Linux From Scratch

Version 12.0-rc1

Published August 15th, 2023

Created by Gerard Beekmans

Managing Editor: Bruce Dubbs

Copyright © 1999-2023, Gerard Beekmans

All rights reserved.

This book is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Computer instructions may be extracted from the book under the MIT License.

Linux® is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.


Table of Contents

Preface

Foreword

My journey to learn and better understand Linux began back in 1998. I had just installed my first Linux distribution and had quickly become intrigued with the whole concept and philosophy behind Linux.

There are always many ways to accomplish a single task. The same can be said about Linux distributions. A great many have existed over the years. Some still exist, some have morphed into something else, yet others have been relegated to our memories. They all do things differently to suit the needs of their target audience. Because so many different ways to accomplish the same end goal exist, I began to realize I no longer had to be limited by any one implementation. Prior to discovering Linux, we simply put up with issues in other Operating Systems as you had no choice. It was what it was, whether you liked it or not. With Linux, the concept of choice began to emerge. If you didn't like something, you were free, even encouraged, to change it.

I tried a number of distributions and could not decide on any one. They were great systems in their own right. It wasn't a matter of right and wrong anymore. It had become a matter of personal taste. With all that choice available, it became apparent that there would not be a single system that would be perfect for me. So I set out to create my own Linux system that would fully conform to my personal preferences.

To truly make it my own system, I resolved to compile everything from source code instead of using pre-compiled binary packages. This perfect Linux system would have the strengths of various systems without their perceived weaknesses. At first, the idea was rather daunting. I remained committed to the idea that such a system could be built.

After sorting through issues such as circular dependencies and compile-time errors, I finally built a custom-built Linux system. It was fully operational and perfectly usable like any of the other Linux systems out there at the time. But it was my own creation. It was very satisfying to have put together such a system myself. The only thing better would have been to create each piece of software myself. This was the next best thing.

As I shared my goals and experiences with other members of the Linux community, it became apparent that there was a sustained interest in these ideas. It quickly became plain that such custom-built Linux systems serve not only to meet user specific requirements, but also serve as an ideal learning opportunity for programmers and system administrators to enhance their (existing) Linux skills. Out of this broadened interest, the Linux From Scratch Project was born.

This Linux From Scratch book is the central core around that project. It provides the background and instructions necessary for you to design and build your own system. While this book provides a template that will result in a correctly working system, you are free to alter the instructions to suit yourself, which is, in part, an important part of this project. You remain in control; we just lend a helping hand to get you started on your own journey.

I sincerely hope you will have a great time working on your own Linux From Scratch system and enjoy the numerous benefits of having a system that is truly your own.

--
Gerard Beekmans
gerard AT linuxfromscratch D0T org

Audience

There are many reasons why you would want to read this book. One of the questions many people raise is, why go through all the hassle of manually building a Linux system from scratch when you can just download and install an existing one?

One important reason for this project's existence is to help you learn how a Linux system works from the inside out. Building an LFS system helps demonstrate what makes Linux tick, and how things work together and depend on each other. One of the best things this learning experience can provide is the ability to customize a Linux system to suit your own unique needs.

Another key benefit of LFS is that it gives you control of the system without relying on someone else's Linux implementation. With LFS, you are in the driver's seat. You dictate every aspect of your system.

LFS allows you to create very compact Linux systems. With other distributions you are often forced to install a great many programs you neither use nor understand. These programs waste resources. You may argue that with today's hard drives and CPUs, wasted resources are no longer a consideration. Sometimes, however, you are still constrained by the system's size, if nothing else. Think about bootable CDs, USB sticks, and embedded systems. Those are areas where LFS can be beneficial.

Another advantage of a custom built Linux system is security. By compiling the entire system from source code, you are empowered to audit everything and apply all the security patches you want. You don't have to wait for somebody else to compile binary packages that fix a security hole. Unless you examine the patch and implement it yourself, you have no guarantee that the new binary package was built correctly and adequately fixes the problem.

The goal of Linux From Scratch is to build a complete and usable foundation-level system. If you do not wish to build your own Linux system from scratch, you may nevertheless benefit from the information in this book.

There are too many good reasons to build your own LFS system to list them all here. In the end, education is by far the most important reason. As you continue your LFS experience, you will discover the power that information and knowledge can bring.

LFS Target Architectures

The primary target architectures of LFS are the AMD/Intel x86 (32-bit) and x86_64 (64-bit) CPUs. On the other hand, the instructions in this book are also known to work, with some modifications, with the Power PC and ARM CPUs. To build a system that utilizes one of these alternative CPUs, the main prerequisite, in addition to those on the next page, is an existing Linux system such as an earlier LFS installation, Ubuntu, Red Hat/Fedora, SuSE, or some other distribution that targets that architecture. (Note that a 32-bit distribution can be installed and used as a host system on a 64-bit AMD/Intel computer.)

The gain from building on a 64-bit system, as compared to a 32-bit system, is minimal. For example, in a test build of LFS-9.1 on a Core i7-4790 CPU based system, using 4 cores, the following statistics were measured:

Architecture Build Time     Build Size
32-bit       239.9 minutes  3.6 GB
64-bit       233.2 minutes  4.4 GB

As you can see, on the same hardware, the 64-bit build is only 3% faster (and 22% larger) than the 32-bit build. If you plan to use LFS as a LAMP server, or a firewall, a 32-bit CPU may be good enough. On the other hand, several packages in BLFS now need more than 4 GB of RAM to be built and/or to run; if you plan to use LFS as a desktop, the LFS authors recommend building a 64-bit system.

The default 64-bit build that results from LFS is a pure 64-bit system. That is, it supports 64-bit executables only. Building a multi-lib system requires compiling many applications twice, once for a 32-bit system and once for a 64-bit system. This is not directly supported in LFS because it would interfere with the educational objective of providing the minimal instructions needed for a basic Linux system. Some of the LFS/BLFS editors maintain a multilib fork of LFS, accessible at https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/~thomas/multilib/index.html. But that's an advanced topic.

Prerequisites

Building an LFS system is not a simple task. It requires a certain level of existing knowledge of Unix system administration in order to resolve problems and correctly execute the commands listed. In particular, as an absolute minimum, you should already know how to use the command line (shell) to copy or move files and directories, list directory and file contents, and change the current directory. It is also expected that you know how to use and install Linux software.

Because the LFS book assumes at least this basic level of skill, the various LFS support forums are unlikely 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 urge you to read these articles:

LFS and Standards

The structure of LFS follows Linux standards as closely as possible. The primary standards are:

  • POSIX.1-2008.

  • Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS) Version 3.0

  • Linux Standard Base (LSB) Version 5.0 (2015)

    The LSB has four separate specifications: Core, Desktop, Runtime Languages, and Imaging. Some parts of Core and Desktop specifications are architecture specific. There are also two trial specifications: Gtk3 and Graphics. LFS attempts to conform to the LSB specifications for the IA32 (32-bit x86) or AMD64 (x86_64) architectures discussed in the previous section.

    Note

    Many people do not agree with these requirements. The main purpose of the LSB is to ensure that proprietary software can be installed and run on a compliant system. Since LFS is source based, the user has complete control over what packages are desired; you may choose not to install some packages that are specified by the LSB.

While it is possible to create a complete system that will pass the LSB certification tests "from scratch", this can't be done without many additional packages that are beyond the scope of the LFS book. Installation instructions for these additional packages can be found in BLFS.

Packages supplied by LFS needed to satisfy the LSB Requirements

LSB Core:

Bash, Bc, Binutils, Coreutils, Diffutils, File, Findutils, Gawk, Grep, Gzip, M4, Man-DB, Ncurses, Procps, Psmisc, Sed, Shadow, Tar, Util-linux, Zlib

LSB Desktop:

None

LSB Runtime Languages:

Perl, Python

LSB Imaging:

None

LSB Gtk3 and LSB Graphics (Trial Use):

None

Packages supplied by BLFS needed to satisfy the LSB Requirements

LSB Core:

At, Batch (a part of At), Cpio, Ed, Fcrontab, LSB-Tools, NSPR, NSS, PAM, Pax, Sendmail (or Postfix or Exim), time

LSB Desktop:

Alsa, ATK, Cairo, Desktop-file-utils, Freetype, Fontconfig, Gdk-pixbuf, Glib2, GTK+2, Icon-naming-utils, Libjpeg-turbo, Libpng, Libtiff, Libxml2, MesaLib, Pango, Xdg-utils, Xorg

LSB Runtime Languages:

Libxml2, Libxslt

LSB Imaging:

CUPS, Cups-filters, Ghostscript, SANE

LSB Gtk3 and LSB Graphics (Trial Use):

GTK+3

Packages not supplied by LFS or BLFS needed to satisfy the LSB Requirements

LSB Core:

None

LSB Desktop:

Qt4 (but Qt5 is provided)

LSB Runtime Languages:

None

LSB Imaging:

None

LSB Gtk3 and LSB Graphics (Trial Use):

None

Rationale for Packages in the Book

The goal of LFS is to build a complete and usable foundation-level system—including all the packages needed to replicate itself—and providing a relatively minimal base from which to customize a more complete system based on the user's choices. This does not mean that LFS is the smallest system possible. Several important packages are included that are not, strictly speaking, required. The list below documents the reasons each package in the book has been included.

  • Acl

    This package contains utilities to administer Access Control Lists, which are used to define fine-grained discretionary access rights for files and directories.

  • Attr

    This package contains programs for managing extended attributes on file system objects.

  • Autoconf

    This package supplies programs for producing shell scripts that can automatically configure source code from a developer's template. It is often needed to rebuild a package after the build procedure has been updated.

  • Automake

    This package contains programs for generating Make files from a template. It is often needed to rebuild a package after the build procedure has been updated.

  • Bash

    This package satisfies an LSB core requirement to provide a Bourne Shell interface to the system. It was chosen over other shell packages because of its common usage and extensive capabilities.

  • Bc

    This package provides an arbitrary precision numeric processing language. It satisfies a requirement for building the Linux kernel.

  • Binutils

    This package supplies a linker, an assembler, and other tools for handling object files. The programs in this package are needed to compile most of the packages in an LFS system.

  • Bison

    This package contains the GNU version of yacc (Yet Another Compiler Compiler) needed to build several of the LFS programs.

  • Bzip2

    This package contains programs for compressing and decompressing files. It is required to decompress many LFS packages.

  • Check

    This package provides a test harness for other programs.

  • Coreutils

    This package contains a number of essential programs for viewing and manipulating files and directories. These programs are needed for command line file management, and are necessary for the installation procedures of every package in LFS.

  • DejaGNU

    This package supplies a framework for testing other programs.

  • Diffutils

    This package contains programs that show the differences between files or directories. These programs can be used to create patches, and are also used in many packages' build procedures.

  • E2fsprogs

    This package supplies utilities for handling the ext2, ext3 and ext4 file systems. These are the most common and thoroughly tested file systems that Linux supports.

  • Expat

    This package yields a relatively small XML parsing library. It is required by the XML::Parser Perl module.

  • Expect

    This package contains a program for carrying out scripted dialogues with other interactive programs. It is commonly used for testing other packages.

  • File

    This package contains a utility for determining the type of a given file or files. A few packages need it in their build scripts.

  • Findutils

    This package provides programs to find files in a file system. It is used in many packages' build scripts.

  • Flex

    This package contains a utility for generating programs that recognize patterns in text. It is the GNU version of the lex (lexical analyzer) program. It is required to build several LFS packages.

  • Gawk

    This package supplies programs for manipulating text files. It is the GNU version of awk (Aho-Weinberg-Kernighan). It is used in many other packages' build scripts.

  • GCC

    This is the Gnu Compiler Collection. It contains the C and C++ compilers as well as several others not built by LFS.

  • GDBM

    This package contains the GNU Database Manager library. It is used by one other LFS package, Man-DB.

  • Gettext

    This package provides utilities and libraries for the internationalization and localization of many packages.

  • Glibc

    This package contains the main C library. Linux programs will not run without it.

  • GMP

    This package supplies math libraries that provide useful functions for arbitrary precision arithmetic. It is needed to build GCC.

  • Gperf

    This package produces a program that generates a perfect hash function from a set of keys. It is required by Udev .

  • Grep

    This package contains programs for searching through files. These programs are used by most packages' build scripts.

  • Groff

    This package contributes programs for processing and formatting text. One important function of these programs is to format man pages.

  • GRUB

    This is the Grand Unified Boot Loader. It is the most flexible of several boot loaders available.

  • Gzip

    This package contains programs for compressing and decompressing files. It is needed to decompress many packages in LFS.

  • Iana-etc

    This package provides data for network services and protocols. It is needed to enable proper networking capabilities.

  • Inetutils

    This package supplies programs for basic network administration.

  • Intltool

    This package contributes tools for extracting translatable strings from source files.

  • IProute2

    This package contains programs for basic and advanced IPv4 and IPv6 networking. It was chosen over the other common network tools package (net-tools) for its IPv6 capabilities.

  • Kbd

    This package produces key-table files, keyboard utilities for non-US keyboards, and a number of console fonts.

  • Kmod

    This package supplies programs needed to administer Linux kernel modules.

  • Less

    This package contains a very nice text file viewer that allows scrolling up or down when viewing a file. Many packages use it for paging the output.

  • Libcap

    This package implements the userspace interfaces to the POSIX 1003.1e capabilities available in Linux kernels.

  • Libelf

    The elfutils project provides libraries and tools for ELF files and DWARF data. Most utilities in this package are available in other packages, but the library is needed to build the Linux kernel using the default (and most efficient) configuration.

  • Libffi

    This package implements a portable, high level programming interface to various calling conventions. Some programs may not know at the time of compilation what arguments are to be passed to a function. For instance, an interpreter may be told at run-time about the number and types of arguments used to call a given function. Libffi can be used in such programs to provide a bridge from the interpreter program to compiled code.

  • Libpipeline

    The Libpipeline package supplies a library for manipulating pipelines of subprocesses in a flexible and convenient way. It is required by the Man-DB package.

  • Libtool

    This package contains the GNU generic library support script. It wraps the complexity of using shared libraries into a consistent, portable interface. It is needed by the test suites in other LFS packages.

  • Libxcrypt

    This package provides the libcrypt library needed by various packages (notably, Shadow) for hashing passwords. It replaces the obsolete libcrypt implementation in Glibc.

  • Linux Kernel

    This package is the Operating System. It is the Linux in the GNU/Linux environment.

  • M4

    This package provides a general text macro processor useful as a build tool for other programs.

  • Make

    This package contains a program for directing the building of packages. It is required by almost every package in LFS.

  • Man-DB

    This package contains programs for finding and viewing man pages. It was chosen instead of the man package because of its superior internationalization capabilities. It supplies the man program.

  • Man-pages

    This package provides the actual contents of the basic Linux man pages.

  • Meson

    This package provides a software tool for automating the building of software. The main goal of Meson is to minimize the amount of time that software developers need to spend configuring a build system. It's required to build Systemd, as well as many BLFS packages.

  • MPC

    This package supplies arithmetic functions for complex numbers. It is required by GCC.

  • MPFR

    This package contains functions for multiple precision arithmetic. It is required by GCC.

  • Ninja

    This package furnishes a small build system with a focus on speed. It is designed to have its input files generated by a higher-level build system, and to run builds as fast as possible. This package is required by Meson.

  • Ncurses

    This package contains libraries for terminal-independent handling of character screens. It is often used to provide cursor control for a menuing system. It is needed by a number of the packages in LFS.

  • Openssl

    This package provides management tools and libraries relating to cryptography. These supply cryptographic functions to other packages, including the Linux kernel.

  • Patch

    This package contains a program for modifying or creating files by applying a patch file typically created by the diff program. It is needed by the build procedure for several LFS packages.

  • Perl

    This package is an interpreter for the runtime language PERL. It is needed for the installation and test suites of several LFS packages.

  • Pkgconf

    This package contains a program which helps to configure compiler and linker flags for development libraries. The program can be used as a drop-in replacement of pkg-config, which is needed by the building system of many packages. It's maintained more actively and slightly faster than the original Pkg-config package.

  • Procps-NG

    This package contains programs for monitoring processes. These programs are useful for system administration, and are also used by the LFS Bootscripts.

  • Psmisc

    This package produces programs for displaying information about running processes. These programs are useful for system administration.

  • Python 3

    This package provides an interpreted language that has a design philosophy emphasizing code readability.

  • Readline

    This package is a set of libraries that offer command-line editing and history capabilities. It is used by Bash.

  • Sed

    This package allows editing of text without opening it in a text editor. It is also needed by many LFS packages' configure scripts.

  • Shadow

    This package contains programs for handling passwords securely.

  • Sysklogd

    This package supplies programs for logging system messages, such as those emitted by the kernel or daemon processes when unusual events occur.

  • Sysvinit

    This package provides the init program, the parent of all the other processes on a running Linux system.

  • Udev

    This package is a device manager. It dynamically controls the ownership, permissions, names, and symbolic links of device nodes in the /dev directory when devices are added to or removed from the system.

  • Tar

    This package provides archiving and extraction capabilities of virtually all the packages used in LFS.

  • Tcl

    This package contains the Tool Command Language used in many test suites.

  • Texinfo

    This package supplies programs for reading, writing, and converting info pages. It is used in the installation procedures of many LFS packages.

  • Util-linux

    This package contains miscellaneous utility programs. Among them are utilities for handling file systems, consoles, partitions, and messages.

  • Vim

    This package provides an editor. It was chosen because of its compatibility with the classic vi editor and its huge number of powerful capabilities. An editor is a very personal choice for many users. Any other editor can be substituted, if you wish.

  • Wheel

    This package supplies a Python module that is the reference implementation of the Python wheel packaging standard.

  • XML::Parser

    This package is a Perl module that interfaces with Expat.

  • XZ Utils

    This package contains programs for compressing and decompressing files. It provides the highest compression generally available and is useful for decompressing packages in XZ or LZMA format.

  • Zlib

    This package contains compression and decompression routines used by some programs.

  • Zstd

    This package supplies compression and decompression routines used by some programs. It provides high compression ratios and a very wide range of compression / speed trade-offs.

Typography

To make things easier to follow, there are a few typographical conventions used throughout this book. This section contains some examples of the typographical format found throughout Linux From Scratch.

./configure --prefix=/usr

This form of text is designed to be typed exactly as seen unless otherwise noted in the surrounding text. It is also used in the explanation sections to identify which of the commands is being referenced.

In some cases, a logical line is extended to two or more physical lines with a backslash at the end of the line.

CC="gcc -B/usr/bin/" ../binutils-2.18/configure \
  --prefix=/tools --disable-nls --disable-werror

Note that the backslash must be followed by an immediate return. Other whitespace characters like spaces or tab characters will create incorrect results.

install-info: unknown option '--dir-file=/mnt/lfs/usr/info/dir'

This form of text (fixed-width text) shows screen output, usually as the result of commands issued. This format is also used to show filenames, such as /etc/ld.so.conf.

Note

Please configure your browser to display fixed-width text with a good monospaced font, with which you can distinguish the glyphs of Il1 or O0 clearly.

Emphasis

This form of text is used for several purposes in the book. Its main purpose is to emphasize important points or items.

https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

This format is used for hyperlinks both within the LFS community and to external pages. It includes HOWTOs, download locations, and websites.

cat > $LFS/etc/group << "EOF"
root:x:0:
bin:x:1:
......
EOF

This format is used when creating configuration files. The first command tells the system to create the file $LFS/etc/group from whatever is typed on the following lines until the sequence End Of File (EOF) is encountered. Therefore, this entire section is generally typed as seen.

<REPLACED TEXT>

This format is used to encapsulate text that is not to be typed as seen or for copy-and-paste operations.

[OPTIONAL TEXT]

This format is used to encapsulate text that is optional.

passwd(5)

This format is used to refer to a specific manual (man) page. The number inside parentheses indicates a specific section inside the manuals. For example, passwd has two man pages. Per LFS installation instructions, those two man pages will be located at /usr/share/man/man1/passwd.1 and /usr/share/man/man5/passwd.5. When the book uses passwd(5) it is specifically referring to /usr/share/man/man5/passwd.5. man passwd will print the first man page it finds that matches passwd, which will be /usr/share/man/man1/passwd.1. For this example, you will need to run man 5 passwd in order to read the page being specified. Note that most man pages do not have duplicate page names in different sections. Therefore, man <program name> is generally sufficient.

Structure

This book is divided into the following parts.

Part I - Introduction

Part I explains a few important notes on how to proceed with the LFS installation. This section also provides meta-information about the book.

Part II - Preparing for the Build

Part II describes how to prepare for the building process—making a partition, downloading the packages, and compiling temporary tools.

Part III - Building the LFS Cross Toolchain and Temporary Tools

Part III provides instructions for building the tools needed for constructing the final LFS system.

