Linux From Scratch

by Gerard Beekmans

Linux From Scratch describes the process of creating your own Linux system from scratch from an already installed Linux distribution, using nothing but the source code of software that you need.

From the author's introduction: "Having used a number of different Linux distributions, I was never fully satisfied with either of those. I didn't like the way the bootscripts were arranged, or I didn't like the way certain programs were configured by default and more of those things. I came to realize that when I want to be totally satisfied with a Linux system, I have to build my own Linux system from scratch. Ideally only using the source code. No pre-compiled packages of any kind. No help from some sort of cdrom or bootdisk that would install some basic utilities. You would use your current Linux system and use that one to build your own.

This, at one time, wild idea seemed very difficult and at times almost impossible. The reason for most problems were due to my lack of knowledge about certain programs and procedures. After I sorted out all kinds of dependency problems, compilation problems, etcetera, a manually Linux system was created and fully operational. I called this system and LFS system which stands for Linux From Scratch."

Genres: Programming, Technology, Computer Science, Computers, Nonfiction

ebook

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Gerard Beekmans]

Anything I write here will be rather self-serving.

[Cristina]

I was motivated to read this from all of the good reviews here. After completing the exercises, I sadly cannot recommend this as pedagogical material. At the end, I did have a working linux installation "from scratch", but I have no idea how or why it works. This books provides several instructions (90% of which are "make && make install"), but no explanation or motivation behind them, often urging the reader to simply refer to man pages. After building my own LFS, I'm unfortunately none the wiser about Linux or its internals.

[Seth Kenlon]

Fantastic book that will explain the nitty and gritty of all things Linux. You can't read this book and not (yes, I'm using a double negative) come away looking at Linux completely differently, to say nothing of computers as a whole.

Being a Slackware user, I am not running LFS...but one of these days...!

[Luke]

This wonderful book takes you step by step through the process of compiling your own Linux operating system from the source code. Everything in the system is built from scratch. from the kernel on up. There's also a wonderful community surrounding the book to help you if things don't work as expected.

Version Reviewed: 7.6

[Neal Aggarwal]

Fabulous book and yes if you install LFS on your machine and read up this book as you do it you'll come away enlightened in a very special manner!

[Mike Lisanke]

For this to be a better book, it'd have to be a cooking show that actually teaches you to cook. In the past, they had cooking shows on tv which, to fit in 1/2 hour or hour show with commercials, showed the cook putting a raw turkey in one oven and removing a fully cooked turkey from another. This is how I feel about reading a cookbook on building a linux system. It's amazing that the author only mentions totally destroying your build machine by making a mistake building a cross-compiler toolchain. There is Much additional knowledge you'd need to make a linux system from scratch On Your Own. And this cookbook approach will Only build a LFS is you exactly use the same tools and chooses the author made And changed almost nothing. Also, the target of the machine wasn't much discussed But Greatly effects the choices made in creating the cross-compiler toolchain. None of the details were discussed In Detail; Although I will comment that this was Much Better than Reading the Gnu C++ toolchain notes on cross-compiling. Good luck finding Anyone who will help you debug your process when things Go Wrong... and yes, I've personally been there.

[Michał Kowalski]

Very basics containing very bare minimum necessary to run a very simplistic version of Linux. Sometimes it was painfully repetitive, sometimes it was just boring but at the end of the day it helped me to realize the complexity of all the moving parts. Once I recover from this ;-) I'll definitely try BLFS.

[Jeff Cliff]

Successfully built a version of LFS without relying on github that is almost as functional as my last gentoo system, using this book as a guide and veering off from there. It works.

[Branislav Bajlovski]

Very practical guide. Managed to build a BBnux on a laptop :)
Recommended for OS geeks.

[Tirkish Baymyradov]

I have read it online. Nice to get used to linux stuff. Currently using arch linux. My past linux experiences: ubuntu and mint.
This book helps you get used to what you are doing etc.

[Osama Jamil]

--01/01/2011

[Aditya]

tutorial yang sangat baik untuk membuat sebuah distro linux. Urut dan sistematis. Mudah dipahami. buku ini juga mempermudah final project salah satu mata kuliah saya.