Wed, 25 Jan 2006 09:03:24 +0100
Niki Kovacs <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hi,
I'm an Austrian writer living in Montpezat (South France), and a 100%
GNU/Linux user since 2001.
Excellent, you are the 'Target Audience'. Welcome to LFS.
One question, just on the curious side: how did you schedule your LFS
experience when you first gave it a try? Like ... a month without
doing anything else, shut down in your cellar? Two hours a day over a
year? The question may sound a bit silly, but I'm nevertheless
curious. I *think* it's more like repairing that old motorcycle
dating from the war that I found in the attic: don't rush this sort
of thing, put one foot after another, and don't think about the end.
Well, first note that I was using a 486 with just 16 meg and a small
disk - it took me about two weeks of evenings - leaving the long builds
running over night (and some night and day). The key thing is to read
ALL the text of the book at least once, and then concentrate on not
missing any instructions. Only use cut and paste where the book
suggests it - you will learn more that way - and try to understand each
command as you type it. It's also worth planning how you will keep
your logs - logs help you check that everything worked as expected, but
are also vital when it comes to requesting help.
(hint: { commands } 2>&1 | tee log)
A scripted build of LFS is 4-5 hours when run with modern hardware, but
only by typing and understanding do you get the most out of it. The
best bits come in Chapter 7 and 8 - because this is where you learn
about configuration - read the bootscripts and make sure you understand
what they do.
Above all, enjoy the process - it won't be the last time you build it,
but it is the best experience you will have, and the first successful
boot is like the pilot's first solo (possible slight exageration here).
R.
I second Richard's comments.
First time I built LFS was on an old machine that had become essentially
redundant. You are way ahead of where I was when I started - I'd only
just played a bit with Linux at that stage and had not been M$oft
free...Still not. There I've said it! [Me ducks and runs for cover under
an asbestos blanket...]
It doesn't actually take that long as long as you READ the book
CAREFULLY. (There have been quite a few posters to this list recently
who have clearly skimmed through the book and missed IMPORTANT bits of
information on their way). The book works. If you get into trouble it
probably means you have missed something earlier in the build. Read the
FAQ as many of the common issues are covered there.
A few days (leaving the big builds to run overnight, glibc, gcc) is all
that it will take to get to the end of "the book". But that's just the
beginning :-) Getting your new Linux to do what you want will take the
time and that's where the BLFS book comes in. That's another great piece
of work which is completely priceless :-)
Have fun...
Alan
LFS ID: 216
PS - I'd recommend using the excellent LiveCD from the web-site. It
gives you the perfect host system to build from including the tools
needed to read the book, and to cut & paste the commands etc...
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