Part IV - Building the LFS System

Part IV guides the reader through the building of the LFS system—compiling and installing all the packages one by one, setting up the boot scripts, and installing the kernel. The resulting Linux system is the foundation on which other software can be built to expand the system as desired. At the end of this book, there is an easy to use reference listing all of the programs, libraries, and important files that have been installed.

Part V - Appendices

Part V provides information about the book itself including acronyms and terms, acknowledgments, package dependencies, a listing of LFS boot scripts, licenses for the distribution of the book, and a comprehensive index of packages, programs, libraries, and scripts.

Errata and Security Advisories

The software used to create an LFS system is constantly being updated and enhanced. Security warnings and bug fixes may become available after the LFS book has been released. To check whether the package versions or instructions in this release of LFS need any modifications—to repair security vulnerabilities or to fix other bugs—please visit https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/errata/12.0-rc1/ before proceeding with your build. You should note any changes shown and apply them to the relevant sections of the book as you build the LFS system.

In addition, the Linux From Scratch editors maintain a list of security vulnerabilities discovered after a book has been released. To read the list, please visit https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/advisories/ before proceeding with your build. You should apply the changes suggested by the advisories to the relevant sections of the book as you build the LFS system. And, if you will use the LFS system as a real desktop or server system, you should continue to consult the advisories and fix any security vulnerabilities, even when the LFS system has been completely constructed.

Part I. Introduction

Chapter 1. Introduction

1.1. How to Build an LFS System

The LFS system will be built by using an already installed Linux distribution (such as Debian, OpenMandriva, Fedora, or openSUSE). This existing Linux system (the host) will be used as a starting point to provide necessary programs, including a compiler, linker, and shell, to build the new system. Select the development option during the distribution installation to include these tools.

Note

There are many ways to install a Linux distribution and the defaults are usually not optimal for building an LFS system. For suggestions on setting up a commercial distribution see: https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/downloads/files/partitioning-for-lfs.txt.

As an alternative to installing a separate distribution on your machine, you may wish to use a LiveCD from a commercial distribution.

Chapter 2 of this book describes how to create a new Linux native partition and file system, where the new LFS system will be compiled and installed. Chapter 3 explains which packages and patches must be downloaded to build an LFS system, and how to store them on the new file system. Chapter 4 discusses the setup of an appropriate working environment. Please read Chapter 4 carefully as it explains several important issues you should be aware of before you begin to work your way through Chapter 5 and beyond.

Chapter 5 explains the installation of the initial tool chain, (binutils, gcc, and glibc) using cross-compilation techniques to isolate the new tools from the host system.

Chapter 6 shows you how to cross-compile basic utilities using the just built cross-toolchain.

Chapter 7 then enters a "chroot" environment, where we use the new tools to build all the rest of the tools needed to create the LFS system.

This effort to isolate the new system from the host distribution may seem excessive. A full technical explanation as to why this is done is provided in Toolchain Technical Notes.

In Chapter 8 the full-blown LFS system is built. Another advantage provided by the chroot environment is that it allows you to continue using the host system while LFS is being built. While waiting for package compilations to complete, you can continue using your computer as usual.

To finish the installation, the basic system configuration is set up in Chapter 9, and the kernel and boot loader are created in Chapter 10. Chapter 11 contains information on continuing the LFS experience beyond this book. After the steps in this chapter have been implemented, the computer is ready to boot into the new LFS system.

This is the process in a nutshell. Detailed information on each step is presented in the following chapters. Items that seem complicated now will be clarified, and everything will fall into place as you commence your LFS adventure.

1.2. What's new since the last release

Caution

During a development cycle of LFS, the instructions in the book is often modified to adapt for a package update or take the advantage of new features from updated packages. Mixing up the instructions of different versions of the LFS book can cause subtle breakages. This kind of issue is generally a result from reusing some script created for a prior LFS release. Such a reuse is strongly discouraged. If you are reusing scripts for a prior LFS release for any reason, you'll need to be very careful to update the scripts to match current version of the LFS book.

In the 11.4 release, --disable-fixincludes is set for GCC. It's a configure switch newly added in GCC 13.1 to prevent GCC from fixing the system headers. Such a fix is unnecessary for a modern Linux system and may cause issues if a package is updated after installing GCC.

Here is a list of the packages updated since the previous release of LFS.

Upgraded to:

  • Bc 6.6.0

  • Binutils-2.41

  • Coreutils-9.3

  • Diffutils-3.10

  • File-5.45

  • Flit-core-3.9.0

  • Gawk-5.2.2

  • GCC-13.2.0

  • Gettext-0.22

  • Glibc-2.38

  • GMP-6.3.0

  • Grep-3.11

  • Groff-1.23.0

  • IANA-Etc-20230810

  • IPRoute2-6.4.0

  • Kbd-2.6.1

  • Less-643

  • Libcap-2.69

  • Libelf-0.189 (from elfutils)

  • Linux-6.4.10

  • Make-4.4.1

  • Man-pages-6.05.01

  • Meson-1.2.1

  • Openssl-3.1.2

  • Pkgconf-2.0.1

  • Perl-5.38.0

  • Procps-ng-4.0.3

  • Python-3.11.4

  • Sysklogd-1.5.1

  • Systemd-254

  • Tar-1.35

  • Texinfo-7.0.3

  • Tzdata-2023c

  • Util-Linux-2.39.1

  • Vim-9.0.1677

  • wheel-0.41.1

  • XZ-Utils-5.4.4

  • Zstd-1.5.5

Added:

  • Udev-254 (from systemd)

  • Jinja2-3.1.2

  • MarkupSafe-2.1.3

  • Libxcrypt-4.4.36

  • Pkgconf-2.0.1

  • Flit-core-3.9.0

  • glibc-2.38-memalign_fix-1.patch

Removed:

  • eudev-3.2.12

  • Pkg-config-0.29.2

1.3. Changelog

This is version 12.0-rc1 of the Linux From Scratch book, dated August 15th, 2023. If this book is more than six months old, a newer and better version is probably already available. To find out, please check one of the mirrors via https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/mirrors.html.

Below is a list of changes made since the previous release of the book.

Changelog Entries:

  • 2023-08-15

    • [bdubbs] - LFS-12.0-rc1 released.

    • [bdubbs] - Add a patch to fix a performance regression in glibc's posix_memalign() function. Fixes #5315.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to less-643. Fixes #5317.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to meson-1.2.1. Fixes #5314.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to linux-6.4.10. Fixes #5313.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to iana-etc-20230810. Addresses #5006.

    • [rahul] - Update to pkgconf-2.0.1. Fixes #5316.

  • 2023-08-07

    • [bdubbs] - Update to xz-5.4.4. Fixes #5307.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to wheel-0.41.1 (Python Module). Fixes #5311.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to man-pages-6.05.01. Fixes #5306.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to linux-6.4.8. Fixes #5309.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to iana-etc-20230804. Addresses #5006.

    • [rahul] - Update to pkgconf-2.0.0. Fixes #5310.

  • 2023-08-01

    • [bdubbs] - Update to vim-9.0.1677. Addresses #4500.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to openssl-3.1.2. Fixes #5305.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to man-pages-6.05. Fixes #5303.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to binutils-2.41. Fixes #5300.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to gmp-6.3.0. Fixes #5301.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to glibc-2.38. Fixes #5302.

  • 2023-07-28

    • [bdubbs] - Update udev-lfs tarball to remove obsolete cdrom rules and references to ISDN devices. Fixes #5291.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to wheel-0.41.0 (Python Module). Fixes #5290.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to tar-1.35. Fixes #5287.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to udev from systemd-254. Fixes #5293.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to meson-1.2.0. Fixes #5286.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to linux-6.4.7. Fixes #5288.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to gcc-13.2.0. Fixes #5292.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to file-5.45. Fixes #5294.

  • 2023-07-28

    • [xry111] - Enable cgroup-based memory pressure information in kernel, and add the cgroup file system into /etc/fstab and the mountvirtfs bootscript. This is a preparation for udev from systemd-254. Addresses #5293.

  • 2023-07-22

    • [xry111] - Make the mountvirtfs bootscript create essential symlinks in /dev. Fixes #5289.

  • 2023-07-15

    • [xry111] - Replace eudev-3.2.12 with udev from systemd-253. Fixes #5085.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to iana-etc-20230629. Addresses #5006.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to linux-6.4.3. Fixes #5284.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to libxcrypt-4.4.36. Fixes #5283.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to groff-1.23.0. Fixes #5282.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to perl-5.38.0. Fixes #5281.

  • 2023-07-02

    • [xry111] - Add libxcrypt-4.4.35. Fixes #5280.

    • [xry111] - Update to iproute2-6.4.0. Fixes #5277.

    • [xry111] - Update to linux-6.4.1. Fixes #5276.

  • 2023-07-01

    • [bdubbs] - Update to iana-etc-20230615. Addresses #5006.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to vim-9.0.1671. Addresses #4500.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to util-linux-2.39.1. Addresses #5278.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to linux-6.3.10. Addresses #5276.

    • [rahul] - Update to kbd-2.6.1. Fixes #5279.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to gettext-0.22. Fixes #5275.

  • 2023-06-17

    • [xry111] - Update to linux-6.3.8. Fixes #5272.

    • [xry111] - Update to kbd-2.6.0. Fixes #5273.

    • [rahul] - Changed from pkg-config to pkgconf-1.9.5. Fixes #5274.

  • 2023-06-09

    • [bdubbs] - Update to linux-6.3.6. Fixes #5269.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to Python-3.11.4. Fixes #5271.

  • 2023-06-03

    • [bdubbs] - Update to iana-etc-20230524. Addresses #5006.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to linux-6.3.5. Fixes #5264.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to openssl-3.1.1. Fixes #5267.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to meson-1.1.1. Fixes #5266.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to diffutils-3.10. Fixes #5262.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to bc-6.6.0. Fixes #5263.

  • 2023-05-25

    • [ken] - Remove unneeded group sgx from eudev rules. Fixes #5265.

  • 2023-05-18

    • [bdubbs] - Update to util-linux-2.39. Fixes #5259.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to linux-6.3.3. Fixes #5261.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to libcap-2.69. Fixes #5258.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to grep-3.11. Fixes #5256.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to flit_core-3.9.0. Fixes #5257.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to eudev-3.2.12. Fixes #5260.

  • 2023-05-13

    • [xry111] - Update to less-633. Fixes #5251.

    • [xry111] - Update to linux-6.3.2. Fixes #5255.

    • [xry111] - Update to xz-5.4.3. Fixes #5252.

    • [xry111] - Update to gawk-5.2.2. Fixes #5253.

    • [xry111] - Fix systemd runtime issue exploited by GCC 13. Fixes #5254.

  • 2023-05-01

    • [bdubbs] - Update to vim-9.0.1503. Addresses #4500.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to iana-etc-20230418. Addresses #5006.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to sysvinit-3.07. Fixes #5250.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to iproute2-6.3.0. Fixes #5248.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to gcc-13.1.0. Fixes #5247.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to perl-5.36.1. Fixes #5246.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to linux-6.3.1. Fixes #5245.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to coreutils-9.3. Fixes #5244.

  • 2023-04-15

    • [bdubbs] - Update to vim-9.0.1452. Addresses #4500.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to iana-etc-20230405. Addresses #5006.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to zstd-1.5.5. Fixes #5239.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to Python-3.11.3. Fixes #5240.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to meson-1.1.0. Fixes #5242.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to man-pages-6.04. Fixes #5238.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to linux-6.2.11. Fixes #5241.

  • 2023-03-31

    • [xry111] - Update to linux-6.2.9 (security fix). Fixes #5230.

    • [xry111] - Update to grep-3.10. Fixes #5234.

    • [xry111] - Update to wheel-0.40.0. Fixes #5229.

    • [xry111] - Update to bc-6.5.0. Fixes #5228.

    • [xry111] - Update to texinfo-7.0.3. Fixes #5235.

    • [xry111] - Update to coreutils-9.2. Fixes #5232.

    • [xry111] - Update to libcap-2.68. Fixes #5236.

    • [xry111] - Update to tzdata-2023c. Fixes #5237.

    • [xry111] - Update to xz-5.4.2. Fixes #5233.

    • [xry111] - Update to openssl-3.1.0. Fixes #5227.

    • [xry111] - Add flit-core-3.8.0.

  • 2023-03-15

    • [bdubbs] - Update to bc-6.4.0. Fixes #5217.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to grep-3.9. Fixes #5225.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to linux-6.2.6. Fixes #5226.

    • [bdubbs] - Update to iana-etc-20230306. Addresses #5006.

  • 2023-03-04

    • [xry111] - Update to bc-6.3.1. Fixes #5217.

    • [xry111] - Update to linux-6.2.2 (security fixes). Fixes #5218.

    • [xry111] - Update to procps-ng-4.0.3. Fixes #5220.

    • [xry111] - Update to iproute2-6.2.0. Fixes #5221.

    • [xry111] - Update to meson-1.0.1. Fixes #5222.

    • [xry111] - Update to make-4.4.1. Fixes #5223.

    • [xry111] - Update to libelf-0.189. Fixes #5224.

    • [bdubbs] - Change to a better host requirements script in Chapter 2.

  • 2023-03-01

    • [bdubbs] - LFS-11.3 released.

1.4. Resources

1.4.1. FAQ

If during the building of the LFS system you encounter any errors, have any questions, or think there is a typo in the book, please start by consulting the list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), located at https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/faq/.

1.4.2. Mailing Lists

The linuxfromscratch.org server hosts a number of mailing lists used for the development of the LFS project. These lists include the main development and support lists, among others. If you cannot find an answer to your problem on the FAQ page, the next step would be to search the mailing lists at https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/search.html.

For information on the different lists, how to subscribe, archive locations, and additional information, visit https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/mail.html.

1.4.3. IRC

Several members of the LFS community offer assistance via Internet Relay Chat (IRC). Before using this support, please make sure your question is not already answered in the LFS FAQ or the mailing list archives. You can find the IRC network at irc.libera.chat. The support channel is named #lfs-support.

1.4.4. Mirror Sites

The LFS project has a number of world-wide mirrors to make accessing the website and downloading the required packages more convenient. Please visit the LFS website at https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/mirrors.html for a list of current mirrors.

1.4.5. Contact Information

Please direct all your questions and comments to one of the LFS mailing lists (see above).

1.5. Help

Note

In case you've hit an issue building one package with the LFS instruction, we strongly discourage posting the issue directly onto the upstream support channel before discussing via a LFS support channel listed in Section 1.4, “Resources”. Doing so is often quite inefficient because the upstream maintainers are rarely familiar with LFS building procedure. Even if you've really hit an upstream issue, the LFS community can still help to isolate the information wanted by the upstream maintainers and make a proper report.

If you must ask a question directly via an upstream support channel, you shall at least note that many upstream projects have the support channels separated from the bug tracker. The bug reports for asking questions are considered invalid and may annoy upstream developers for these projects.

If an issue or a question is encountered while working through this book, please check the FAQ page at https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/faq/#generalfaq. Questions are often already answered there. If your question is not answered on that page, try to find the source of the problem. The following hint will give you some guidance for troubleshooting: https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/downloads/files/errors.txt.

If you cannot find your problem listed in the FAQ, search the mailing lists at https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/search.html.

We also have a wonderful LFS community that is willing to offer assistance through the mailing lists and IRC (see the Section 1.4, “Resources” section of this book). However, we get several support questions every day, and many of them could have been easily answered by going to the FAQ or by searching the mailing lists first. So, for us to offer the best assistance possible, you should first do some research on your own. That allows us to focus on the more unusual support needs. If your searches do not produce a solution, please include all the relevant information (mentioned below) in your request for help.

1.5.1. Things to Mention

Apart from a brief explanation of the problem being experienced, any request for help should include these essential things:

  • The version of the book being used (in this case 12.0-rc1)

  • The host distribution and version being used to create LFS

  • The output from the Host System Requirements script

  • The package or section the problem was encountered in

  • The exact error message, or a clear description of the problem

  • Note whether you have deviated from the book at all

Note

Deviating from this book does not mean that we will not help you. After all, LFS is about personal preference. Being up-front about any changes to the established procedure helps us evaluate and determine possible causes of your problem.

1.5.2. Configure Script Problems

If something goes wrong while running the configure script, review the config.log file. This file may contain errors encountered during configure which were not printed to the screen. Include the relevant lines if you need to ask for help.

1.5.3. Compilation Problems

Both the screen output and the contents of various files are useful in determining the cause of compilation problems. The screen output from the configure script and the make run can be helpful. It is not necessary to include the entire output, but do include all of the relevant information. Here is an example of the type of information to include from the make screen output.

gcc -DALIASPATH=\"/mnt/lfs/usr/share/locale:.\"
-DLOCALEDIR=\"/mnt/lfs/usr/share/locale\"
-DLIBDIR=\"/mnt/lfs/usr/lib\"
-DINCLUDEDIR=\"/mnt/lfs/usr/include\" -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I.
-g -O2 -c getopt1.c
gcc -g -O2 -static -o make ar.o arscan.o commands.o dir.o
expand.o file.o function.o getopt.o implicit.o job.o main.o
misc.o read.o remake.o rule.o signame.o variable.o vpath.o
default.o remote-stub.o version.o opt1.o
-lutil job.o: In function `load_too_high':
/lfs/tmp/make-3.79.1/job.c:1565: undefined reference
to `getloadavg'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make[2]: *** [make] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/lfs/tmp/make-3.79.1'
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/lfs/tmp/make-3.79.1'
make: *** [all-recursive-am] Error 2

In this case, many people would just include the bottom section:

make [2]: *** [make] Error 1

This is not enough information to diagnose the problem, because it only notes that something went wrong, not what went wrong. The entire section, as in the example above, is what should be saved because it includes the command that was executed and all the associated error messages.

An excellent article about asking for help on the Internet is available online at http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html. Read this document, and follow the hints. Doing so will increase the likelihood of getting the help you need.

Part II. Preparing for the Build

Chapter 2. Preparing the Host System

2.1. Introduction

In this chapter, the host tools needed for building LFS are checked and, if necessary, installed. Then a partition which will host the LFS system is prepared. We will create the partition itself, create a file system on it, and mount it.

2.2. Host System Requirements

2.2.1. Hardware

The LFS editors recommend that the system CPU have at least four cores and that the system have at least 8 GB of memory. Older systems that do not meet these requirements will still work, but the time to build packages will be significantly longer than documented.

2.2.2. Software

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 have not been tested.

  • Bash-3.2 (/bin/sh should be a symbolic or hard link to bash)

  • Binutils-2.13.1 (Versions greater than 2.41 are not recommended as they have not been tested)

  • Bison-2.7 (/usr/bin/yacc should be a link to bison or a small script that executes bison)

  • Coreutils-7.0

  • Diffutils-2.8.1

  • Findutils-4.2.31

  • Gawk-4.0.1 (/usr/bin/awk should be a link to gawk)

  • GCC-5.1 including the C++ compiler, g++ (Versions greater than 13.2.0 are not recommended as they have not been tested). C and C++ standard libraries (with headers) must also be present so the C++ compiler can build hosted programs

  • Grep-2.5.1a

  • Gzip-1.3.12

  • Linux Kernel-4.14

    The reason for the kernel version requirement is that we specify that version when building glibc in Chapter 5 and Chapter 8, so the workarounds for older kernels are not enabled and the compiled glibc is slightly faster and smaller. As at June 2023, 4.14 is the oldest kernel release still supported by the kernel developers.

    If the host kernel is earlier than 4.14 you will need to replace the kernel with a more up-to-date version. There are two ways you can go about this. First, see if your Linux vendor provides a 4.14 or later kernel package. If so, you may wish to install it. If your vendor doesn't offer an acceptable kernel package, or you would prefer not to install it, you can compile a kernel yourself. Instructions for compiling the kernel and configuring the boot loader (assuming the host uses GRUB) are located in Chapter 10.

    We require the host kernel to support UNIX 98 pseudo terminal (PTY). It should be enabled on all desktop or server distros shipping Linux 4.14 or a newer kernel. If you are building a custom host kernel, ensure CONFIG_UNIX98_PTYS is set to y in the kernel configuration.

  • M4-1.4.10

  • Make-4.0

  • Patch-2.5.4

  • Perl-5.8.8

  • Python-3.4

  • Sed-4.1.5

  • Tar-1.22

  • Texinfo-4.7

  • Xz-5.0.0

Important

Note that the symlinks mentioned above are required to build an LFS system using the instructions contained within this book. Symlinks that point to other software (such as dash, mawk, etc.) may work, but are not tested or supported by the LFS development team, and may require either deviation from the instructions or additional patches to some packages.

