On 1/7/21 1:34 AM, Christopher Gregory via blfs-support wrote:
Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2021 at 6:48 PM
From: "Bruce Dubbs via blfs-support" <blfs-support@lists.linuxfromscratch.org>
To: blfs-support@lists.linuxfromscratch.org
Cc: "Bruce Dubbs" <bruce.du...@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [blfs-support] Is it worth jumping in for me? / Can LFS be even
more simple?
On 1/6/21 10:24 PM, Paul via blfs-support wrote:
I am interested in the idea of LFS to better understand Unix/Linux. I
have been using Linux (Ubuntu/Debian/Arch) as my desktop for several
years and it bothers me that I still don't understand A LOT about how it
works. I like the idea of being able to simplify to the point where I
understand the whole thing. However, looking through some of the LFS
book (I haven't actually done it) I am concerned that the final system
may still not be simplified to the point where I will have time to
understand it all.
Question 1: If I thoughtfully work through LFS, will I understand what
every file on my system is for and what every process in userspace is
doing?
Probably not.At least not without a lot of work. For instance there are
three packages: gcc, glibc, and binutils that install a total of about
5000 files. Understanding every one is not practical.
That said, a base LFS system is much more lightweight than any
commercial distro.
ok that's too bad.
Question 2: Is it possible to run a system using only the kernel, grub
(or other bootloader), maybe a compiler/libc if I need it, and a single
executible loaded by the kernel that I would write in C? Kind of like a
"hello world" exercise that would turn my computer into a single
text-based game, a super super super simple shell, or literally printing
"hello world" on the monitor?
You can't get down to quite that few packages. but certainly you could
do that from a base LFS system. For what you want would require bash
and gcc and vim, but those require a lot of support packages, not the
least of which include glibc, and the kernel. Building those packages
requires a lot of support packages like sed, gawk, grep, binutils,
bison, make, tar, etc.
Building LFS will help you understand how all these tools and libraries
interact, but understanding in detail everything is probably beyond any
individual.
What if I somehow cross compile a single statically linked executable on
my normal desktop instead of trying to build the system from itself - is
this possible?
-- Bruce
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Hello,
When I first started with linux back in 1997 I had a 4 page leaflet of how to
install it, along with a cd of the then current Debian. Within that leaflet
was basic linux commands as well as how to set things up. From there I
progressed through teaching myself basic linux, and in 2002 I worked for a
friend's webhosting company as a systems administrator. I was taught a bit by
the technical owner and was soon setting up new servers and troubleshooting
various installation scripts that installed open source packages on the
commercial webhosting platform known as cpanel.
I would advise you to be really comfortable with the command line before
installing LFS. Once you have achieved proficiency with the basics, ie
extracting the tar archives and being able to create/delete directories, be
able to use the mouse in which ever terminal that you use, ie gnome-shell
(terminal in gnome) xterm or some other in another, change directories and list
the contents. It would also be helpful for you to be able to copy and paste
between the tty's, so you would need to install gpm as soon as possible. You
would need to take a look at the dependencies and install them as soon after
moving to chroot on the final build of lfs as possible.
The prerequisites you mention shouldn't be a problem.
If you are strapped for time, there is an alternative. You could use jhalf to
build the lfs system, and then you have a fully working base system, and then
you could boot into lfs and then install gpm and dependencies, and then build
the libraries first, as they are needed first off. That way you can still
learn more about linux, but you are able to do it in stages whilst building a
desktop system.
Thanks for pointing out jhalfs, might save a big compiling exercise if I
decide to give it a go.
Regards,
Christopher.
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