Linux From Scratch 6.0 Released

Bubblehead writes "The Linux From Scratch community is pleased to announce the release of LFS 6.0. This major revision of the book includes a number of major package upgrades, including GCC 3.4.x, Linux kernel 2.6.8.1, and the Udev software package, allowing for dynamic creation of device nodes. The text has also been vastly re-written for improved readability."

Comments

Learning From Scratch

[Xetrov]

As a distro, LFS probably isn't what most people want. If you want to compile from source, then gentoo is probably the way to go.

On the other hand, I dont think there is a better way than LFS for learning Linux and what all the different packages are for. It is a good way for linux newbs (but probably not computer n00bs) to learn about their new OS. Once that's done, head over to an easier-to-maintain distro such as debian.

Hooray for books like this!

[Meetch]

This looks like a great tool - even if you normally use a packaged distro, you can get your hands dirty and learn how it all hangs together! It's the sort of thing I'd highly recommend anyone doing if you have the time.

I started with a Slackware distro using the 0.96 kernel, largely archived onto floppies and had to feel my way through making it boot, so I consider myself as having learnt not quite from scratch. But today's folks have it easy, thanks to people who already understand what's under the bonnet.

I bet most people who LFS will gain a better appreciation for configure-and-compile-yourself. Three cheers!

Great Learning Tool

[cliffiecee]

I'm on my second installation of LFS. It's not for those in a hurry, that's for sure- It takes me about a month to get a VERY basic system. (Think X and Firefox, and not much else!). I inevitably make some bone-headed mistake, and I don't back up while installing, so it's my fault.

Also, building something like gnome from source really teaches you the meaning of 'dependency hell.' Seems like every single package requires exactly version "1.1211-1243pm" of every OTHER package, and even some obscure RedHat patches too, in some cases. *Shudder*gDesklets*Shudder*.

However, I have a VERY good idea of what's on my system and what libraries are being used where. There's NO 'fat' or extra stuff that I didn't put there. I used to shy away from compiling from source- which makes sense on a package-based system. Now there's NO fear. There's even a few interesting package management schemes for compiling from source.

Booting into my brand new, hand-built, bare-bones system- it's almost as good as if I'd written the software myself :) (And as close as I'll ever get)

Beyond Linux from Scratch

[srobert]

The followup book Beyond Linux from Scratch goes way beyond compiling a basic system. It has all the instructions and patches needed to get X11, KDE, Gnome, Office Suites, etc compiled from scratch. The 2 books have matching version numbers for compatibility.
I've built a few of these. They work better than any other Linux system I've seen. Mostly, this is because by building them you learn how to fix something when it doesn't work.

Re:Unless youre making a tight embedded system....

[Master Bait]

Why use this? Isnt package management and things like Debian's Dpkg, rpm and stuff are for?

I've used LFS and my package management system is /usr/local/src. I can see at a glance what I have installed -- and what version. I don't use modules in the kernel, and I don't have to fish around for split-up nonsense such as imagemagik, imagemagik-libs and imagemagik-dev. If I'm not sure whether or not to install something in /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin, I consult the LFS html'd book which also sits in /usr/local/src.

Configuring my system is a snap, because all I do is edit the files in /etc, rather than learn to use a particular distro's 'conf' system -- and we all know all those 'conf' systems do is read and write to files in /etc!