To see whether your host system has all the appropriate versions, and the ability to compile programs, run the following commands:

cat > version-check.sh << "EOF"
#!/bin/bash
# A script to list version numbers of critical development tools

# If you have tools installed in other directories, adjust PATH here AND
# in ~lfs/.bashrc (section 4.4) as well.

LC_ALL=C 
PATH=/usr/bin:/bin

bail() { echo "FATAL: $1"; exit 1; }
grep --version > /dev/null 2> /dev/null || bail "grep does not work"
sed '' /dev/null || bail "sed does not work"
sort   /dev/null || bail "sort does not work"

ver_check()
{
   if ! type -p $2 &>/dev/null
   then 
     echo "ERROR: Cannot find $2 ($1)"; return 1; 
   fi
   v=$($2 --version 2>&1 | grep -E -o '[0-9]+\.[0-9\.]+[a-z]*' | head -n1)
   if printf '%s\n' $3 $v | sort --version-sort --check &>/dev/null
   then 
     printf "OK:    %-9s %-6s >= $3\n" "$1" "$v"; return 0;
   else 
     printf "ERROR: %-9s is TOO OLD ($3 or later required)\n" "$1"; 
     return 1; 
   fi
}

ver_kernel()
{
   kver=$(uname -r | grep -E -o '^[0-9\.]+')
   if printf '%s\n' $1 $kver | sort --version-sort --check &>/dev/null
   then 
     printf "OK:    Linux Kernel $kver >= $1\n"; return 0;
   else 
     printf "ERROR: Linux Kernel ($kver) is TOO OLD ($1 or later required)\n" "$kver"; 
     return 1; 
   fi
}

# Coreutils first because-sort needs Coreutils >= 7.0
ver_check Coreutils      sort     7.0 || bail "--version-sort unsupported"
ver_check Bash           bash     3.2
ver_check Binutils       ld       2.13.1
ver_check Bison          bison    2.7
ver_check Diffutils      diff     2.8.1
ver_check Findutils      find     4.2.31
ver_check Gawk           gawk     4.0.1
ver_check GCC            gcc      5.1
ver_check "GCC (C++)"    g++      5.1
ver_check Grep           grep     2.5.1a
ver_check Gzip           gzip     1.3.12
ver_check M4             m4       1.4.10
ver_check Make           make     4.0
ver_check Patch          patch    2.5.4
ver_check Perl           perl     5.8.8
ver_check Python         python3  3.4
ver_check Sed            sed      4.1.5
ver_check Tar            tar      1.22
ver_check Texinfo        texi2any 4.7
ver_check Xz             xz       5.0.0
ver_kernel 4.14

if mount | grep -q 'devpts on /dev/pts' && [ -e /dev/ptmx ]
then echo "OK:    Linux Kernel supports UNIX 98 PTY";
else echo "ERROR: Linux Kernel does NOT support UNIX 98 PTY"; fi

alias_check() {
   if $1 --version 2>&1 | grep -qi $2
   then printf "OK:    %-4s is $2\n" "$1";
   else printf "ERROR: %-4s is NOT $2\n" "$1"; fi
}
echo "Aliases:"
alias_check awk GNU
alias_check yacc Bison
alias_check sh Bash

echo "Compiler check:"
if printf "int main(){}" | g++ -x c++ -
then echo "OK:    g++ works";
else echo "ERROR: g++ does NOT work"; fi
rm -f a.out
EOF

bash version-check.sh

2.3. Building LFS in Stages

LFS is designed to be built in one session. That is, the instructions assume that the system will not be shut down during the process. This does not mean that the system has to be built in one sitting. The issue is that certain procedures must be repeated after a reboot when resuming LFS at different points.

2.3.1. Chapters 1–4

These chapters run commands on the host system. When restarting, be certain of one thing:

  • Procedures performed as the root user after Section 2.4 must have the LFS environment variable set FOR THE ROOT USER.

2.3.2. Chapters 5–6

  • The /mnt/lfs partition must be mounted.

  • These two chapters must be done as user lfs. A su - lfs command must be issued before performing any task in these chapters. If you don't do that, you are at risk of installing packages to the host, and potentially rendering it unusable.

  • The procedures in General Compilation Instructions are critical. If there is any doubt a package has been installed correctly, ensure the previously expanded tarball has been removed, then re-extract the package, and complete all the instructions in that section.

2.3.3. Chapters 7–10

  • The /mnt/lfs partition must be mounted.

  • A few operations, from Changing Ownership to Entering the Chroot Environment, must be done as the root user, with the LFS environment variable set for the root user.

  • When entering chroot, the LFS environment variable must be set for root. The LFS variable is not used after the chroot environment has been entered.

  • The virtual file systems must be mounted. This can be done before or after entering chroot by changing to a host virtual terminal and, as root, running the commands in Section 7.3.1, “Mounting and Populating /dev” and Section 7.3.2, “Mounting Virtual Kernel File Systems”.

2.4. Creating a New Partition

Like most other operating systems, LFS is usually installed on a dedicated partition. The recommended approach to building an LFS system is to use an available empty partition or, if you have enough unpartitioned space, to create one.

A minimal system requires a partition of around 10 gigabytes (GB). This is enough to store all the source tarballs and compile the packages. However, if the LFS system is intended to be the primary Linux system, additional software will probably be installed which will require additional space. A 30 GB partition is a reasonable size to provide for growth. The LFS system itself will not take up this much room. A large portion of this requirement is to provide sufficient free temporary storage as well as for adding additional capabilities after LFS is complete. Additionally, compiling packages can require a lot of disk space which will be reclaimed after the package is installed.

Because there is not always enough Random Access Memory (RAM) available for compilation processes, it is a good idea to use a small disk partition as swap space. This is used by the kernel to store seldom-used data and leave more memory available for active processes. The swap partition for an LFS system can be the same as the one used by the host system, in which case it is not necessary to create another one.

Start a disk partitioning program such as cfdisk or fdisk with a command line option naming the hard disk on which the new partition will be created—for example /dev/sda for the primary disk drive. Create a Linux native partition and a swap partition, if needed. Please refer to cfdisk(8) or fdisk(8) if you do not yet know how to use the programs.

Note

For experienced users, other partitioning schemes are possible. The new LFS system can be on a software RAID array or an LVM logical volume. However, some of these options require an initramfs, which is an advanced topic. These partitioning methodologies are not recommended for first time LFS users.

Remember the designation of the new partition (e.g., sda5). This book will refer to this as the LFS partition. Also remember the designation of the swap partition. These names will be needed later for the /etc/fstab file.

2.4.1. Other Partition Issues

Requests for advice on system partitioning are often posted on the LFS mailing lists. This is a highly subjective topic. The default for most distributions is to use the entire drive with the exception of one small swap partition. This is not optimal for LFS for several reasons. It reduces flexibility, makes sharing of data across multiple distributions or LFS builds more difficult, makes backups more time consuming, and can waste disk space through inefficient allocation of file system structures.

2.4.1.1. The Root Partition

A root LFS partition (not to be confused with the /root directory) of twenty gigabytes is a good compromise for most systems. It provides enough space to build LFS and most of BLFS, but is small enough so that multiple partitions can be easily created for experimentation.

2.4.1.2. The Swap Partition

Most distributions automatically create a swap partition. Generally the recommended size of the swap partition is about twice the amount of physical RAM, however this is rarely needed. If disk space is limited, hold the swap partition to two gigabytes and monitor the amount of disk swapping.

If you want to use the hibernation feature (suspend-to-disk) of Linux, it writes out the contents of RAM to the swap partition before turning off the machine. In this case the size of the swap partition should be at least as large as the system's installed RAM.

Swapping is never good. For mechanical hard drives you can generally tell if a system is swapping by just listening to disk activity and observing how the system reacts to commands. With an SSD you will not be able to hear swapping, but you can tell how much swap space is being used by running the top or free programs. Use of an SSD for a swap partition should be avoided if possible. The first reaction to swapping should be to check for an unreasonable command such as trying to edit a five gigabyte file. If swapping becomes a normal occurrence, the best solution is to purchase more RAM for your system.

2.4.1.3. The Grub Bios Partition

If the boot disk has been partitioned with a GUID Partition Table (GPT), then a small, typically 1 MB, partition must be created if it does not already exist. This partition is not formatted, but must be available for GRUB to use during installation of the boot loader. This partition will normally be labeled 'BIOS Boot' if using fdisk or have a code of EF02 if using the gdisk command.

Note

The Grub Bios partition must be on the drive that the BIOS uses to boot the system. This is not necessarily the drive that holds the LFS root partition. The disks on a system may use different partition table types. The necessity of the Grub Bios partition depends only on the partition table type of the boot disk.

2.4.1.4. Convenience Partitions

There are several other partitions that are not required, but should be considered when designing a disk layout. The following list is not comprehensive, but is meant as a guide.

  • /boot – Highly recommended. Use this partition to store kernels and other booting information. To minimize potential boot problems with larger disks, make this the first physical partition on your first disk drive. A partition size of 200 megabytes is adequate.

  • /boot/efi – The EFI System Partition, which is needed for booting the system with UEFI. Read the BLFS page for details.

  • /home – Highly recommended. Share your home directory and user customization across multiple distributions or LFS builds. The size is generally fairly large and depends on available disk space.

  • /usr – In LFS, /bin, /lib, and /sbin are symlinks to their counterparts in /usr. So /usr contains all the binaries needed for the system to run. For LFS a separate partition for /usr is normally not needed. If you create it anyway, you should make a partition large enough to fit all the programs and libraries in the system. The root partition can be very small (maybe just one gigabyte) in this configuration, so it's suitable for a thin client or diskless workstation (where /usr is mounted from a remote server). However, you should be aware that an initramfs (not covered by LFS) will be needed to boot a system with a separate /usr partition.

  • /opt – This directory is most useful for BLFS, where multiple large packages like KDE or Texlive can be installed without embedding the files in the /usr hierarchy. If used, 5 to 10 gigabytes is generally adequate.

  • /tmp – A separate /tmp partition is rare, but useful if configuring a thin client. This partition, if used, will usually not need to exceed a couple of gigabytes. If you have enough RAM, you can mount a tmpfs on /tmp to make access to temporary files faster.

  • /usr/src – This partition is very useful for providing a location to store BLFS source files and share them across LFS builds. It can also be used as a location for building BLFS packages. A reasonably large partition of 30-50 gigabytes provides plenty of room.

Any separate partition that you want automatically mounted when the system starts must be specified in the /etc/fstab file. Details about how to specify partitions will be discussed in Section 10.2, “Creating the /etc/fstab File”.

2.5. Creating a File System on the Partition

A partition is just a range of sectors on a disk drive, delimited by boundaries set in a partition table. Before the operating system can use a partition to store any files, the partition must be formatted to contain a file system, typically consisting of a label, directory blocks, data blocks, and an indexing scheme to locate a particular file on demand. The file system also helps the OS keep track of free space on the partition, reserve the needed sectors when a new file is created or an existing file is extended, and recycle the free data segments created when files are deleted. It may also provide support for data redundancy, and for error recovery.

LFS can use any file system recognized by the Linux kernel, but the most common types are ext3 and ext4. The choice of the right file system can be complex; it depends on the characteristics of the files and the size of the partition. For example:

ext2

is suitable for small partitions that are updated infrequently such as /boot.

ext3

is an upgrade to ext2 that includes a journal to help recover the partition's status in the case of an unclean shutdown. It is commonly used as a general purpose file system.

ext4

is the latest version of the ext family of file systems. It provides several new capabilities including nano-second timestamps, creation and use of very large files (up to 16 TB), and speed improvements.

Other file systems, including FAT32, NTFS, ReiserFS, JFS, and XFS are useful for specialized purposes. More information about these file systems, and many others, can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_file_systems.

LFS assumes that the root file system (/) is of type ext4. To create an ext4 file system on the LFS partition, issue the following command:

mkfs -v -t ext4 /dev/<xxx>

Replace <xxx> with the name of the LFS partition.

If you are using an existing swap partition, there is no need to format it. If a new swap partition was created, it will need to be initialized with this command:

mkswap /dev/<yyy>

Replace <yyy> with the name of the swap partition.

2.6. Setting The $LFS Variable

Throughout this book, the environment variable LFS will be used several times. You should ensure that this variable is always defined throughout the LFS build process. It should be set to the name of the directory where you will be building your LFS system - we will use /mnt/lfs as an example, but you may choose any directory name you want. If you are building LFS on a separate partition, this directory will be the mount point for the partition. Choose a directory location and set the variable with the following command:

export LFS=/mnt/lfs

Having this variable set is beneficial in that commands such as mkdir -v $LFS/tools can be typed literally. The shell will automatically replace $LFS with /mnt/lfs (or whatever value the variable was set to) when it processes the command line.

Caution

Do not forget to check that LFS is set whenever you leave and reenter the current working environment (such as when doing a su to root or another user). Check that the LFS variable is set up properly with:

echo $LFS

Make sure the output shows the path to your LFS system's build location, which is /mnt/lfs if the provided example was followed. If the output is incorrect, use the command given earlier on this page to set $LFS to the correct directory name.

Note

One way to ensure that the LFS variable is always set is to edit the .bash_profile file in both your personal home directory and in /root/.bash_profile and enter the export command above. In addition, the shell specified in the /etc/passwd file for all users that need the LFS variable must be bash to ensure that the /root/.bash_profile file is incorporated as a part of the login process.

Another consideration is the method that is used to log into the host system. If logging in through a graphical display manager, the user's .bash_profile is not normally used when a virtual terminal is started. In this case, add the export command to the .bashrc file for the user and root. In addition, some distributions use an "if" test, and do not run the remaining .bashrc instructions for a non-interactive bash invocation. Be sure to place the export command ahead of the test for non-interactive use.

2.7. Mounting the New Partition

Now that a file system has been created, the partition must be mounted so the host system can access it. This book assumes that the file system is mounted at the directory specified by the LFS environment variable described in the previous section.

Strictly speaking, one cannot "mount a partition". One mounts the file system embedded in that partition. But since a single partition can't contain more than one file system, people often speak of the partition and the associated file system as if they were one and the same.

Create the mount point and mount the LFS file system with these commands:

mkdir -pv $LFS
mount -v -t ext4 /dev/<xxx> $LFS

Replace <xxx> with the name of the LFS partition.

If you are using multiple partitions for LFS (e.g., one for / and another for /home), mount them like this:

mkdir -pv $LFS
mount -v -t ext4 /dev/<xxx> $LFS
mkdir -v $LFS/home
mount -v -t ext4 /dev/<yyy> $LFS/home

Replace <xxx> and <yyy> with the appropriate partition names.

Ensure that this new partition is not mounted with permissions that are too restrictive (such as the nosuid or nodev options). Run the mount command without any parameters to see what options are set for the mounted LFS partition. If nosuid and/or nodev are set, the partition must be remounted.

Warning

The above instructions assume that you will not restart your computer throughout the LFS process. If you shut down your system, you will either need to remount the LFS partition each time you restart the build process, or modify the host system's /etc/fstab file to automatically remount it when you reboot. For example, you might add this line to your /etc/fstab file:

/dev/<xxx>  /mnt/lfs ext4   defaults      1     1

If you use additional optional partitions, be sure to add them also.

If you are using a swap partition, ensure that it is enabled using the swapon command:

/sbin/swapon -v /dev/<zzz>

Replace <zzz> with the name of the swap partition.

Now that the new LFS partition is open for business, it's time to download the packages.

Chapter 3. Packages and Patches

3.1. Introduction

This chapter includes a list of packages that need to be downloaded in order to build a basic Linux system. The listed version numbers correspond to versions of the software that are known to work, and this book is based on their use. We highly recommend against using different versions, because the build commands for one version may not work with a different version, unless the different version is specified by an LFS erratum or security advisory. The newest package versions may also have problems that require work-arounds. These work-arounds will be developed and stabilized in the development version of the book.

For some packages, the release tarball and the (Git or SVN) repository snapshot tarball for that release may be published with similar file names. A release tarball contains generated files (for example, a configure script generated by autoconf), in addition to the contents of the corresponding repository snapshot. The book uses release tarballs whenever possible. Using a repository snapshot instead of a release tarball specified by the book will cause problems.

Download locations may not always be accessible. If a download location has changed since this book was published, Google (https://www.google.com/) provides a useful search engine for most packages. If this search is unsuccessful, try one of the alternative means of downloading at https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/mirrors.html#files.

Downloaded packages and patches will need to be stored somewhere that is conveniently available throughout the entire build. A working directory is also required to unpack the sources and build them. $LFS/sources can be used both as the place to store the tarballs and patches and as a working directory. By using this directory, the required elements will be located on the LFS partition and will be available during all stages of the building process.

To create this directory, execute the following command, as user root, before starting the download session:

mkdir -v $LFS/sources

Make this directory writable and sticky. Sticky means that even if multiple users have write permission on a directory, only the owner of a file can delete the file within a sticky directory. The following command will enable the write and sticky modes:

chmod -v a+wt $LFS/sources

There are several ways to obtain all the necessary packages and patches to build LFS:

  • The files can be downloaded individually as described in the next two sections.

  • For stable versions of the book, a tarball of all the needed files can be downloaded from one of the mirror sites listed at https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/mirrors.html#files.

  • The files can be downloaded using wget and a wget-list as described below.

To download all of the packages and patches by using wget-list-sysv as an input to the wget command, use:

wget --input-file=wget-list-sysv --continue --directory-prefix=$LFS/sources

Additionally, starting with LFS-7.0, there is a separate file, md5sums, which can be used to verify that all the correct packages are available before proceeding. Place that file in $LFS/sources and run:

pushd $LFS/sources
  md5sum -c md5sums
popd

This check can be used after retrieving the needed files with any of the methods listed above.

If the packages and patches are downloaded as a non-root user, these files will be owned by the user. The file system records the owner by its UID, and the UID of a normal user in the host distro is not assigned in LFS. So the files will be left owned by an unnamed UID in the final LFS system. If you won't assign the same UID for your user in the LFS system, change the owners of these files to root now to avoid this issue:

chown root:root $LFS/sources/*

3.2. All Packages

Note

Read the security advisories before downloading packages to figure out if a newer version of any package should be used to avoid security vulnerabilities.

The upstream sources may remove old releases, especially when those releases contain a security vulnerability. If one URL below is not reachable, you should read the security advisories first to figure out if a newer version (with the vulnerability fixed) should be used. If not, try to download the removed package from a mirror. Although it's possible to download an old release from a mirror even if this release has been removed because of a vulnerability, it's not a good idea to use a release known to be vulnerable when building your system.

Download or otherwise obtain the following packages:

Acl (2.3.1) - 348 KB:

Home page: https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/acl

Download: https://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/acl/acl-2.3.1.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 95ce715fe09acca7c12d3306d0f076b2

Attr (2.5.1) - 456 KB:

Home page: https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/attr

Download: https://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/attr/attr-2.5.1.tar.gz

MD5 sum: ac1c5a7a084f0f83b8cace34211f64d8

Autoconf (2.71) - 1,263 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/autoconf-2.71.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 12cfa1687ffa2606337efe1a64416106

Automake (1.16.5) - 1,565 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/automake/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/automake/automake-1.16.5.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 4017e96f89fca45ca946f1c5db6be714

Bash (5.2.15) - 10,695 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/bash/bash-5.2.15.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 4281bb43497f3905a308430a8d6a30a5

Bc (6.6.0) - 455 KB:

Home page: https://git.gavinhoward.com/gavin/bc

Download: https://github.com/gavinhoward/bc/releases/download/6.6.0/bc-6.6.0.tar.xz

MD5 sum: a148cbaaf8ff813b7289a00539e74a5f

Binutils (2.41) - 26,139 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/binutils/

Download: https://sourceware.org/pub/binutils/releases/binutils-2.41.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 256d7e0ad998e423030c84483a7c1e30

Bison (3.8.2) - 2,752 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/bison/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/bison/bison-3.8.2.tar.xz

MD5 sum: c28f119f405a2304ff0a7ccdcc629713

Bzip2 (1.0.8) - 792 KB:

Download: https://www.sourceware.org/pub/bzip2/bzip2-1.0.8.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 67e051268d0c475ea773822f7500d0e5

Check (0.15.2) - 760 KB:

Home page: https://libcheck.github.io/check

Download: https://github.com/libcheck/check/releases/download/0.15.2/check-0.15.2.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 50fcafcecde5a380415b12e9c574e0b2

Coreutils (9.3) - 5,673 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/coreutils/coreutils-9.3.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 040b4b7acaf89499834bfc79609af29f

DejaGNU (1.6.3) - 608 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/dejagnu/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/dejagnu/dejagnu-1.6.3.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 68c5208c58236eba447d7d6d1326b821

Diffutils (3.10) - 1,587 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/diffutils/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/diffutils/diffutils-3.10.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 2745c50f6f4e395e7b7d52f902d075bf

E2fsprogs (1.47.0) - 9,412 KB:

Home page: http://e2fsprogs.sourceforge.net/

Download: https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/e2fsprogs/e2fsprogs/v1.47.0/e2fsprogs-1.47.0.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 6b4f18a33873623041857b4963641ee9

Elfutils (0.189) - 8,936 KB:

Home page: https://sourceware.org/elfutils/

Download: https://sourceware.org/ftp/elfutils/0.189/elfutils-0.189.tar.bz2

MD5 sum: 5cfaa711a90cb670406cd495aeaa6030

Expat (2.5.0) - 450 KB:

Home page: https://libexpat.github.io/

Download: https://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/expat/expat-2.5.0.tar.xz

MD5 sum: ac6677b6d1b95d209ab697ce8b688704

Expect (5.45.4) - 618 KB:

Home page: https://core.tcl.tk/expect/

Download: https://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/expect/expect5.45.4.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 00fce8de158422f5ccd2666512329bd2

File (5.45) - 1,218 KB:

Home page: https://www.darwinsys.com/file/

Download: https://astron.com/pub/file/file-5.45.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 26b2a96d4e3a8938827a1e572afd527a

Findutils (4.9.0) - 1,999 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/findutils/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/findutils/findutils-4.9.0.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 4a4a547e888a944b2f3af31d789a1137

Flex (2.6.4) - 1,386 KB:

Home page: https://github.com/westes/flex

Download: https://github.com/westes/flex/releases/download/v2.6.4/flex-2.6.4.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 2882e3179748cc9f9c23ec593d6adc8d

Flit-core (3.9.0) - 41 KB:

Home page: https://pypi.org/project/flit-core/

Download: https://pypi.org/packages/source/f/flit-core/flit_core-3.9.0.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 3bc52f1952b9a78361114147da63c35b

Gawk (5.2.2) - 3,324 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/gawk/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gawk/gawk-5.2.2.tar.xz

MD5 sum: d63b4de2c722cbd9b8cc8e6f14d78a1e

GCC (13.2.0) - 85,800 KB:

Home page: https://gcc.gnu.org/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gcc/gcc-13.2.0/gcc-13.2.0.tar.xz

MD5 sum: e0e48554cc6e4f261d55ddee9ab69075

SHA256 sum:

GDBM (1.23) - 1,092 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/gdbm/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gdbm/gdbm-1.23.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 8551961e36bf8c70b7500d255d3658ec

Gettext (0.22) - 9,775 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gettext/gettext-0.22.tar.xz

MD5 sum: db2f3daf34fd5b85ab1a56f9033e42d1

Glibc (2.38) - 18,471 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/libc/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/glibc/glibc-2.38.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 778cce0ea6bf7f84ca8caacf4a01f45b

Note

The Glibc developers maintain a Git branch containing patches considered worthy for Glibc-2.38 but unfortunately developed after Glibc-2.38 release. The LFS editors will issue a security advisory if any security fix is added into the branch, but no actions will be taken for other newly added patches. You may review the patches yourself and incorporate some patches if you consider them important.

