Linux From Scratch - Version 6.8
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Because the LFS book assumes at least this basic level of skill, the various LFS support forums are unlikely to be able
to provide you with much assistance in these areas. You will find that your questions regarding such basic knowledge
will likely go unanswered or you will simply be referred to the LFS essential pre-reading list.
Before building an LFS system, we recommend reading the following HOWTOs:
• Software-Building-HOWTO http:// www. tldp. org/ HOWTO/ Software- Building- HOWTO. html
This is a comprehensive guide to building and installing “generic” Unix software packages under Linux.
Although it was written some time ago, it still provides a good summary of the basic techniques needed to build
and install software.
• The Linux Users' Guide http:// www. linuxhq. com/ guides/ LUG/ guide. html
This guide covers the usage of assorted Linux software. This reference is also fairly old, but still valid.
• The Essential Pre-Reading Hint http:// www. linuxfromscratch. org/ hints/ downloads/ files/ essential_ prereading. txt
This is an LFS Hint written specifically for users new to Linux. It includes a list of links to excellent sources of
information on a wide range of topics. Anyone attempting to install LFS should have an understanding of many
of the topics in this hint.
Host System Requirements
Your host system should have the following software with the minimum versions indicated. This should not be an
issue for most modern Linux distributions. Also note that many distributions will place software headers into separate
packages, often in the form of “<package-name>-devel” or “<package-name>-dev”. Be sure to install those if your
distribution provides them.
Earlier versions of the listed software packages may work, but has not been tested.
• Bash-3.2 (/bin/sh should be a symbolic or hard link to bash)
• Binutils-2.17 (Versions greater than 2.21 are not recommended as they have not been tested)
• Bison-2.3 (/usr/bin/yacc should be a link to bison or small script that executes bison)
• Bzip2-1.0.4
• Coreutils-6.9
• Diffutils-2.8.1
• Findutils-4.2.31
• Gawk-3.1.5 (/usr/bin/awk should be a link to gawk)
• Gcc-4.1.2 (Versions greater than 4.5.2 are not recommended as they have not been tested)
• Glibc-2.5.1 (Versions greater than 2.13 are not recommended as they have not been tested)
• Grep-2.5.1a
• Gzip-1.3.12
• Linux Kernel-2.6.22.5 (having been compiled with GCC-4.1.2 or greater)
The reason for the kernel version requirement is that we specify that version when building glibc in Chapter 6 at
the recommendation of the developers.
If the host kernel is either earlier than 2.6.22.5, or it was not compiled using a GCC-4.1.2 (or later) compiler,
you will need to replace the kernel with one adhering to the specifications. There are two ways you can go about
this. First, see if your Linux vendor provides a 2.6.22.5 or later kernel package. If so, you may wish to install it.