Linux From Scratch??

jimbo-62 · 2005-09-11 16:00:05

Has anyone tried LFS? It looks like a lot of work to get a usable system. Then what? How about installing or upgrading software? How about package management? What if the system breaks?

Can someone provide some insight about LFS?

Thanks, jimbo

Vince · 2005-09-11 16:09:57

LFS is from source.
That means upgrading/installing means compiling the source (think gentoo, except that it isn't done automagically).
This also makes it rather inconvenient to uninstall something (but it can be done)

And if the system breaks, it's kinda

robot5x · 2005-09-11 16:28:16

I set up a LFS system as per 'the book'... I have to say it was very interesting and taught me a lot about the inner workings of a linux system. But as you say, withouth a package manager its a lot of work to keep a system up to date - there are various tips about package management on the LFS site which are quite interesting.
It was just a good educational experience for me, the LFS book is full of great info - but I really have no interest in constantly compiling packages, so I'll stick to arch

dtw · 2005-09-11 16:43:37

I tried it - I did the first part (up until you can chroot in )just so I understood how you start a distro - gentoo seems like a much easier to run a distro from source tho

Dusty · 2005-09-11 17:10:10

LFS was my second distro. I suspect its come a long way since then. The absolute major problem at the time was that it had no package management by default. Trying to upgrade software was a real problem, although installing wasn't too bad if there were instructions for compiling the program you were interested in.

I'm sure it is possible to install a package manager like pacman or apt to run on lfs.

LFS is absolutely the best distro for learning really how Linux works. Its really good for learning about compiling programs too, which is a good thing to know if you want to make ArchLinux packages. It is not a great distro to administer.

I suggest you try LFS on a spare partition to see what its all about. When you're done, you'll know a lot more about Linux and will probably be able to administer Arch more efficiently. You'll also gain an appreciation for the few things Arch automates for you, as well as for the many things that Arch gives you full control over. :-)

Dusty

FUBAR · 2005-09-11 18:25:49

I read a lot about people telling how much LFS learnt them about the inner workings of Linux. I'll give LFS a try on a VMware client. I hope everybody is right.

elasticdog · 2005-09-11 22:00:46

I too did an LFS installation, and thought it was interesting, but too unrealistic to keep up unless you REALLY know what you're doing and know the ins and outs of all the software you want to run. I'd say take your time and really read what they are describing...otherwise it's just an excercise in typing ./config, make, make install over and over again.

Some of the basic package management stuff they talk about was informative, but takes a lot of extra work to get usable. I did it purely as a learning experience on an old machine I had sitting in my closet, knowing it was only temporary. I plan on giving FreeBSD a shot when I get some more time to tinker...

syamajala · 2005-09-13 00:32:46

i did an lfs a few days after i started using linux. It was ok/fun. but it got boring after a while. I remember in #lfs when we used to try to get portage to run on lfs. There were tons of deps for it.

deficite · 2005-09-13 01:13:44

If it wasn't for Judd using LFS there would be no Arch . I was thinking about doing a LFS install once, but right before I formatted my hard drive I smacked myself in the face. Really hard.

brain0 · 2005-09-13 08:49:33

I made more than one LFS and I was actually using it for a long while. It is not easy (rather impossible) to keep up to date, but you know exactly what your system does and what it doesn't. It's a great experience.

When I found a distro that fitted my needs few months ago, I threw my LFS away.

Dusty · 2005-09-13 14:27:47

brain0 wrote:

When I found a distro that fitted my needs few months ago, I threw my LFS away.

brain0 forum info wrote:

Joined: 03 Jan 2005

Any connection? 8)

Dusty

brain0 · 2005-09-13 18:24:52

Dusty wrote:

brain0 wrote:
When I found a distro that fitted my needs few months ago, I threw my LFS away.
brain0 forum info wrote:
Joined: 03 Jan 2005
Any connection? 8)

No, that was when I needed a fast and small distro for my laptop.

I threw my lfs away in april, when I finally had time to install arch on my desktop.

jimbo-62 · 2005-09-13 21:03:43

Thanks for all of the thoughtful replies. I guess I will plug away a little longer with an LFS installation on a spare partition, just for the experience.

jimbo

Arch Linux

#1 2005-09-11 16:00:05

Linux From Scratch??

#2 2005-09-11 16:09:57

Re: Linux From Scratch??

#3 2005-09-11 16:28:16

Re: Linux From Scratch??

#4 2005-09-11 16:43:37

Re: Linux From Scratch??

#5 2005-09-11 17:10:10

Re: Linux From Scratch??

#6 2005-09-11 18:25:49

Re: Linux From Scratch??

#7 2005-09-11 22:00:46

Re: Linux From Scratch??

#8 2005-09-13 00:32:46

Re: Linux From Scratch??

#9 2005-09-13 01:13:44

Re: Linux From Scratch??

#10 2005-09-13 08:49:33

Re: Linux From Scratch??

#11 2005-09-13 14:27:47

Re: Linux From Scratch??

#12 2005-09-13 18:24:52

Re: Linux From Scratch??

#13 2005-09-13 21:03:43

Re: Linux From Scratch??

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