GMP (6.3.0) - 2,046 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/gmp/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gmp/gmp-6.3.0.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 956dc04e864001a9c22429f761f2c283

Gperf (3.1) - 1,188 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/gperf/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gperf/gperf-3.1.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 9e251c0a618ad0824b51117d5d9db87e

Grep (3.11) - 1,664 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/grep/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/grep/grep-3.11.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 7c9bbd74492131245f7cdb291fa142c0

Groff (1.23.0) - 7,259 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/groff/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/groff/groff-1.23.0.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 5e4f40315a22bb8a158748e7d5094c7d

GRUB (2.06) - 6,428 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/grub/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/grub/grub-2.06.tar.xz

MD5 sum: cf0fd928b1e5479c8108ee52cb114363

Gzip (1.12) - 807 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/gzip/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gzip/gzip-1.12.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 9608e4ac5f061b2a6479dc44e917a5db

Iana-Etc (20230810) - 588 KB:

Home page: https://www.iana.org/protocols

Download: https://github.com/Mic92/iana-etc/releases/download/20230810/iana-etc-20230810.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 0502bd41cc0bf1c1c3cd8651058b9650

Inetutils (2.4) - 1,522 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/inetutils/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/inetutils/inetutils-2.4.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 319d65bb5a6f1847c4810651f3b4ba74

SHA256 sum:

Intltool (0.51.0) - 159 KB:

Home page: https://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/intltool

Download: https://launchpad.net/intltool/trunk/0.51.0/+download/intltool-0.51.0.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 12e517cac2b57a0121cda351570f1e63

IPRoute2 (6.4.0) - 904 KB:

Home page: https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/net/iproute2/

Download: https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/net/iproute2/iproute2-6.4.0.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 90ce0eb84a8f1e2b14ffa77e8eb3f5ed

Jinja2 (3.1.2) - 262 KB:

Home page: https://jinja.palletsprojects.com/en/3.0.x/

Download: https://pypi.org/packages/source/J/Jinja2/Jinja2-3.1.2.tar.gz

MD5 sum: d31148abd89c1df1cdb077a55db27d02

Kbd (2.6.1) - 1,554 KB:

Home page: https://kbd-project.org/

Download: https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kbd/kbd-2.6.1.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 986241b5d94c6bd4ed2f6d2a5ab4320b

Kmod (30) - 555 KB:

Download: https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/kmod/kmod-30.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 85202f0740a75eb52f2163c776f9b564

Less (643) - 579 KB:

Home page: https://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/

Download: https://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/less-643.tar.gz

MD5 sum: cf05e2546a3729492b944b4874dd43dd

LFS-Bootscripts (20230728) - 33 KB:

Download: https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/downloads/12.0-rc1/lfs-bootscripts-20230728.tar.xz

MD5 sum: cda82904848aa3546fe0a5adb89b88a3

Libcap (2.69) - 185 KB:

Home page: https://sites.google.com/site/fullycapable/

Download: https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/libs/security/linux-privs/libcap2/libcap-2.69.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 4667bacb837f9ac4adb4a1a0266f4b65

Libffi (3.4.4) - 1,331 KB:

Home page: https://sourceware.org/libffi/

Download: https://github.com/libffi/libffi/releases/download/v3.4.4/libffi-3.4.4.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 0da1a5ed7786ac12dcbaf0d499d8a049

Libpipeline (1.5.7) - 956 KB:

Home page: https://libpipeline.nongnu.org/

Download: https://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/libpipeline/libpipeline-1.5.7.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 1a48b5771b9f6c790fb4efdb1ac71342

Libtool (2.4.7) - 996 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/libtool/libtool-2.4.7.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 2fc0b6ddcd66a89ed6e45db28fa44232

Libxcrypt (4.4.36) - 610 KB:

Home page: https://github.com/besser82/libxcrypt/

Download: https://github.com/besser82/libxcrypt/releases/download/v4.4.36/libxcrypt-4.4.36.tar.xz

MD5 sum: b84cd4104e08c975063ec6c4d0372446

Linux (6.4.10) - 134,621 KB:

Home page: https://www.kernel.org/

Download: https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v6.x/linux-6.4.10.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 2e19e7badc3d4b080bf6b4864912f2d3

Note

The Linux kernel is updated quite frequently, many times due to discoveries of security vulnerabilities. The latest available stable kernel version may be used, unless the errata page says otherwise.

For users with limited speed or expensive bandwidth who wish to update the Linux kernel, a baseline version of the package and patches can be downloaded separately. This may save some time or cost for a subsequent patch level upgrade within a minor release.

M4 (1.4.19) - 1,617 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/m4/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/m4/m4-1.4.19.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 0d90823e1426f1da2fd872df0311298d

Make (4.4.1) - 2,300 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/make/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/make/make-4.4.1.tar.gz

MD5 sum: c8469a3713cbbe04d955d4ae4be23eeb

Man-DB (2.11.2) - 1,908 KB:

Home page: https://www.nongnu.org/man-db/

Download: https://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/man-db/man-db-2.11.2.tar.xz

MD5 sum: a7d59fb2df6158c44f8f7009dcc6d875

Man-pages (6.05.01) - 2,144 KB:

Home page: https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/

Download: https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/docs/man-pages/man-pages-6.05.01.tar.xz

MD5 sum: de4563b797cf9b1e0b0d73628b35e442

MarkupSafe (2.1.3) - 19 KB:

Home page: https://palletsprojects.com/p/markupsafe/

Download: https://pypi.org/packages/source/M/MarkupSafe/MarkupSafe-2.1.3.tar.gz

MD5 sum: ca33f119bd0551ce15837f58bb180214

Meson (1.2.1) - 2,131 KB:

Home page: https://mesonbuild.com

Download: https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/releases/download/1.2.1/meson-1.2.1.tar.gz

MD5 sum: e3cc846536189aacd7d01858a45ca9af

MPC (1.3.1) - 756 KB:

Home page: https://www.multiprecision.org/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/mpc/mpc-1.3.1.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 5c9bc658c9fd0f940e8e3e0f09530c62

MPFR (4.2.0) - 1,443 KB:

Home page: https://www.mpfr.org/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/mpfr/mpfr-4.2.0.tar.xz

MD5 sum: a25091f337f25830c16d2054d74b5af7

Ncurses (6.4) - 3,528 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/ncurses/

Download: https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/ncurses-6.4.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 5a62487b5d4ac6b132fe2bf9f8fad29b

Ninja (1.11.1) - 225 KB:

Home page: https://ninja-build.org/

Download: https://github.com/ninja-build/ninja/archive/v1.11.1/ninja-1.11.1.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 32151c08211d7ca3c1d832064f6939b0

OpenSSL (3.1.2) - 15,196 KB:

Home page: https://www.openssl.org/

Download: https://www.openssl.org/source/openssl-3.1.2.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 1d7861f969505e67b8677e205afd9ff4

Patch (2.7.6) - 766 KB:

Home page: https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/patch/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/patch/patch-2.7.6.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 78ad9937e4caadcba1526ef1853730d5

Perl (5.38.0) - 13,248 KB:

Home page: https://www.perl.org/

Download: https://www.cpan.org/src/5.0/perl-5.38.0.tar.xz

MD5 sum: e1c8aaec897dd386c741f97eef9f2e87

Pkgconf (2.0.1) - 304 KB:

Home page: http://pkgconf.org/

Download: https://distfiles.ariadne.space/pkgconf/pkgconf-2.0.1.tar.xz

MD5 sum: efc1318f368bb592aba6ebb18d9ff254

Procps (4.0.3) - 1,268 KB:

Home page: https://sourceforge.net/projects/procps-ng

Download: https://sourceforge.net/projects/procps-ng/files/Production/procps-ng-4.0.3.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 22b287bcd758831cbaf3356cd3054fe7

Psmisc (23.6) - 415 KB:

Home page: https://gitlab.com/psmisc/psmisc

Download: https://sourceforge.net/projects/psmisc/files/psmisc/psmisc-23.6.tar.xz

MD5 sum: ed3206da1184ce9e82d607dc56c52633

Python (3.11.4) - 19,488 KB:

Home page: https://www.python.org/

Download: https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.11.4/Python-3.11.4.tar.xz

MD5 sum: fb7f7eae520285788449d569e45b6718

Python Documentation (3.11.4) - 7,649 KB:

Download: https://www.python.org/ftp/python/doc/3.11.4/python-3.11.4-docs-html.tar.bz2

MD5 sum: cdce7b1189bcf52947f3b434ab04d7e2

Readline (8.2) - 2,973 KB:

Home page: https://tiswww.case.edu/php/chet/readline/rltop.html

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/readline/readline-8.2.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 4aa1b31be779e6b84f9a96cb66bc50f6

Sed (4.9) - 1,365 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/sed/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/sed/sed-4.9.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 6aac9b2dbafcd5b7a67a8a9bcb8036c3

Shadow (4.13) - 1,722 KB:

Home page: https://shadow-maint.github.io/shadow/

Download: https://github.com/shadow-maint/shadow/releases/download/4.13/shadow-4.13.tar.xz

MD5 sum: b1ab01b5462ddcf43588374d57bec123

Sysklogd (1.5.1) - 88 KB:

Home page: https://www.infodrom.org/projects/sysklogd/

Download: https://www.infodrom.org/projects/sysklogd/download/sysklogd-1.5.1.tar.gz

MD5 sum: c70599ab0d037fde724f7210c2c8d7f8

Systemd (254) - 13,985 KB:

Home page: https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/

Download: https://github.com/systemd/systemd/archive/v254/systemd-254.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 0d266e5361dc72097b6c18cfde1c0001

Systemd Man Pages(254) - 626 KB:

Home page: https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/

Download: https://anduin.linuxfromscratch.org/LFS/systemd-man-pages-254.tar.xz

MD5 sum: fc32faeac581e1890ca27fcea3858410

Note

The Linux From Scratch team generates its own tarball of the man pages using the systemd source. This is done in order to avoid unnecessary dependencies.

Sysvinit (3.07) - 258 KB:

Home page: https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/sysvinit

Download: https://github.com/slicer69/sysvinit/releases/download/3.07/sysvinit-3.07.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 190398c660af29c97d892126d2a95e28

Tar (1.35) - 2,263 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/tar/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/tar/tar-1.35.tar.xz

MD5 sum: a2d8042658cfd8ea939e6d911eaf4152

Tcl (8.6.13) - 10,581 KB:

Home page: http://tcl.sourceforge.net/

Download: https://downloads.sourceforge.net/tcl/tcl8.6.13-src.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 0e4358aade2f5db8a8b6f2f6d9481ec2

Tcl Documentation (8.6.13) - 1,165 KB:

Download: https://downloads.sourceforge.net/tcl/tcl8.6.13-html.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 4452f2f6d557f5598cca17b786d6eb68

Texinfo (7.0.3) - 4,776 KB:

Home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/

Download: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/texinfo/texinfo-7.0.3.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 37bf94fd255729a14d4ea3dda119f81a

Time Zone Data (2023c) - 436 KB:

Home page: https://www.iana.org/time-zones

Download: https://www.iana.org/time-zones/repository/releases/tzdata2023c.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 5aa672bf129b44dd915f8232de38e49a

Udev-lfs Tarball (udev-lfs-20230728) - 10 KB:

Download: https://anduin.linuxfromscratch.org/LFS/udev-lfs-20230728.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 8a3b921e3a28d36ac46d17137d920268

Util-linux (2.39.1) - 8,156 KB:

Home page: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/utils/util-linux/util-linux.git/

Download: https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/v2.39/util-linux-2.39.1.tar.xz

MD5 sum: c542cd7c0726254e4b3006a9b428201a

Vim (9.0.1677) - 16,670 KB:

Home page: https://www.vim.org

Download: https://anduin.linuxfromscratch.org/LFS/vim-9.0.1677.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 65e6b09ef0628a2d8eba79f1d1d5a564

Note

The version of vim changes daily. To get the latest version, go to https://github.com/vim/vim/tags.

Wheel (0.41.1) - 96 KB:

Home page: https://pypi.org/project/wheel/

Download: https://pypi.org/packages/source/w/wheel/wheel-0.41.1.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 181cb3f4d8ed340c904a0e1c416d341d

XML::Parser (2.46) - 249 KB:

Home page: https://github.com/chorny/XML-Parser

Download: https://cpan.metacpan.org/authors/id/T/TO/TODDR/XML-Parser-2.46.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 80bb18a8e6240fcf7ec2f7b57601c170

Xz Utils (5.4.4) - 1,623 KB:

Home page: https://tukaani.org/xz

Download: https://tukaani.org/xz/xz-5.4.4.tar.xz

MD5 sum: d83d6f64a64f88759e312b8a38c3add6

Zlib (1.2.13) - 1267 KB:

Home page: https://www.zlib.net/

Download: https://zlib.net/zlib-1.2.13.tar.xz

MD5 sum: 7d9fc1d78ae2fa3e84fe98b77d006c63

Zstd (1.5.5) - 2,314 KB:

Home page: https://facebook.github.io/zstd/

Download: https://github.com/facebook/zstd/releases/download/v1.5.5/zstd-1.5.5.tar.gz

MD5 sum: 63251602329a106220e0a5ad26ba656f

Total size of these packages: about 493 MB

3.3. Needed Patches

In addition to the packages, several patches are also required. These patches correct any mistakes in the packages that should be fixed by the maintainer. The patches also make small modifications to make the packages easier to work with. The following patches will be needed to build an LFS system:

Bzip2 Documentation Patch - 1.6 KB:

Download: https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/lfs/12.0-rc1/bzip2-1.0.8-install_docs-1.patch

MD5 sum: 6a5ac7e89b791aae556de0f745916f7f

Coreutils Internationalization Fixes Patch - 166 KB:

Download: https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/lfs/12.0-rc1/coreutils-9.3-i18n-1.patch

MD5 sum: 3c6340b3ddd62f4acdf8d3caa6fad6b0

Glibc Memalign Patch - 20 KB:

Download: https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/lfs/12.0-rc1/glibc-2.38-memalign_fix-1.patch

MD5 sum: 2c3552bded42a83ad6a7087c5fbf3857

Glibc FHS Patch - 2.8 KB:

Download: https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/lfs/12.0-rc1/glibc-2.38-fhs-1.patch

MD5 sum: 9a5997c3452909b1769918c759eff8a2

GRUB Upstream Fixes Patch - 8 KB:

Download: https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/lfs/12.0-rc1/grub-2.06-upstream_fixes-1.patch

MD5 sum: da388905710bb4cbfbc7bd7346ff9174

Kbd Backspace/Delete Fix Patch - 12 KB:

Download: https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/lfs/12.0-rc1/kbd-2.6.1-backspace-1.patch

MD5 sum: f75cca16a38da6caa7d52151f7136895

Readline Upstream Fix Patch - 1.3 KB:

Download: https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/lfs/12.0-rc1/readline-8.2-upstream_fix-1.patch

MD5 sum: dd1764b84cfca6b677f44978218a75da

Sysvinit Consolidated Patch - 2.5 KB:

Download: https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/lfs/12.0-rc1/sysvinit-3.07-consolidated-1.patch

MD5 sum: 17ffccbb8e18c39e8cedc32046f3a475

Total size of these patches: about 214.2 KB

In addition to the above required patches, there exist a number of optional patches created by the LFS community. These optional patches solve minor problems or enable functionality that is not enabled by default. Feel free to peruse the patches database located at https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/downloads/ and acquire any additional patches to suit your system needs.

Chapter 4. Final Preparations

4.1. Introduction

In this chapter, we will perform a few additional tasks to prepare for building the temporary system. We will create a set of directories in $LFS (in which we will install the temporary tools), add an unprivileged user, and create an appropriate build environment for that user. We will also explain the units of time (SBUs) we use to measure how long it takes to build LFS packages, and provide some information about package test suites.

4.2. Creating a Limited Directory Layout in the LFS Filesystem

In this section, we begin populating the LFS filesystem with the pieces that will constitute the final Linux system. The first step is to create a limited directory hierarchy, so that the programs compiled in Chapter 6 (as well as glibc and libstdc++ in Chapter 5) can be installed in their final location. We do this so those temporary programs will be overwritten when the final versions are built in Chapter 8.

Create the required directory layout by issuing the following commands as root:

mkdir -pv $LFS/{etc,var} $LFS/usr/{bin,lib,sbin}

for i in bin lib sbin; do
  ln -sv usr/$i $LFS/$i
done

case $(uname -m) in
  x86_64) mkdir -pv $LFS/lib64 ;;
esac

Programs in Chapter 6 will be compiled with a cross-compiler (more details can be found in section Toolchain Technical Notes). This cross-compiler will be installed in a special directory, to separate it from the other programs. Still acting as root, create that directory with this command:

mkdir -pv $LFS/tools

Note

The LFS editors have deliberately decided not to use a /usr/lib64 directory. Several steps are taken to be sure the toolchain will not use it. If for any reason this directory appears (either because you made an error in following the instructions, or because you installed a binary package that created it after finishing LFS), it may break your system. You should always be sure this directory does not exist.

4.3. Adding the LFS User

When logged in as user root, making a single mistake can damage or destroy a system. Therefore, the packages in the next two chapters are built as an unprivileged user. You could use your own user name, but to make it easier to set up a clean working environment, we will create a new user called lfs as a member of a new group (also named lfs) and run commands as lfs during the installation process. As root, issue the following commands to add the new user:

groupadd lfs
useradd -s /bin/bash -g lfs -m -k /dev/null lfs

This is what the command line options mean:

-s /bin/bash

This makes bash the default shell for user lfs.

-g lfs

This option adds user lfs to group lfs.

-m

This creates a home directory for lfs.

-k /dev/null

This parameter prevents possible copying of files from a skeleton directory (the default is /etc/skel) by changing the input location to the special null device.

lfs

This is the name of the new user.

If you want to log in as lfs or switch to lfs from a non-root user (as opposed to switching to user lfs when logged in as root, which does not require the lfs user to have a password), you need to set a password for lfs. Issue the following command as the root user to set the password:

passwd lfs

Grant lfs full access to all the directories under $LFS by making lfs the owner:

chown -v lfs $LFS/{usr{,/*},lib,var,etc,bin,sbin,tools}
case $(uname -m) in
  x86_64) chown -v lfs $LFS/lib64 ;;
esac

Note

In some host systems, the following su command does not complete properly and suspends the login for the lfs user to the background. If the prompt "lfs:~$" does not appear immediately, entering the fg command will fix the issue.

Next, start a shell running as user lfs. This can be done by logging in as lfs on a virtual console, or with the following substitute/switch user command:

su - lfs

The - instructs su to start a login shell as opposed to a non-login shell. The difference between these two types of shells is described in detail in bash(1) and info bash.

4.4. Setting Up the Environment

Set up a good working environment by creating two new startup files for the bash shell. While logged in as user lfs, issue the following command to create a new .bash_profile:

cat > ~/.bash_profile << "EOF"
exec env -i HOME=$HOME TERM=$TERM PS1='\u:\w\$ ' /bin/bash
EOF

When logged on as user lfs, or when switched to the lfs user using an su command with the - option, the initial shell is a login shell which reads the /etc/profile of the host (probably containing some settings and environment variables) and then .bash_profile. The exec env -i.../bin/bash command in the .bash_profile file replaces the running shell with a new one with a completely empty environment, except for the HOME, TERM, and PS1 variables. This ensures that no unwanted and potentially hazardous environment variables from the host system leak into the build environment.

The new instance of the shell is a non-login shell, which does not read, and execute, the contents of the /etc/profile or .bash_profile files, but rather reads, and executes, the .bashrc file instead. Create the .bashrc file now:

cat > ~/.bashrc << "EOF"
set +h
umask 022
LFS=/mnt/lfs
LC_ALL=POSIX
LFS_TGT=$(uname -m)-lfs-linux-gnu
PATH=/usr/bin
if [ ! -L /bin ]; then PATH=/bin:$PATH; fi
PATH=$LFS/tools/bin:$PATH
CONFIG_SITE=$LFS/usr/share/config.site
export LFS LC_ALL LFS_TGT PATH CONFIG_SITE
EOF

The meaning of the settings in .bashrc

set +h

The set +h command turns off bash's hash function. Hashing is ordinarily a useful feature—bash uses a hash table to remember the full path to executable files to avoid searching the PATH time and again to find the same executable. However, the new tools should be used as soon as they are installed. Switching off the hash function forces the shell to search the PATH whenever a program is to be run. As such, the shell will find the newly compiled tools in $LFS/tools/bin as soon as they are available without remembering a previous version of the same program provided by the host distro, in /usr/bin or /bin.

umask 022

Setting the user file-creation mask (umask) to 022 ensures that newly created files and directories are only writable by their owner, but are readable and executable by anyone (assuming default modes are used by the open(2) system call, new files will end up with permission mode 644 and directories with mode 755).

LFS=/mnt/lfs

The LFS variable should be set to the chosen mount point.

LC_ALL=POSIX

The LC_ALL variable controls the localization of certain programs, making their messages follow the conventions of a specified country. Setting LC_ALL to POSIX or C (the two are equivalent) ensures that everything will work as expected in the cross-compilation environment.

LFS_TGT=$(uname -m)-lfs-linux-gnu

The LFS_TGT variable sets a non-default, but compatible machine description for use when building our cross-compiler and linker and when cross-compiling our temporary toolchain. More information is provided by Toolchain Technical Notes.

PATH=/usr/bin

Many modern Linux distributions have merged /bin and /usr/bin. When this is the case, the standard PATH variable should be set to /usr/bin/ for the Chapter 6 environment. When this is not the case, the following line adds /bin to the path.

if [ ! -L /bin ]; then PATH=/bin:$PATH; fi

If /bin is not a symbolic link, it must be added to the PATH variable.

PATH=$LFS/tools/bin:$PATH

By putting $LFS/tools/bin ahead of the standard PATH, the cross-compiler installed at the beginning of Chapter 5 is picked up by the shell immediately after its installation. This, combined with turning off hashing, limits the risk that the compiler from the host is used instead of the cross-compiler.

CONFIG_SITE=$LFS/usr/share/config.site

In Chapter 5 and Chapter 6, if this variable is not set, configure scripts may attempt to load configuration items specific to some distributions from /usr/share/config.site on the host system. Override it to prevent potential contamination from the host.

export ...

While the preceding commands have set some variables, in order to make them visible within any sub-shells, we export them.

Important

Several commercial distributions add an undocumented instantiation of /etc/bash.bashrc to the initialization of bash. This file has the potential to modify the lfs user's environment in ways that can affect the building of critical LFS packages. To make sure the lfs user's environment is clean, check for the presence of /etc/bash.bashrc and, if present, move it out of the way. As the root user, run:

[ ! -e /etc/bash.bashrc ] || mv -v /etc/bash.bashrc /etc/bash.bashrc.NOUSE

When the lfs user is no longer needed (at the beginning of Chapter 7), you may safely restore /etc/bash.bashrc (if desired).

Note that the LFS Bash package we will build in Section 8.35, “Bash-5.2.15” is not configured to load or execute /etc/bash.bashrc, so this file is useless on a completed LFS system.

Finally, to ensure the environment is fully prepared for building the temporary tools, force the bash shell to read the new user profile:

source ~/.bash_profile

4.5. About SBUs

Many people would like to know beforehand approximately how long it takes to compile and install each package. Because Linux From Scratch can be built on many different systems, it is impossible to provide absolute time estimates. The biggest package (gcc) will take approximately 5 minutes on the fastest systems, but could take days on slower systems! Instead of providing actual times, the Standard Build Unit (SBU) measure will be used instead.

The SBU measure works as follows. The first package to be compiled is binutils in Chapter 5. The time it takes to compile using one core is what we will refer to as the Standard Build Unit or SBU. All other compile times will be expressed in terms of this unit of time.

For example, consider a package whose compilation time is 4.5 SBUs. This means that if your system took 10 minutes to compile and install the first pass of binutils, it will take approximately 45 minutes to build the example package. Fortunately, most build times are shorter than one SBU.

SBUs are not entirely accurate because they depend on many factors, including the host system's version of GCC. They are provided here to give an estimate of how long it might take to install a package, but the numbers can vary by as much as dozens of minutes in some cases.

Note

For many modern systems with multiple processors (or cores) the compilation time for a package can be reduced by performing a "parallel make" by either setting an environment variable or telling the make program how many processors are available. For instance, an Intel i5-6500 CPU can support four simultaneous processes with:

export MAKEFLAGS='-j4'

or by building with:

make -j4

When multiple processors are used in this way, the SBU units in the book will vary even more than they normally would. In some cases, the make step will simply fail. Analyzing the output of the build process will also be more difficult because the lines from different processes will be interleaved. If you run into a problem with a build step, revert to a single processor build to properly analyze the error messages.

The times presented here are based upon using four cores (-j4). The times in Chapter 8 also include the time to run the regression tests for the package unless specified otherwise.

4.6. About the Test Suites

Most packages provide a test suite. Running the test suite for a newly built package is a good idea because it can provide a sanity check indicating that everything compiled correctly. A test suite that passes its set of checks usually proves that the package is functioning as the developer intended. It does not, however, guarantee that the package is totally bug free.

Some test suites are more important than others. For example, the test suites for the core toolchain packages—GCC, binutils, and glibc—are of the utmost importance due to their central role in a properly functioning system. The test suites for GCC and glibc can take a very long time to complete, especially on slower hardware, but are strongly recommended.

Note

Running the test suites in Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 is pointless; since the test programs are compiled with a cross-compiler, they probably can't run on the build host.

A common issue with running the test suites for binutils and GCC is running out of pseudo terminals (PTYs). This can result in a large number of failing tests. This may happen for several reasons, but the most likely cause is that the host system does not have the devpts file system set up correctly. This issue is discussed in greater detail at https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/faq.html#no-ptys.

Sometimes package test suites will fail for reasons which the developers are aware of and have deemed non-critical. Consult the logs located at https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/build-logs/12.0-rc1/ to verify whether or not these failures are expected. This site is valid for all test suites throughout this book.

Part III. Building the LFS Cross Toolchain and Temporary Tools

Important Preliminary Material

Introduction

This part is divided into three stages: first, building a cross compiler and its associated libraries; second, using this cross toolchain to build several utilities in a way that isolates them from the host distribution; and third, entering the chroot environment (which further improves host isolation) and constructing the remaining tools needed to build the final system.

Important

This is where the real work of building a new system begins. Be very careful to follow the instructions exactly as the book shows them. You should try to understand what each command does, and no matter how eager you are to finish your build, you should refrain from blindly typing the commands as shown. Read the documentation when there is something you do not understand. Also, keep track of your typing and of the output of commands, by using the tee utility to send the terminal output to a file. This makes debugging easier if something goes wrong.

The next section is a technical introduction to the build process, while the following one presents very important general instructions.

Toolchain Technical Notes

This section explains some of the rationale and technical details behind the overall build method. Don't try to immediately understand everything in this section. Most of this information will be clearer after performing an actual build. Come back and re-read this chapter at any time during the build process.

The overall goal of Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 is to produce a temporary area containing a set of tools that are known to be good, and that are isolated from the host system. By using the chroot command, the compilations in the remaining chapters will be isolated within that environment, ensuring a clean, trouble-free build of the target LFS system. The build process has been designed to minimize the risks for new readers, and to provide the most educational value at the same time.

This build process is based on cross-compilation. Cross-compilation is normally used to build a compiler and its associated toolchain for a machine different from the one that is used for the build. This is not strictly necessary for LFS, since the machine where the new system will run is the same as the one used for the build. But cross-compilation has one great advantage: anything that is cross-compiled cannot depend on the host environment.

About Cross-Compilation

Note

The LFS book is not (and does not contain) a general tutorial to build a cross- (or native) toolchain. Don't use the commands in the book for a cross-toolchain for some purpose other than building LFS, unless you really understand what you are doing.

Cross-compilation involves some concepts that deserve a section of their own. Although this section may be omitted on a first reading, coming back to it later will help you gain a fuller understanding of the process.

Let us first define some terms used in this context.

The build

is the machine where we build programs. Note that this machine is also referred to as the host.

The host

is the machine/system where the built programs will run. Note that this use of host is not the same as in other sections.

The target

is only used for compilers. It is the machine the compiler produces code for. It may be different from both the build and the host.

As an example, let us imagine the following scenario (sometimes referred to as Canadian Cross). We have a compiler on a slow machine only, let's call it machine A, and the compiler ccA. We also have a fast machine (B), but no compiler for (B), and we want to produce code for a third, slow machine (C). We will build a compiler for machine C in three stages.

Stage Build Host Target Action
1 A A B Build cross-compiler cc1 using ccA on machine A.
2 A B C Build cross-compiler cc2 using cc1 on machine A.
3 B C C Build compiler ccC using cc2 on machine B.

Then, all the programs needed by machine C can be compiled using cc2 on the fast machine B. Note that unless B can run programs produced for C, there is no way to test the newly built programs until machine C itself is running. For example, to run a test suite on ccC, we may want to add a fourth stage:

Stage Build Host Target Action
4 C C C Rebuild and test ccC using ccC on machine C.

In the example above, only cc1 and cc2 are cross-compilers, that is, they produce code for a machine different from the one they are run on. The other compilers ccA and ccC produce code for the machine they are run on. Such compilers are called native compilers.

Implementation of Cross-Compilation for LFS

Note

All the cross-compiled packages in this book use an autoconf-based building system. The autoconf-based building system accepts system types in the form cpu-vendor-kernel-os, referred to as the system triplet. Since the vendor field is often irrelevant, autoconf lets you omit it.

An astute reader may wonder why a triplet refers to a four component name. The kernel field and the os field began as a single system field. Such a three-field form is still valid today for some systems, for example, x86_64-unknown-freebsd. But two systems can share the same kernel and still be too different to use the same triplet to describe them. For example, Android running on a mobile phone is completely different from Ubuntu running on an ARM64 server, even though they are both running on the same type of CPU (ARM64) and using the same kernel (Linux).

Without an emulation layer, you cannot run an executable for a server on a mobile phone or vice versa. So the system field has been divided into kernel and os fields, to designate these systems unambiguously. In our example, the Android system is designated aarch64-unknown-linux-android, and the Ubuntu system is designated aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.

The word triplet remains embedded in the lexicon. A simple way to determine your system triplet is to run the config.guess script that comes with the source for many packages. Unpack the binutils sources, run the script ./config.guess, and note the output. For example, for a 32-bit Intel processor the output will be i686-pc-linux-gnu. On a 64-bit system it will be x86_64-pc-linux-gnu. On most Linux systems the even simpler gcc -dumpmachine command will give you similar information.

You should also be aware of the name of the platform's dynamic linker, often referred to as the dynamic loader (not to be confused with the standard linker ld that is part of binutils). The dynamic linker provided by package glibc finds and loads the shared libraries needed by a program, prepares the program to run, and then runs it. The name of the dynamic linker for a 32-bit Intel machine is ld-linux.so.2; it's ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 on 64-bit systems. A sure-fire way to determine the name of the dynamic linker is to inspect a random binary from the host system by running: readelf -l <name of binary> | grep interpreter and noting the output. The authoritative reference covering all platforms is in the shlib-versions file in the root of the glibc source tree.

In order to fake a cross-compilation in LFS, the name of the host triplet is slightly adjusted by changing the "vendor" field in the LFS_TGT variable so it says "lfs". We also use the --with-sysroot option when building the cross-linker and cross-compiler, to tell them where to find the needed host files. This ensures that none of the other programs built in Chapter 6 can link to libraries on the build machine. Only two stages are mandatory, plus one more for tests.

Stage Build Host Target Action
1 pc pc lfs Build cross-compiler cc1 using cc-pc on pc.
2 pc lfs lfs Build compiler cc-lfs using cc1 on pc.
3 lfs lfs lfs Rebuild and test cc-lfs using cc-lfs on lfs.

In the preceding table, on pc means the commands are run on a machine using the already installed distribution. On lfs means the commands are run in a chrooted environment.

This is not yet the end of the story. The C language is not merely a compiler; it also defines a standard library. In this book, the GNU C library, named glibc, is used (there is an alternative, "musl"). This library must be compiled for the LFS machine; that is, using the cross-compiler cc1. But the compiler itself uses an internal library providing complex subroutines for functions not available in the assembler instruction set. This internal library is named libgcc, and it must be linked to the glibc library to be fully functional. Furthermore, the standard library for C++ (libstdc++) must also be linked with glibc. The solution to this chicken and egg problem is first to build a degraded cc1-based libgcc, lacking some functionalities such as threads and exception handling, and then to build glibc using this degraded compiler (glibc itself is not degraded), and also to build libstdc++. This last library will lack some of the functionality of libgcc.

The upshot of the preceding paragraph is that cc1 is unable to build a fully functional libstdc++ with the degraded libgcc, but cc1 is the only compiler available for building the C/C++ libraries during stage 2. There are two reasons we don't immediately use the compiler built in stage 2, cc-lfs, to build those libraries.

  • Generally speaking, cc-lfs cannot run on pc (the host system). Even though the triplets for pc and lfs are compatible with each other, an executable for lfs must depend on glibc-2.38; the host distro may utilize either a different implementation of libc (for example, musl), or a previous release of glibc (for example, glibc-2.13).

  • Even if cc-lfs can run on pc, using it on pc would create a risk of linking to the pc libraries, since cc-lfs is a native compiler.

So when we build gcc stage 2, we instruct the building system to rebuild libgcc and libstdc++ with cc1, but we link libstdc++ to the newly rebuilt libgcc instead of the old, degraded build. This makes the rebuilt libstdc++ fully functional.

In Chapter 8 (or stage 3), all the packages needed for the LFS system are built. Even if a package has already been installed into the LFS system in a previous chapter, we still rebuild the package. The main reason for rebuilding these packages is to make them stable: if we reinstall an LFS package on a completed LFS system, the reinstalled content of the package should be the same as the content of the same package when first installed in Chapter 8. The temporary packages installed in Chapter 6 or Chapter 7 cannot satisfy this requirement, because some of them are built without optional dependencies, and autoconf cannot perform some feature checks in Chapter 6 because of cross-compilation, causing the temporary packages to lack optional features, or use suboptimal code routines. Additionally, a minor reason for rebuilding the packages is to run the test suites.

Other Procedural Details

The cross-compiler will be installed in a separate $LFS/tools directory, since it will not be part of the final system.

Binutils is installed first because the configure runs of both gcc and glibc perform various feature tests on the assembler and linker to determine which software features to enable or disable. This is more important than one might realize at first. An incorrectly configured gcc or glibc can result in a subtly broken toolchain, where the impact of such breakage might not show up until near the end of the build of an entire distribution. A test suite failure will usually highlight this error before too much additional work is performed.

Binutils installs its assembler and linker in two locations, $LFS/tools/bin and $LFS/tools/$LFS_TGT/bin. The tools in one location are hard linked to the other. An important facet of the linker is its library search order. Detailed information can be obtained from ld by passing it the --verbose flag. For example, $LFS_TGT-ld --verbose | grep SEARCH will illustrate the current search paths and their order. (Note that this example can be run as shown only while logged in as user lfs. If you come back to this page later, replace $LFS_TGT-ld with ld).

The next package installed is gcc. An example of what can be seen during its run of configure is:

checking what assembler to use... /mnt/lfs/tools/i686-lfs-linux-gnu/bin/as
checking what linker to use... /mnt/lfs/tools/i686-lfs-linux-gnu/bin/ld

This is important for the reasons mentioned above. It also demonstrates that gcc's configure script does not search the PATH directories to find which tools to use. However, during the actual operation of gcc itself, the same search paths are not necessarily used. To find out which standard linker gcc will use, run: $LFS_TGT-gcc -print-prog-name=ld. (Again, remove the $LFS_TGT- prefix if coming back to this later.)

Detailed information can be obtained from gcc by passing it the -v command line option while compiling a program. For example, $LFS_TGT-gcc -v example.c (or without $LFS_TGT- if coming back later) will show detailed information about the preprocessor, compilation, and assembly stages, including gcc's search paths for included headers and their order.

Next up: sanitized Linux API headers. These allow the standard C library (glibc) to interface with features that the Linux kernel will provide.

Next comes glibc. The most important considerations for building glibc are the compiler, binary tools, and kernel headers. The compiler is generally not an issue since glibc will always use the compiler relating to the --host parameter passed to its configure script; e.g., in our case, the compiler will be $LFS_TGT-gcc. The binary tools and kernel headers can be a bit more complicated. Therefore, we take no risks and use the available configure switches to enforce the correct selections. After the run of configure, check the contents of the config.make file in the build directory for all important details. Note the use of CC="$LFS_TGT-gcc" (with $LFS_TGT expanded) to control which binary tools are used and the use of the -nostdinc and -isystem flags to control the compiler's include search path. These items highlight an important aspect of the glibc package—it is very self-sufficient in terms of its build machinery, and generally does not rely on toolchain defaults.

As mentioned above, the standard C++ library is compiled next, followed in Chapter 6 by other programs that must be cross-compiled to break circular dependencies at build time. The install step of all those packages uses the DESTDIR variable to force installation in the LFS filesystem.

At the end of Chapter 6 the native LFS compiler is installed. First binutils-pass2 is built, in the same DESTDIR directory as the other programs, then the second pass of gcc is constructed, omitting some non-critical libraries. Due to some weird logic in gcc's configure script, CC_FOR_TARGET ends up as cc when the host is the same as the target, but different from the build system. This is why CC_FOR_TARGET=$LFS_TGT-gcc is declared explicitly as one of the configuration options.

Upon entering the chroot environment in Chapter 7, the temporary installations of programs needed for the proper operation of the toolchain are performed. From this point onwards, the core toolchain is self-contained and self-hosted. In Chapter 8, final versions of all the packages needed for a fully functional system are built, tested, and installed.

General Compilation Instructions

Here are some things you should know about building each package:

  • Several packages are patched before compilation, but only when the patch is needed to circumvent a problem. A patch is often needed in both the current and the following chapters, but sometimes, when the same package is built more than once, the patch is not needed right away. Therefore, do not be concerned if instructions for a downloaded patch seem to be missing. Warning messages about offset or fuzz may also be encountered when applying a patch. Do not worry about these warnings; the patch was still successfully applied.

  • During the compilation of most packages, some warnings will scroll by on the screen. These are normal and can safely be ignored. These warnings are usually about deprecated, but not invalid, use of the C or C++ syntax. C standards change fairly often, and some packages have not yet been updated. This is not a serious problem, but it does cause the warnings to appear.

  • Check one last time that the LFS environment variable is set up properly:

    echo $LFS

    Make sure the output shows the path to the LFS partition's mount point, which is /mnt/lfs, using our example.

  • Finally, two important items must be emphasized:

    Important

    The build instructions assume that the Host System Requirements, including symbolic links, have been set properly:

    • bash is the shell in use.

    • sh is a symbolic link to bash.

    • /usr/bin/awk is a symbolic link to gawk.

    • /usr/bin/yacc is a symbolic link to bison, or to a small script that executes bison.

    Important

    Here is a synopsis of the build process.

    1. Place all the sources and patches in a directory that will be accessible from the chroot environment, such as /mnt/lfs/sources/.

    2. Change to the /mnt/lfs/sources/ directory.

    3. For each package:

      1. Using the tar program, extract the package to be built. In Chapter 5 and Chapter 6, ensure you are the lfs user when extracting the package.

        Do not use any method except the tar command to extract the source code. Notably, using the cp -R command to copy the source code tree somewhere else can destroy links and timestamps in the source tree, and cause the build to fail.

      2. Change to the directory created when the package was extracted.

      3. Follow the instructions for building the package.

      4. Change back to the sources directory when the build is complete.

      5. Delete the extracted source directory unless instructed otherwise.

Chapter 5. Compiling a Cross-Toolchain

5.1. Introduction

This chapter shows how to build a cross-compiler and its associated tools. Although here cross-compilation is faked, the principles are the same as for a real cross-toolchain.

The programs compiled in this chapter will be installed under the $LFS/tools directory to keep them separate from the files installed in the following chapters. The libraries, on the other hand, are installed into their final place, since they pertain to the system we want to build.

5.2. Binutils-2.41 - Pass 1

The Binutils package contains a linker, an assembler, and other tools for handling object files.

Approximate build time: 1 SBU
Required disk space: 647 MB

5.2.1. Installation of Cross Binutils

Note

Go back and re-read the notes in the section titled General Compilation Instructions. Understanding the notes labeled important can save you a lot of problems later.

It is important that Binutils be the first package compiled because both Glibc and GCC perform various tests on the available linker and assembler to determine which of their own features to enable.

The Binutils documentation recommends building Binutils in a dedicated build directory:

mkdir -v build
cd       build

Note

In order for the SBU values listed in the rest of the book to be of any use, measure the time it takes to build this package from the configuration, up to and including the first install. To achieve this easily, wrap the commands in a time command like this: time { ../configure ... && make && make install; }.

Now prepare Binutils for compilation:

../configure --prefix=$LFS/tools \
             --with-sysroot=$LFS \
             --target=$LFS_TGT   \
             --disable-nls       \
             --enable-gprofng=no \
             --disable-werror

The meaning of the configure options:

--prefix=$LFS/tools

This tells the configure script to prepare to install the Binutils programs in the $LFS/tools directory.

--with-sysroot=$LFS

For cross compilation, this tells the build system to look in $LFS for the target system libraries as needed.

--target=$LFS_TGT

Because the machine description in the LFS_TGT variable is slightly different than the value returned by the config.guess script, this switch will tell the configure script to adjust binutil's build system for building a cross linker.

--disable-nls

This disables internationalization as i18n is not needed for the temporary tools.

--enable-gprofng=no

This disables building gprofng which is not needed for the temporary tools.

--disable-werror

This prevents the build from stopping in the event that there are warnings from the host's compiler.

Continue with compiling the package:

make

Install the package:

make install

Details on this package are located in Section 8.18.2, “Contents of Binutils.”

5.3. GCC-13.2.0 - Pass 1

The GCC package contains the GNU compiler collection, which includes the C and C++ compilers.

Approximate build time: 3.5 SBU
Required disk space: 4.2 GB

5.3.1. Installation of Cross GCC

GCC requires the GMP, MPFR and MPC packages. As these packages may not be included in your host distribution, they will be built with GCC. Unpack each package into the GCC source directory and rename the resulting directories so the GCC build procedures will automatically use them:

Note

There are frequent misunderstandings about this chapter. The procedures are the same as every other chapter, as explained earlier (Package build instructions). First, extract the gcc-13.2.0 tarball from the sources directory, and then change to the directory created. Only then should you proceed with the instructions below.

tar -xf ../mpfr-4.2.0.tar.xz
mv -v mpfr-4.2.0 mpfr
tar -xf ../gmp-6.3.0.tar.xz
mv -v gmp-6.3.0 gmp
tar -xf ../mpc-1.3.1.tar.gz
mv -v mpc-1.3.1 mpc

On x86_64 hosts, set the default directory name for 64-bit libraries to lib:

case $(uname -m) in
  x86_64)
    sed -e '/m64=/s/lib64/lib/' \
        -i.orig gcc/config/i386/t-linux64
 ;;
esac

The GCC documentation recommends building GCC in a dedicated build directory:

mkdir -v build
cd       build

Prepare GCC for compilation:

../configure                  \
    --target=$LFS_TGT         \
    --prefix=$LFS/tools       \
    --with-glibc-version=2.38 \
    --with-sysroot=$LFS       \
    --with-newlib             \
    --without-headers         \
    --enable-default-pie      \
    --enable-default-ssp      \
    --disable-nls             \
    --disable-shared          \
    --disable-multilib        \
    --disable-threads         \
    --disable-libatomic       \
    --disable-libgomp         \
    --disable-libquadmath     \
    --disable-libssp          \
    --disable-libvtv          \
    --disable-libstdcxx       \
    --enable-languages=c,c++

The meaning of the configure options:

--with-glibc-version=2.38

This option specifies the version of Glibc which will be used on the target. It is not relevant to the libc of the host distro because everything compiled by pass1 GCC will run in the chroot environment, which is isolated from libc of the host distro.

--with-newlib

Since a working C library is not yet available, this ensures that the inhibit_libc constant is defined when building libgcc. This prevents the compiling of any code that requires libc support.

--without-headers

When creating a complete cross-compiler, GCC requires standard headers compatible with the target system. For our purposes these headers will not be needed. This switch prevents GCC from looking for them.

--enable-default-pie and --enable-default-ssp

Those switches allow GCC to compile programs with some hardening security features (more information on those in the note on PIE and SSP in chapter 8) by default. The are not strictly needed at this stage, since the compiler will only produce temporary executables. But it is cleaner to have the temporary packages be as close as possible to the final ones.

--disable-shared

This switch forces GCC to link its internal libraries statically. We need this because the shared libraries require Glibc, which is not yet installed on the target system.

--disable-multilib

On x86_64, LFS does not support a multilib configuration. This switch is harmless for x86.

--disable-threads, --disable-libatomic, --disable-libgomp, --disable-libquadmath, --disable-libssp, --disable-libvtv, --disable-libstdcxx

These switches disable support for threading, libatomic, libgomp, libquadmath, libssp, libvtv, and the C++ standard library respectively. These features may fail to compile when building a cross-compiler and are not necessary for the task of cross-compiling the temporary libc.

--enable-languages=c,c++

This option ensures that only the C and C++ compilers are built. These are the only languages needed now.

Compile GCC by running:

make

Install the package:

make install

This build of GCC has installed a couple of internal system headers. Normally one of them, limits.h, would in turn include the corresponding system limits.h header, in this case, $LFS/usr/include/limits.h. However, at the time of this build of GCC $LFS/usr/include/limits.h does not exist, so the internal header that has just been installed is a partial, self-contained file and does not include the extended features of the system header. This is adequate for building Glibc, but the full internal header will be needed later. Create a full version of the internal header using a command that is identical to what the GCC build system does in normal circumstances:

Note

The command below shows an example of nested command substitution using two methods: backquotes and a $() construct. It could be rewritten using the same method for both substitutions, but is shown this way to demonstrate how they can be mixed. Generally the $() method is preferred.

cd ..
cat gcc/limitx.h gcc/glimits.h gcc/limity.h > \
  `dirname $($LFS_TGT-gcc -print-libgcc-file-name)`/include/limits.h

Details on this package are located in Section 8.27.2, “Contents of GCC.”

5.4. Linux-6.4.10 API Headers

The Linux API Headers (in linux-6.4.10.tar.xz) expose the kernel's API for use by Glibc.

Approximate build time: less than 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 1.5 GB

5.4.1. Installation of Linux API Headers

The Linux kernel needs to expose an Application Programming Interface (API) for the system's C library (Glibc in LFS) to use. This is done by way of sanitizing various C header files that are shipped in the Linux kernel source tarball.

Make sure there are no stale files embedded in the package:

make mrproper

Now extract the user-visible kernel headers from the source. The recommended make target headers_install cannot be used, because it requires rsync, which may not be available. The headers are first placed in ./usr, then copied to the needed location.

make headers
find usr/include -type f ! -name '*.h' -delete
cp -rv usr/include $LFS/usr

5.4.2. Contents of Linux API Headers

Installed headers: /usr/include/asm/*.h, /usr/include/asm-generic/*.h, /usr/include/drm/*.h, /usr/include/linux/*.h, /usr/include/misc/*.h, /usr/include/mtd/*.h, /usr/include/rdma/*.h, /usr/include/scsi/*.h, /usr/include/sound/*.h, /usr/include/video/*.h, and /usr/include/xen/*.h
Installed directories: /usr/include/asm, /usr/include/asm-generic, /usr/include/drm, /usr/include/linux, /usr/include/misc, /usr/include/mtd, /usr/include/rdma, /usr/include/scsi, /usr/include/sound, /usr/include/video, and /usr/include/xen

Short Descriptions

/usr/include/asm/*.h

The Linux API ASM Headers

/usr/include/asm-generic/*.h

The Linux API ASM Generic Headers

/usr/include/drm/*.h

The Linux API DRM Headers

/usr/include/linux/*.h

The Linux API Linux Headers

/usr/include/misc/*.h

The Linux API Miscellaneous Headers

/usr/include/mtd/*.h

The Linux API MTD Headers

/usr/include/rdma/*.h

The Linux API RDMA Headers

/usr/include/scsi/*.h

The Linux API SCSI Headers

/usr/include/sound/*.h

The Linux API Sound Headers

/usr/include/video/*.h

The Linux API Video Headers

/usr/include/xen/*.h

The Linux API Xen Headers

5.5. Glibc-2.38

The Glibc package contains the main C library. This library provides the basic routines for allocating memory, searching directories, opening and closing files, reading and writing files, string handling, pattern matching, arithmetic, and so on.

Approximate build time: 1.6 SBU
Required disk space: 858 MB

5.5.1. Installation of Glibc

First, create a symbolic link for LSB compliance. Additionally, for x86_64, create a compatibility symbolic link required for proper operation of the dynamic library loader:

case $(uname -m) in
    i?86)   ln -sfv ld-linux.so.2 $LFS/lib/ld-lsb.so.3
    ;;
    x86_64) ln -sfv ../lib/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 $LFS/lib64
            ln -sfv ../lib/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 $LFS/lib64/ld-lsb-x86-64.so.3
    ;;
esac

Note

The above command is correct. The ln command has several syntactic versions, so be sure to check info coreutils ln and ln(1) before reporting what may appear to be an error.

Some of the Glibc programs use the non-FHS-compliant /var/db directory to store their runtime data. Apply the following patch to make such programs store their runtime data in the FHS-compliant locations:

patch -Np1 -i ../glibc-2.38-fhs-1.patch

The Glibc documentation recommends building Glibc in a dedicated build directory:

mkdir -v build
cd       build

Ensure that the ldconfig and sln utilities are installed into /usr/sbin:

echo "rootsbindir=/usr/sbin" > configparms

Next, prepare Glibc for compilation:

../configure                             \
      --prefix=/usr                      \
      --host=$LFS_TGT                    \
      --build=$(../scripts/config.guess) \
      --enable-kernel=4.14               \
      --with-headers=$LFS/usr/include    \
      libc_cv_slibdir=/usr/lib

The meaning of the configure options:

--host=$LFS_TGT, --build=$(../scripts/config.guess)

The combined effect of these switches is that Glibc's build system configures itself to be cross-compiled, using the cross-linker and cross-compiler in $LFS/tools.

--enable-kernel=4.14

This tells Glibc to compile the library with support for 4.14 and later Linux kernels. Workarounds for older kernels are not enabled.

--with-headers=$LFS/usr/include

This tells Glibc to compile itself against the headers recently installed to the $LFS/usr/include directory, so that it knows exactly what features the kernel has and can optimize itself accordingly.

libc_cv_slibdir=/usr/lib

This ensures that the library is installed in /usr/lib instead of the default /lib64 on 64-bit machines.

During this stage the following warning might appear:

configure: WARNING:
*** These auxiliary programs are missing or
*** incompatible versions: msgfmt
*** some features will be disabled.
*** Check the INSTALL file for required versions.

The missing or incompatible msgfmt program is generally harmless. This msgfmt program is part of the Gettext package, which the host distribution should provide.

Note

There have been reports that this package may fail when building as a "parallel make". If that occurs, rerun the make command with the "-j1" option.

Compile the package:

make

Install the package:

Warning

If LFS is not properly set, and despite the recommendations, you are building as root, the next command will install the newly built Glibc to your host system, which will almost certainly render it unusable. So double-check that the environment is correctly set, and that you are not root, before running the following command.

make DESTDIR=$LFS install

The meaning of the make install option:

DESTDIR=$LFS

The DESTDIR make variable is used by almost all packages to define the location where the package should be installed. If it is not set, it defaults to the root (/) directory. Here we specify that the package is installed in $LFS , which will become the root directory in Section 7.4, “Entering the Chroot Environment”.

Fix a hard coded path to the executable loader in the ldd script:

sed '/RTLDLIST=/s@/usr@@g' -i $LFS/usr/bin/ldd

Caution

At this point, it is imperative to stop and ensure that the basic functions (compiling and linking) of the new toolchain are working as expected. To perform a sanity check, run the following commands:

echo 'int main(){}' | $LFS_TGT-gcc -xc -
readelf -l a.out | grep ld-linux

If everything is working correctly, there should be no errors, and the output of the last command will be of the form:

[Requesting program interpreter: /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2]

Note that for 32-bit machines, the interpreter name will be /lib/ld-linux.so.2.

If the output is not as shown above, or there is no output at all, then something is wrong. Investigate and retrace the steps to find out where the problem is and correct it. This issue must be resolved before continuing.

Once all is well, clean up the test file:

rm -v a.out

Note

Building the packages in the next chapter will serve as an additional check that the toolchain has been built properly. If some package, especially Binutils-pass2 or GCC-pass2, fails to build, it is an indication that something has gone wrong with the preceding Binutils, GCC, or Glibc installations.

Details on this package are located in Section 8.5.3, “Contents of Glibc.”

5.6. Libstdc++ from GCC-13.2.0

Libstdc++ is the standard C++ library. It is needed to compile C++ code (part of GCC is written in C++), but we had to defer its installation when we built gcc-pass1 because Libstdc++ depends on Glibc, which was not yet available in the target directory.

Approximate build time: 0.2 SBU
Required disk space: 1.1 GB

5.6.1. Installation of Target Libstdc++

Note

Libstdc++ is part of the GCC sources. You should first unpack the GCC tarball and change to the gcc-13.2.0 directory.

Create a separate build directory for Libstdc++ and enter it:

mkdir -v build
cd       build

Prepare Libstdc++ for compilation:

../libstdc++-v3/configure           \
    --host=$LFS_TGT                 \
    --build=$(../config.guess)      \
    --prefix=/usr                   \
    --disable-multilib              \
    --disable-nls                   \
    --disable-libstdcxx-pch         \
    --with-gxx-include-dir=/tools/$LFS_TGT/include/c++/13.2.0

The meaning of the configure options:

--host=...

Specifies that the cross-compiler we have just built should be used instead of the one in /usr/bin.

--disable-libstdcxx-pch

This switch prevents the installation of precompiled include files, which are not needed at this stage.

--with-gxx-include-dir=/tools/$LFS_TGT/include/c++/13.2.0

This specifies the installation directory for include files. Because Libstdc++ is the standard C++ library for LFS, this directory should match the location where the C++ compiler ($LFS_TGT-g++) would search for the standard C++ include files. In a normal build, this information is automatically passed to the Libstdc++ configure options from the top level directory. In our case, this information must be explicitly given. The C++ compiler will prepend the sysroot path $LFS (specified when building GCC-pass1) to the include file search path, so it will actually search in $LFS/tools/$LFS_TGT/include/c++/13.2.0. The combination of the DESTDIR variable (in the make install command below) and this switch causes the headers to be installed there.

Compile Libstdc++ by running:

make

Install the library:

make DESTDIR=$LFS install

Remove the libtool archive files because they are harmful for cross-compilation:

rm -v $LFS/usr/lib/lib{stdc++,stdc++fs,supc++}.la

Details on this package are located in Section 8.27.2, “Contents of GCC.”

Chapter 6. Cross Compiling Temporary Tools

6.1. Introduction

This chapter shows how to cross-compile basic utilities using the just built cross-toolchain. Those utilities are installed into their final location, but cannot be used yet. Basic tasks still rely on the host's tools. Nevertheless, the installed libraries are used when linking.

Using the utilities will be possible in the next chapter after entering the chroot environment. But all the packages built in the present chapter need to be built before we do that. Therefore we cannot be independent of the host system yet.

Once again, let us recall that improper setting of LFS together with building as root, may render your computer unusable. This whole chapter must be done as user lfs, with the environment as described in Section 4.4, “Setting Up the Environment”.

6.2. M4-1.4.19

The M4 package contains a macro processor.

Approximate build time: 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 31 MB

6.2.1. Installation of M4

Prepare M4 for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr   \
            --host=$LFS_TGT \
            --build=$(build-aux/config.guess)

Compile the package:

make

Install the package:

make DESTDIR=$LFS install

Details on this package are located in Section 8.12.2, “Contents of M4.”

6.3. Ncurses-6.4

The Ncurses package contains libraries for terminal-independent handling of character screens.

Approximate build time: 0.3 SBU
Required disk space: 51 MB

6.3.1. Installation of Ncurses

First, ensure that gawk is found first during configuration:

sed -i s/mawk// configure

Then, run the following commands to build the tic program on the build host:

mkdir build
pushd build
  ../configure
  make -C include
  make -C progs tic
popd

Prepare Ncurses for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr                \
            --host=$LFS_TGT              \
            --build=$(./config.guess)    \
            --mandir=/usr/share/man      \
            --with-manpage-format=normal \
            --with-shared                \
            --without-normal             \
            --with-cxx-shared            \
            --without-debug              \
            --without-ada                \
            --disable-stripping          \
            --enable-widec

The meaning of the new configure options:

--with-manpage-format=normal

This prevents Ncurses installing compressed manual pages, which may happen if the host distribution itself has compressed manual pages.

--with-shared

This makes Ncurses build and install shared C libraries.

--without-normal

This prevents Ncurses building and installing static C libraries.

--without-debug

This prevents Ncurses building and installing debug libraries.

--with-cxx-shared

This makes Ncurses build and install shared C++ bindings. It also prevents it building and installing static C++ bindings.

--without-ada

This ensures that Ncurses does not build support for the Ada compiler, which may be present on the host but will not be available once we enter the chroot environment.

--disable-stripping

This switch prevents the building system from using the strip program from the host. Using host tools on cross-compiled programs can cause failure.

--enable-widec

This switch causes wide-character libraries (e.g., libncursesw.so.6.4) to be built instead of normal ones (e.g., libncurses.so.6.4). These wide-character libraries are usable in both multibyte and traditional 8-bit locales, while normal libraries work properly only in 8-bit locales. Wide-character and normal libraries are source-compatible, but not binary-compatible.

Compile the package:

make

Install the package:

make DESTDIR=$LFS TIC_PATH=$(pwd)/build/progs/tic install
echo "INPUT(-lncursesw)" > $LFS/usr/lib/libncurses.so

The meaning of the install options:

TIC_PATH=$(pwd)/build/progs/tic

We need to pass the path of the newly built tic program that runs on the building machine, so the terminal database can be created without errors.

echo "INPUT(-lncursesw)" > $LFS/usr/lib/libncurses.so

The libncurses.so library is needed by a few packages we will build soon. We create this small linker script, as this is what is done in Chapter 8.

Details on this package are located in Section 8.29.2, “Contents of Ncurses.”

6.4. Bash-5.2.15

The Bash package contains the Bourne-Again Shell.

Approximate build time: 0.2 SBU
Required disk space: 67 MB

6.4.1. Installation of Bash

Prepare Bash for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr                      \
            --build=$(sh support/config.guess) \
            --host=$LFS_TGT                    \
            --without-bash-malloc

The meaning of the configure options:

--without-bash-malloc

This option turns off the use of Bash's memory allocation (malloc) function which is known to cause segmentation faults. By turning this option off, Bash will use the malloc functions from Glibc which are more stable.

Compile the package:

make

Install the package:

make DESTDIR=$LFS install

Make a link for the programs that use sh for a shell:

ln -sv bash $LFS/bin/sh

Details on this package are located in Section 8.35.2, “Contents of Bash.”

6.5. Coreutils-9.3

The Coreutils package contains the basic utility programs needed by every operating system.

Approximate build time: 0.3 SBU
Required disk space: 168 MB

6.5.1. Installation of Coreutils

Prepare Coreutils for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr                     \
            --host=$LFS_TGT                   \
            --build=$(build-aux/config.guess) \
            --enable-install-program=hostname \
            --enable-no-install-program=kill,uptime \
            gl_cv_macro_MB_CUR_MAX_good=y

The meaning of the configure options:

--enable-install-program=hostname

This enables the hostname binary to be built and installed – it is disabled by default but is required by the Perl test suite.

gl_cv_macro_MB_CUR_MAX_good=y

This is needed to work around an issue in the gnulib copy shipped by the package which would break cross compilation.

Compile the package:

make

Install the package:

make DESTDIR=$LFS install

Move programs to their final expected locations. Although this is not necessary in this temporary environment, we must do so because some programs hardcode executable locations:

mv -v $LFS/usr/bin/chroot              $LFS/usr/sbin
mkdir -pv $LFS/usr/share/man/man8
mv -v $LFS/usr/share/man/man1/chroot.1 $LFS/usr/share/man/man8/chroot.8
sed -i 's/"1"/"8"/'                    $LFS/usr/share/man/man8/chroot.8

Details on this package are located in Section 8.56.2, “Contents of Coreutils.”

6.6. Diffutils-3.10

The Diffutils package contains programs that show the differences between files or directories.

Approximate build time: 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 29 MB

6.6.1. Installation of Diffutils

Prepare Diffutils for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr   \
            --host=$LFS_TGT \
            --build=$(./build-aux/config.guess)

Compile the package:

make

Install the package:

make DESTDIR=$LFS install

Details on this package are located in Section 8.58.2, “Contents of Diffutils.”

6.7. File-5.45

The File package contains a utility for determining the type of a given file or files.

Approximate build time: 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 37 MB

6.7.1. Installation of File

The file command on the build host needs to be the same version as the one we are building in order to create the signature file. Run the following commands to make a temporary copy of the file command:

mkdir build
pushd build
  ../configure --disable-bzlib      \
               --disable-libseccomp \
               --disable-xzlib      \
               --disable-zlib
  make
popd

The meaning of the new configure option:

--disable-*

The configuration script attempts to use some packages from the host distribution if the corresponding library files exist. It may cause compilation failure if a library file exists, but the corresponding header files do not. These options prevent using these unneeded capabilities from the host.

Prepare File for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr --host=$LFS_TGT --build=$(./config.guess)

Compile the package:

make FILE_COMPILE=$(pwd)/build/src/file

Install the package:

make DESTDIR=$LFS install

Remove the libtool archive file because it is harmful for cross compilation:

rm -v $LFS/usr/lib/libmagic.la

Details on this package are located in Section 8.10.2, “Contents of File.”

6.8. Findutils-4.9.0

The Findutils package contains programs to find files. Programs are provided to search through all the files in a directory tree and to create, maintain, and search a database (often faster than the recursive find, but unreliable unless the database has been updated recently). Findutils also supplies the xargs program, which can be used to run a specified command on each file selected by a search.

Approximate build time: 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 42 MB

6.8.1. Installation of Findutils

Prepare Findutils for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr                   \
            --localstatedir=/var/lib/locate \
            --host=$LFS_TGT                 \
            --build=$(build-aux/config.guess)

Compile the package:

make

Install the package:

make DESTDIR=$LFS install

Details on this package are located in Section 8.60.2, “Contents of Findutils.”

6.9. Gawk-5.2.2

The Gawk package contains programs for manipulating text files.

Approximate build time: 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 48 MB

6.9.1. Installation of Gawk

First, ensure some unneeded files are not installed:

sed -i 's/extras//' Makefile.in

Prepare Gawk for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr   \
            --host=$LFS_TGT \
            --build=$(build-aux/config.guess)

Compile the package:

make

Install the package:

make DESTDIR=$LFS install

Details on this package are located in Section 8.59.2, “Contents of Gawk.”

6.10. Grep-3.11

The Grep package contains programs for searching through the contents of files.

Approximate build time: 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 27 MB

6.10.1. Installation of Grep

Prepare Grep for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr   \
            --host=$LFS_TGT \
            --build=$(./build-aux/config.guess)

Compile the package:

make

Install the package:

make DESTDIR=$LFS install

Details on this package are located in Section 8.34.2, “Contents of Grep.”

6.11. Gzip-1.12

The Gzip package contains programs for compressing and decompressing files.

Approximate build time: 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 11 MB

6.11.1. Installation of Gzip

Prepare Gzip for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr --host=$LFS_TGT

Compile the package:

make

Install the package:

make DESTDIR=$LFS install

Details on this package are located in Section 8.63.2, “Contents of Gzip.”

6.12. Make-4.4.1

The Make package contains a program for controlling the generation of executables and other non-source files of a package from source files.

Approximate build time: less than 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 15 MB

6.12.1. Installation of Make

Prepare Make for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr   \
            --without-guile \
            --host=$LFS_TGT \
            --build=$(build-aux/config.guess)

The meaning of the new configure option:

--without-guile

Although we are cross-compiling, configure tries to use guile from the build host if it finds it. This makes compilation fail, so this switch prevents using it.

Compile the package:

make

Install the package:

make DESTDIR=$LFS install

Details on this package are located in Section 8.67.2, “Contents of Make.”

6.13. Patch-2.7.6

The Patch package contains a program for modifying or creating files by applying a patch file typically created by the diff program.

Approximate build time: 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 12 MB

6.13.1. Installation of Patch

Prepare Patch for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr   \
            --host=$LFS_TGT \
            --build=$(build-aux/config.guess)

Compile the package:

make

Install the package:

make DESTDIR=$LFS install

Details on this package are located in Section 8.68.2, “Contents of Patch.”

6.14. Sed-4.9

The Sed package contains a stream editor.

Approximate build time: 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 21 MB

6.14.1. Installation of Sed

Prepare Sed for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr   \
            --host=$LFS_TGT \
            --build=$(./build-aux/config.guess)

Compile the package:

make

Install the package:

make DESTDIR=$LFS install

Details on this package are located in Section 8.30.2, “Contents of Sed.”

6.15. Tar-1.35

The Tar package provides the ability to create tar archives as well as perform various other kinds of archive manipulation. Tar can be used on previously created archives to extract files, to store additional files, or to update or list files which were already stored.

Approximate build time: 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 42 MB

6.15.1. Installation of Tar

Prepare Tar for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr                     \
            --host=$LFS_TGT                   \
            --build=$(build-aux/config.guess)

Compile the package:

make

Install the package:

make DESTDIR=$LFS install

Details on this package are located in Section 8.69.2, “Contents of Tar.”

6.16. Xz-5.4.4

The Xz package contains programs for compressing and decompressing files. It provides capabilities for the lzma and the newer xz compression formats. Compressing text files with xz yields a better compression percentage than with the traditional gzip or bzip2 commands.

Approximate build time: 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 22 MB

6.16.1. Installation of Xz

Prepare Xz for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr                     \
            --host=$LFS_TGT                   \
            --build=$(build-aux/config.guess) \
            --disable-static                  \
            --docdir=/usr/share/doc/xz-5.4.4

Compile the package:

make

Install the package:

make DESTDIR=$LFS install

Remove the libtool archive file because it is harmful for cross compilation:

rm -v $LFS/usr/lib/liblzma.la

Details on this package are located in Section 8.8.2, “Contents of Xz.”

6.17. Binutils-2.41 - Pass 2

The Binutils package contains a linker, an assembler, and other tools for handling object files.

Approximate build time: 0.5 SBU
Required disk space: 523 MB

6.17.1. Installation of Binutils

Binutils ships an outdated copy of libtool in the tarball. It lacks sysroot support, so the produced binaries will be mistakenly linked to libraries from the host distro. Work around this issue:

sed '6009s/$add_dir//' -i ltmain.sh

Create a separate build directory again:

mkdir -v build
cd       build

Prepare Binutils for compilation:

../configure                   \
    --prefix=/usr              \
    --build=$(../config.guess) \
    --host=$LFS_TGT            \
    --disable-nls              \
    --enable-shared            \
    --enable-gprofng=no        \
    --disable-werror           \
    --enable-64-bit-bfd

The meaning of the new configure options:

--enable-shared

Builds libbfd as a shared library.

--enable-64-bit-bfd

Enables 64-bit support (on hosts with smaller word sizes). This may not be needed on 64-bit systems, but it does no harm.

Compile the package:

make

Install the package:

make DESTDIR=$LFS install

Remove the libtool archive files because they are harmful for cross compilation, and remove unnecessary static libraries:

rm -v $LFS/usr/lib/lib{bfd,ctf,ctf-nobfd,opcodes,sframe}.{a,la}

Details on this package are located in Section 8.18.2, “Contents of Binutils.”

6.18. GCC-13.2.0 - Pass 2

The GCC package contains the GNU compiler collection, which includes the C and C++ compilers.

Approximate build time: 4.3 SBU
Required disk space: 4.8 GB

6.18.1. Installation of GCC

As in the first build of GCC, the GMP, MPFR, and MPC packages are required. Unpack the tarballs and move them into the required directories:

tar -xf ../mpfr-4.2.0.tar.xz
mv -v mpfr-4.2.0 mpfr
tar -xf ../gmp-6.3.0.tar.xz
mv -v gmp-6.3.0 gmp
tar -xf ../mpc-1.3.1.tar.gz
mv -v mpc-1.3.1 mpc

If building on x86_64, change the default directory name for 64-bit libraries to lib:

case $(uname -m) in
  x86_64)
    sed -e '/m64=/s/lib64/lib/' -i.orig gcc/config/i386/t-linux64
  ;;
esac

Override the building rule of libgcc and libstdc++ headers, to allow building these libraries with POSIX threads support:

sed '/thread_header =/s/@.*@/gthr-posix.h/' \
    -i libgcc/Makefile.in libstdc++-v3/include/Makefile.in

Create a separate build directory again:

mkdir -v build
cd       build

Before starting to build GCC, remember to unset any environment variables that override the default optimization flags.

Now prepare GCC for compilation:

../configure                                       \
    --build=$(../config.guess)                     \
    --host=$LFS_TGT                                \
    --target=$LFS_TGT                              \
    LDFLAGS_FOR_TARGET=-L$PWD/$LFS_TGT/libgcc      \
    --prefix=/usr                                  \
    --with-build-sysroot=$LFS                      \
    --enable-default-pie                           \
    --enable-default-ssp                           \
    --disable-nls                                  \
    --disable-multilib                             \
    --disable-libatomic                            \
    --disable-libgomp                              \
    --disable-libquadmath                          \
    --disable-libsanitizer                         \
    --disable-libssp                               \
    --disable-libvtv                               \
    --enable-languages=c,c++

The meaning of the new configure options:

--with-build-sysroot=$LFS

Normally, using --host ensures that a cross-compiler is used for building GCC, and that compiler knows that it has to look for headers and libraries in $LFS. But the build system for GCC uses other tools, which are not aware of this location. This switch is needed so those tools will find the needed files in $LFS, and not on the host.

--target=$LFS_TGT

We are cross-compiling GCC, so it's impossible to build target libraries (libgcc and libstdc++) with the previously compiled GCC binaries—those binaries won't run on the host. The GCC build system will attempt to use the host's C and C++ compilers as a workaround by default. Building the GCC target libraries with a different version of GCC is not supported, so using the host's compilers may cause the build to fail. This parameter ensures the libraries are built by GCC pass 1.

LDFLAGS_FOR_TARGET=...

Allow libstdc++ to use the shared libgcc being built in this pass, instead of the static version that was built in GCC pass 1. This is necessary to support C++ exception handling.

--disable-libsanitizer

Disable GCC sanitizer runtime libraries. They are not needed for the temporary installation. This switch is necessary to build GCC without libcrypt installed for the target. In gcc-pass1 it was implied by --disable-libstdcxx, but now we have to explicitly pass it.

Compile the package:

make

Install the package:

make DESTDIR=$LFS install

As a finishing touch, create a utility symlink. Many programs and scripts run cc instead of gcc, which is used to keep programs generic and therefore usable on all kinds of UNIX systems where the GNU C compiler is not always installed. Running cc leaves the system administrator free to decide which C compiler to install:

ln -sv gcc $LFS/usr/bin/cc

Details on this package are located in Section 8.27.2, “Contents of GCC.”

Chapter 7. Entering Chroot and Building Additional Temporary Tools

7.1. Introduction

This chapter shows how to build the last missing bits of the temporary system: the tools needed to build the various packages. Now that all circular dependencies have been resolved, a chroot environment, completely isolated from the host operating system (except for the running kernel), can be used for the build.

For proper operation of the isolated environment, some communication with the running kernel must be established. This is done via the so-called Virtual Kernel File Systems, which will be mounted before entering the chroot environment. You may want to verify that they are mounted by issuing the findmnt command.

Until Section 7.4, “Entering the Chroot Environment”, the commands must be run as root, with the LFS variable set. After entering chroot, all commands are run as root, fortunately without access to the OS of the computer you built LFS on. Be careful anyway, as it is easy to destroy the whole LFS system with bad commands.

7.2. Changing Ownership

Note

The commands in the remainder of this book must be performed while logged in as user root and no longer as user lfs. Also, double check that $LFS is set in root's environment.

Currently, the whole directory hierarchy in $LFS is owned by the user lfs, a user that exists only on the host system. If the directories and files under $LFS are kept as they are, they will be owned by a user ID without a corresponding account. This is dangerous because a user account created later could get this same user ID and would own all the files under $LFS, thus exposing these files to possible malicious manipulation.

To address this issue, change the ownership of the $LFS/* directories to user root by running the following command:

chown -R root:root $LFS/{usr,lib,var,etc,bin,sbin,tools}
case $(uname -m) in
  x86_64) chown -R root:root $LFS/lib64 ;;
esac

7.3. Preparing Virtual Kernel File Systems

Applications running in userspace utilize various file systems created by the kernel to communicate with the kernel itself. These file systems are virtual: no disk space is used for them. The content of these file systems resides in memory. These file systems must be mounted in the $LFS directory tree so the applications can find them in the chroot environment.

Begin by creating the directories on which these virtual file systems will be mounted:

mkdir -pv $LFS/{dev,proc,sys,run}

7.3.1. Mounting and Populating /dev

During a normal boot of an LFS system, the kernel automatically mounts the devtmpfs file system on the /dev directory; the kernel creates device nodes on that virtual file system during the boot process, or when a device is first detected or accessed. The udev daemon may change the ownership or permissions of the device nodes created by the kernel, and create new device nodes or symlinks, to ease the work of distro maintainers and system administrators. (See Section 9.3.2.2, “Device Node Creation” for details.) If the host kernel supports devtmpfs, we can simply mount a devtmpfs at $LFS/dev and rely on the kernel to populate it.

But some host kernels lack devtmpfs support; these host distros use different methods to create the content of /dev. So the only host-agnostic way to populate the $LFS/dev directory is by bind mounting the host system's /dev directory. A bind mount is a special type of mount that makes a directory subtree or a file visible at some other location. Use the following command to do this.

mount -v --bind /dev $LFS/dev

7.3.2. Mounting Virtual Kernel File Systems

Now mount the remaining virtual kernel file systems:

mount -v --bind /dev/pts $LFS/dev/pts
mount -vt proc proc $LFS/proc
mount -vt sysfs sysfs $LFS/sys
mount -vt tmpfs tmpfs $LFS/run

In some host systems, /dev/shm is a symbolic link to /run/shm. The /run tmpfs was mounted above so in this case only a directory needs to be created.

In other host systems /dev/shm is a mount point for a tmpfs. In that case the mount of /dev above will only create /dev/shm as a directory in the chroot environment. In this situation we must explicitly mount a tmpfs:

if [ -h $LFS/dev/shm ]; then
  mkdir -pv $LFS/$(readlink $LFS/dev/shm)
else
  mount -t tmpfs -o nosuid,nodev tmpfs $LFS/dev/shm
fi

7.4. Entering the Chroot Environment

Now that all the packages which are required to build the rest of the needed tools are on the system, it is time to enter the chroot environment and finish installing the temporary tools. This environment will also be used to install the final system. As user root, run the following command to enter the environment that is, at the moment, populated with nothing but temporary tools:

chroot "$LFS" /usr/bin/env -i   \
    HOME=/root                  \
    TERM="$TERM"                \
    PS1='(lfs chroot) \u:\w\$ ' \
    PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/sbin     \
    /bin/bash --login

The -i option given to the env command will clear all the variables in the chroot environment. After that, only the HOME, TERM, PS1, and PATH variables are set again. The TERM=$TERM construct sets the TERM variable inside chroot to the same value as outside chroot. This variable is needed so programs like vim and less can operate properly. If other variables are desired, such as CFLAGS or CXXFLAGS, this is a good place to set them.

From this point on, there is no need to use the LFS variable any more because all work will be restricted to the LFS file system; the chroot command runs the Bash shell with the root (/) directory set to $LFS.

Notice that /tools/bin is not in the PATH. This means that the cross toolchain will no longer be used.

Note that the bash prompt will say I have no name! This is normal because the /etc/passwd file has not been created yet.

Note

It is important that all the commands throughout the remainder of this chapter and the following chapters are run from within the chroot environment. If you leave this environment for any reason (rebooting for example), ensure that the virtual kernel filesystems are mounted as explained in Section 7.3.1, “Mounting and Populating /dev” and Section 7.3.2, “Mounting Virtual Kernel File Systems” and enter chroot again before continuing with the installation.

7.5. Creating Directories

It is time to create the full directory structure in the LFS file system.

Note

Some of the directories mentioned in this section may have already been created earlier with explicit instructions, or when installing some packages. They are repeated below for completeness.

Create some root-level directories that are not in the limited set required in the previous chapters by issuing the following command:

mkdir -pv /{boot,home,mnt,opt,srv}

Create the required set of subdirectories below the root-level by issuing the following commands:

mkdir -pv /etc/{opt,sysconfig}
mkdir -pv /lib/firmware
mkdir -pv /media/{floppy,cdrom}
mkdir -pv /usr/{,local/}{include,src}
mkdir -pv /usr/local/{bin,lib,sbin}
mkdir -pv /usr/{,local/}share/{color,dict,doc,info,locale,man}
mkdir -pv /usr/{,local/}share/{misc,terminfo,zoneinfo}
mkdir -pv /usr/{,local/}share/man/man{1..8}
mkdir -pv /var/{cache,local,log,mail,opt,spool}
mkdir -pv /var/lib/{color,misc,locate}

ln -sfv /run /var/run
ln -sfv /run/lock /var/lock

install -dv -m 0750 /root
install -dv -m 1777 /tmp /var/tmp

Directories are, by default, created with permission mode 755, but this is not desirable everywhere. In the commands above, two changes are made—one to the home directory of user root, and another to the directories for temporary files.

The first mode change ensures that not just anybody can enter the /root directory—just like a normal user would do with his or her own home directory. The second mode change makes sure that any user can write to the /tmp and /var/tmp directories, but cannot remove another user's files from them. The latter is prohibited by the so-called sticky bit, the highest bit (1) in the 1777 bit mask.

7.5.1. FHS Compliance Note

This directory tree is based on the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS) (available at https://refspecs.linuxfoundation.org/fhs.shtml). The FHS also specifies the optional existence of additional directories such as /usr/local/games and /usr/share/games. In LFS, we create only the directories that are really necessary. However, feel free to create more directories, if you wish.

Warning

The FHS does not mandate the existence of the directory /usr/lib64, and the LFS editors have decided not to use it. For the instructions in LFS and BLFS to work correctly, it is imperative that this directory be non-existent. From time to time you should verify that it does not exist, because it is easy to create it inadvertently, and this will probably break your system.

7.6. Creating Essential Files and Symlinks

Historically, Linux maintained a list of the mounted file systems in the file /etc/mtab. Modern kernels maintain this list internally and expose it to the user via the /proc filesystem. To satisfy utilities that expect to find /etc/mtab, create the following symbolic link:

ln -sv /proc/self/mounts /etc/mtab

Create a basic /etc/hosts file to be referenced in some test suites, and in one of Perl's configuration files as well:

cat > /etc/hosts << EOF
127.0.0.1  localhost $(hostname)
::1        localhost
EOF

In order for user root to be able to login and for the name root to be recognized, there must be relevant entries in the /etc/passwd and /etc/group files.

Create the /etc/passwd file by running the following command:

cat > /etc/passwd << "EOF"
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
bin:x:1:1:bin:/dev/null:/usr/bin/false
daemon:x:6:6:Daemon User:/dev/null:/usr/bin/false
messagebus:x:18:18:D-Bus Message Daemon User:/run/dbus:/usr/bin/false
uuidd:x:80:80:UUID Generation Daemon User:/dev/null:/usr/bin/false
nobody:x:65534:65534:Unprivileged User:/dev/null:/usr/bin/false
EOF

The actual password for root will be set later.

Create the /etc/group file by running the following command:

cat > /etc/group << "EOF"
root:x:0:
bin:x:1:daemon
sys:x:2:
kmem:x:3:
tape:x:4:
tty:x:5:
daemon:x:6:
floppy:x:7:
disk:x:8:
lp:x:9:
dialout:x:10:
audio:x:11:
video:x:12:
utmp:x:13:
usb:x:14:
cdrom:x:15:
adm:x:16:
messagebus:x:18:
input:x:24:
mail:x:34:
kvm:x:61:
uuidd:x:80:
wheel:x:97:
users:x:999:
nogroup:x:65534:
EOF

The created groups are not part of any standard—they are groups decided on in part by the requirements of the Udev configuration in Chapter 9, and in part by common conventions employed by a number of existing Linux distributions. In addition, some test suites rely on specific users or groups. The Linux Standard Base (LSB, available at https://refspecs.linuxfoundation.org/lsb.shtml) only recommends that, besides the group root with a Group ID (GID) of 0, a group bin with a GID of 1 be present. The GID of 5 is widely used for the tty group, and the number 5 is also used in /etc/fstab for the devpts filesystem. All other group names and GIDs can be chosen freely by the system administrator since well-written programs do not depend on GID numbers, but rather use the group's name.

The ID 65534 is used by the kernel for NFS and separate user namespaces for unmapped users and groups (those exist on the NFS server or the parent user namespace, but do not exist on the local machine or in the separate namespace). We assign nobody and nogroup to avoid an unnamed ID. But other distros may treat this ID differently, so any portable program should not depend on this assignment.

Some tests in Chapter 8 need a regular user. We add this user here and delete this account at the end of that chapter.

echo "tester:x:101:101::/home/tester:/bin/bash" >> /etc/passwd
echo "tester:x:101:" >> /etc/group
install -o tester -d /home/tester

To remove the I have no name! prompt, start a new shell. Since the /etc/passwd and /etc/group files have been created, user name and group name resolution will now work:

exec /usr/bin/bash --login

The login, agetty, and init programs (and others) use a number of log files to record information such as who was logged into the system and when. However, these programs will not write to the log files if they do not already exist. Initialize the log files and give them proper permissions:

touch /var/log/{btmp,lastlog,faillog,wtmp}
chgrp -v utmp /var/log/lastlog
chmod -v 664  /var/log/lastlog
chmod -v 600  /var/log/btmp

The /var/log/wtmp file records all logins and logouts. The /var/log/lastlog file records when each user last logged in. The /var/log/faillog file records failed login attempts. The /var/log/btmp file records the bad login attempts.

Note

The /run/utmp file records the users that are currently logged in. This file is created dynamically in the boot scripts.

7.7. Gettext-0.22

The Gettext package contains utilities for internationalization and localization. These allow programs to be compiled with NLS (Native Language Support), enabling them to output messages in the user's native language.

Approximate build time: 1.1 SBU
Required disk space: 306 MB

7.7.1. Installation of Gettext

For our temporary set of tools, we only need to install three programs from Gettext.

Prepare Gettext for compilation:

./configure --disable-shared

The meaning of the configure option:

--disable-shared

We do not need to install any of the shared Gettext libraries at this time, therefore there is no need to build them.

Compile the package:

make

Install the msgfmt, msgmerge, and xgettext programs:

cp -v gettext-tools/src/{msgfmt,msgmerge,xgettext} /usr/bin

Details on this package are located in Section 8.32.2, “Contents of Gettext.”

7.8. Bison-3.8.2

The Bison package contains a parser generator.

Approximate build time: 0.2 SBU
Required disk space: 57 MB

7.8.1. Installation of Bison

Prepare Bison for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr \
            --docdir=/usr/share/doc/bison-3.8.2

The meaning of the new configure option:

--docdir=/usr/share/doc/bison-3.8.2

This tells the build system to install bison documentation into a versioned directory.

Compile the package:

make

Install the package:

make install

Details on this package are located in Section 8.33.2, “Contents of Bison.”

7.9. Perl-5.38.0

The Perl package contains the Practical Extraction and Report Language.

Approximate build time: 0.6 SBU
Required disk space: 280 MB

7.9.1. Installation of Perl

Prepare Perl for compilation:

sh Configure -des                                        \
             -Dprefix=/usr                               \
             -Dvendorprefix=/usr                         \
             -Duseshrplib                                \
             -Dprivlib=/usr/lib/perl5/5.38/core_perl     \
             -Darchlib=/usr/lib/perl5/5.38/core_perl     \
             -Dsitelib=/usr/lib/perl5/5.38/site_perl     \
             -Dsitearch=/usr/lib/perl5/5.38/site_perl    \
             -Dvendorlib=/usr/lib/perl5/5.38/vendor_perl \
             -Dvendorarch=/usr/lib/perl5/5.38/vendor_perl

The meaning of the new Configure options:

-des

This is a combination of three options: -d uses defaults for all items; -e ensures completion of all tasks; -s silences non-essential output.

Compile the package:

make

Install the package:

make install

Details on this package are located in Section 8.42.2, “Contents of Perl.”

7.10. Python-3.11.4

The Python 3 package contains the Python development environment. It is useful for object-oriented programming, writing scripts, prototyping large programs, and developing entire applications. Python is an interpreted computer language.

Approximate build time: 0.4 SBU
Required disk space: 533 MB

7.10.1. Installation of Python

Note

There are two package files whose name starts with python. The one to extract from is Python-3.11.4.tar.xz (notice the uppercase first letter).

Prepare Python for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr   \
            --enable-shared \
            --without-ensurepip

The meaning of the configure option:

--enable-shared

This switch prevents installation of static libraries.

--without-ensurepip

This switch disables the Python package installer, which is not needed at this stage.

Compile the package:

make

Note

Some Python 3 modules can't be built now because the dependencies are not installed yet. The building system still attempts to build them however, so the compilation of some files will fail and the compiler message may seem to indicate fatal error. The message should be ignored. Just make sure the toplevel make command has not failed. The optional modules are not needed now and they will be built in Chapter 8.

Install the package:

make install

Details on this package are located in Section 8.51.2, “Contents of Python 3.”

7.11. Texinfo-7.0.3

The Texinfo package contains programs for reading, writing, and converting info pages.

Approximate build time: 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 116 MB

7.11.1. Installation of Texinfo

Prepare Texinfo for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr

Compile the package:

make

Install the package:

make install

Details on this package are located in Section 8.70.2, “Contents of Texinfo.”

7.12. Util-linux-2.39.1

The Util-linux package contains miscellaneous utility programs.

Approximate build time: 0.2 SBU
Required disk space: 169 MB

7.12.1. Installation of Util-linux

The FHS recommends using the /var/lib/hwclock directory instead of the usual /etc directory as the location for the adjtime file. Create this directory with:

mkdir -pv /var/lib/hwclock

Prepare Util-linux for compilation:

./configure ADJTIME_PATH=/var/lib/hwclock/adjtime    \
            --libdir=/usr/lib    \
            --runstatedir=/run   \
            --docdir=/usr/share/doc/util-linux-2.39.1 \
            --disable-chfn-chsh  \
            --disable-login      \
            --disable-nologin    \
            --disable-su         \
            --disable-setpriv    \
            --disable-runuser    \
            --disable-pylibmount \
            --disable-static     \
            --without-python

The meaning of the configure options:

ADJTIME_PATH=/var/lib/hwclock/adjtime

This sets the location of the file recording information about the hardware clock in accordance to the FHS. This is not strictly needed for this temporary tool, but it prevents creating a file at another location, which would not be overwritten or removed when building the final util-linux package.

--libdir=/usr/lib

This switch ensures the .so symlinks targeting the shared library file in the same directory (/usr/lib) directly.

--disable-*

These switches prevent warnings about building components that require packages not in LFS or not installed yet.

--without-python

This switch disables using Python. It avoids trying to build unneeded bindings.

runstatedir=/run

This switch sets the location of the socket used by uuidd and libuuid correctly.

Compile the package:

make

Install the package:

make install

Details on this package are located in Section 8.77.2, “Contents of Util-linux.”

7.13. Cleaning up and Saving the Temporary System

7.13.1. Cleaning

First, remove the currently installed documentation files to prevent them from ending up in the final system, and to save about 35 MB:

rm -rf /usr/share/{info,man,doc}/*

Second, on a modern Linux system, the libtool .la files are only useful for libltdl. No libraries in LFS are loaded by libltdl, and it's known that some .la files can cause BLFS package failures. Remove those files now:

find /usr/{lib,libexec} -name \*.la -delete

The current system size is now about 3 GB, however the /tools directory is no longer needed. It uses about 1 GB of disk space. Delete it now:

rm -rf /tools

7.13.2. Backup

At this point the essential programs and libraries have been created and your current LFS system is in a good state. Your system can now be backed up for later reuse. In case of fatal failures in the subsequent chapters, it often turns out that removing everything and starting over (more carefully) is the best way to recover. Unfortunately, all the temporary files will be removed, too. To avoid spending extra time to redo something which has been done successfully, creating a backup of the current LFS system may prove useful.

Note

All the remaining steps in this section are optional. Nevertheless, as soon as you begin installing packages in Chapter 8, the temporary files will be overwritten. So it may be a good idea to do a backup of the current system as described below.

The following steps are performed from outside the chroot environment. That means you have to leave the chroot environment first before continuing. The reason for that is to get access to file system locations outside of the chroot environment to store/read the backup archive, which ought not be placed within the $LFS hierarchy.

If you have decided to make a backup, leave the chroot environment:

exit

Important

All of the following instructions are executed by root on your host system. Take extra care about the commands you're going to run as mistakes made here can modify your host system. Be aware that the environment variable LFS is set for user lfs by default but may not be set for root.

Whenever commands are to be executed by root, make sure you have set LFS.

This has been discussed in Section 2.6, “Setting The $LFS Variable”.

Before making a backup, unmount the virtual file systems:

mountpoint -q $LFS/dev/shm && umount $LFS/dev/shm
umount $LFS/dev/pts
umount $LFS/{sys,proc,run,dev}

Make sure you have at least 1 GB free disk space (the source tarballs will be included in the backup archive) on the file system containing the directory where you create the backup archive.

Note that the instructions below specify the home directory of the host system's root user, which is typically found on the root file system. Replace $HOME by a directory of your choice if you do not want to have the backup stored in root's home directory.

Create the backup archive by running the following command:

Note

Because the backup archive is compressed, it takes a relatively long time (over 10 minutes) even on a reasonably fast system.

cd $LFS
tar -cJpf $HOME/lfs-temp-tools-12.0-rc1.tar.xz .

Note

If continuing to chapter 8, don't forget to reenter the chroot environment as explained in the Important box below.

7.13.3. Restore

In case some mistakes have been made and you need to start over, you can use this backup to restore the system and save some recovery time. Since the sources are located under $LFS, they are included in the backup archive as well, so they do not need to be downloaded again. After checking that $LFS is set properly, you can restore the backup by executing the following commands:

Warning

The following commands are extremely dangerous. If you run rm -rf ./* as the root user and you do not change to the $LFS directory or the LFS environment variable is not set for the root user, it will destroy your entire host system. YOU ARE WARNED.

cd $LFS
rm -rf ./*
tar -xpf $HOME/lfs-temp-tools-12.0-rc1.tar.xz

Again, double check that the environment has been set up properly and continue building the rest of the system.

Important

If you left the chroot environment to create a backup or restart building using a restore, remember to check that the virtual file systems are still mounted (findmnt | grep $LFS). If they are not mounted, remount them now as described in Section 7.3, “Preparing Virtual Kernel File Systems” and re-enter the chroot environment (see Section 7.4, “Entering the Chroot Environment”) before continuing.

Part IV. Building the LFS System

Chapter 8. Installing Basic System Software

8.1. Introduction

In this chapter, we start constructing the LFS system in earnest.

The installation of this software is straightforward. Although in many cases the installation instructions could be made shorter and more generic, we have opted to provide the full instructions for every package to minimize the possibilities for mistakes. The key to learning what makes a Linux system work is to know what each package is used for and why you (or the system) may need it.

We do not recommend using customized optimizations. They can make a program run slightly faster, but they may also cause compilation difficulties, and problems when running the program. If a package refuses to compile with a customized optimization, try to compile it without optimization and see if that fixes the problem. Even if the package does compile when using a customized optimization, there is the risk it may have been compiled incorrectly because of the complex interactions between the code and the build tools. Also note that the -march and -mtune options using values not specified in the book have not been tested. This may cause problems with the toolchain packages (Binutils, GCC and Glibc). The small potential gains achieved by customizing compiler optimizations are often outweighed by the risks. First-time builders of LFS are encouraged to build without custom optimizations.

On the other hand, we keep the optimizations enabled by the default configuration of the packages. In addition, we sometimes explicitly enable an optimized configuration provided by a package but not enabled by default. The package maintainers have already tested these configurations and consider them safe, so it's not likely they would break the build. Generally the default configuration already enables -O2 or -O3, so the resulting system will still run very fast without any customized optimization, and be stable at the same time.

Before the installation instructions, each installation page provides information about the package, including a concise description of what it contains, approximately how long it will take to build, and how much disk space is required during this building process. Following the installation instructions, there is a list of programs and libraries (along with brief descriptions) that the package installs.

Note

The SBU values and required disk space include test suite data for all applicable packages in Chapter 8. SBU values have been calculated using four CPU cores (-j4) for all operations unless specified otherwise.

8.1.1. About Libraries

In general, the LFS editors discourage building and installing static libraries. Most static libraries have been made obsolete in a modern Linux system. In addition, linking a static library into a program can be detrimental. If an update to the library is needed to remove a security problem, every program that uses the static library will need to be relinked with the new library. Since the use of static libraries is not always obvious, the relevant programs (and the procedures needed to do the linking) may not even be known.

The procedures in this chapter remove or disable installation of most static libraries. Usually this is done by passing a --disable-static option to configure. In other cases, alternate means are needed. In a few cases, especially Glibc and GCC, the use of static libraries remains an essential feature of the package building process.

For a more complete discussion of libraries, see Libraries: Static or shared? in the BLFS book.

8.2. Package Management

Package Management is an often requested addition to the LFS Book. A Package Manager tracks the installation of files, making it easier to remove and upgrade packages. A good package manager will also handle the configuration files specially to keep the user configuration when the package is reinstalled or upgraded. Before you begin to wonder, NO—this section will not talk about nor recommend any particular package manager. What it does provide is a roundup of the more popular techniques and how they work. The perfect package manager for you may be among these techniques, or it may be a combination of two or more of these techniques. This section briefly mentions issues that may arise when upgrading packages.

Some reasons why no package manager is mentioned in LFS or BLFS include:

  • Dealing with package management takes the focus away from the goals of these books—teaching how a Linux system is built.

  • There are multiple solutions for package management, each having its strengths and drawbacks. Finding one solution that satisfies all audiences is difficult.

There are some hints written on the topic of package management. Visit the Hints Project and see if one of them fits your needs.

8.2.1. Upgrade Issues

A Package Manager makes it easy to upgrade to newer versions when they are released. Generally the instructions in the LFS and BLFS books can be used to upgrade to the newer versions. Here are some points that you should be aware of when upgrading packages, especially on a running system.

  • If the Linux kernel needs to be upgraded (for example, from 5.10.17 to 5.10.18 or 5.11.1), nothing else needs to be rebuilt. The system will keep working fine thanks to the well-defined interface between the kernel and userspace. Specifically, Linux API headers need not be (and should not be, see the next item) upgraded along with the kernel. You will merely need to reboot your system to use the upgraded kernel.

  • If the Linux API headers or Glibc need to be upgraded to a newer version, (e.g., from Glibc-2.31 to Glibc-2.32), it is safer to rebuild LFS. Though you may be able to rebuild all the packages in their dependency order, we do not recommend it.

  • If a package containing a shared library is updated, and if the name of the library changes, then any packages dynamically linked to the library must be recompiled, to link against the newer library. (Note that there is no correlation between the package version and the name of the library.) For example, consider a package foo-1.2.3 that installs a shared library with the name libfoo.so.1. Suppose you upgrade the package to a newer version foo-1.2.4 that installs a shared library with the name libfoo.so.2. In this case, any packages that are dynamically linked to libfoo.so.1 need to be recompiled to link against libfoo.so.2 in order to use the new library version. You should not remove the old libraries until all the dependent packages have been recompiled.

  • If a package is (directly or indirectly) linked to both the old and new names of a shared library (for example, the package links to both libfoo.so.2 and libbar.so.1, while the latter links to libfoo.so.3), the package may malfunction because the different revisions of the shared library present incompatible definitions for some symbol names. This can be caused by recompiling some, but not all, of the packages linked to the old shared library after the package providing the shared library is upgraded. To avoid the issue, users will need to rebuild every package linked to a shared library with an updated revision (e.g. libfoo.so.2 to libfoo.so.3) as soon as possible.

  • If a package containing a shared library is updated, and the name of the library doesn't change, but the version number of the library file decreases (for example, the library is still named libfoo.so.1, but the name of the library file is changed from libfoo.so.1.25 to libfoo.so.1.24), you should remove the library file from the previously installed version (libfoo.so.1.25 in this case). Otherwise, a ldconfig command (invoked by yourself from the command line, or by the installation of some package) will reset the symlink libfoo.so.1 to point to the old library file because it seems to be a newer version; its version number is larger. This situation may arise if you have to downgrade a package, or if the authors change the versioning scheme for library files.

  • If a package containing a shared library is updated, and the name of the library doesn't change, but a severe issue (especially, a security vulnerability) is fixed, all running programs linked to the shared library should be restarted. The following command, run as root after the update is complete, will list which processes are using the old versions of those libraries (replace libfoo with the name of the library):

    grep -l 'libfoo.*deleted' /proc/*/maps | tr -cd 0-9\\n | xargs -r ps u

    If OpenSSH is being used to access the system and it is linked to the updated library, you must restart the sshd service, then logout, login again, and run the preceding command again to confirm that nothing is still using the deleted libraries.

  • If an executable program or a shared library is overwritten, the processes using the code or data in that program or library may crash. The correct way to update a program or a shared library without causing the process to crash is to remove it first, then install the new version. The install command provided by coreutils has already implemented this, and most packages use that command to install binary files and libraries. This means that you won't be troubled by this issue most of the time. However, the install process of some packages (notably Mozilla JS in BLFS) just overwrites the file if it exists; this causes a crash. So it's safer to save your work and close unneeded running processes before updating a package.

8.2.2. Package Management Techniques

The following are some common package management techniques. Before making a decision on a package manager, do some research on the various techniques, particularly the drawbacks of each particular scheme.

8.2.2.1. It is All in My Head!

Yes, this is a package management technique. Some folks do not need a package manager because they know the packages intimately and know which files are installed by each package. Some users also do not need any package management because they plan on rebuilding the entire system whenever a package is changed.

8.2.2.2. Install in Separate Directories

This is a simplistic package management technique that does not need a special program to manage the packages. Each package is installed in a separate directory. For example, package foo-1.1 is installed in /usr/pkg/foo-1.1 and a symlink is made from /usr/pkg/foo to /usr/pkg/foo-1.1. When a new version foo-1.2 comes along, it is installed in /usr/pkg/foo-1.2 and the previous symlink is replaced by a symlink to the new version.

Environment variables such as PATH, LD_LIBRARY_PATH, MANPATH, INFOPATH and CPPFLAGS need to be expanded to include /usr/pkg/foo. If you install more than a few packages, this scheme becomes unmanageable.

8.2.2.3. Symlink Style Package Management

This is a variation of the previous package management technique. Each package is installed as in the previous scheme. But instead of making the symlink via a generic package name, each file is symlinked into the /usr hierarchy. This removes the need to expand the environment variables. Though the symlinks can be created by the user, many package managers use this approach, and automate the creation of the symlinks. A few of the popular ones include Stow, Epkg, Graft, and Depot.

The installation script needs to be fooled, so the package thinks it is installed in /usr though in reality it is installed in the /usr/pkg hierarchy. Installing in this manner is not usually a trivial task. For example, suppose you are installing a package libfoo-1.1. The following instructions may not install the package properly:

./configure --prefix=/usr/pkg/libfoo/1.1
make
make install

The installation will work, but the dependent packages may not link to libfoo as you would expect. If you compile a package that links against libfoo, you may notice that it is linked to /usr/pkg/libfoo/1.1/lib/libfoo.so.1 instead of /usr/lib/libfoo.so.1 as you would expect. The correct approach is to use the DESTDIR variable to direct the installation. This approach works as follows:

./configure --prefix=/usr
make
make DESTDIR=/usr/pkg/libfoo/1.1 install

Most packages support this approach, but there are some which do not. For the non-compliant packages, you may either need to install the package manually, or you may find that it is easier to install some problematic packages into /opt.

8.2.2.4. Timestamp Based

In this technique, a file is timestamped before the installation of the package. After the installation, a simple use of the find command with the appropriate options can generate a log of all the files installed after the timestamp file was created. A package manager that uses this approach is install-log.

Though this scheme has the advantage of being simple, it has two drawbacks. If, during installation, the files are installed with any timestamp other than the current time, those files will not be tracked by the package manager. Also, this scheme can only be used when packages are installed one at a time. The logs are not reliable if two packages are installed simultaneously from two different consoles.

8.2.2.5. Tracing Installation Scripts

In this approach, the commands that the installation scripts perform are recorded. There are two techniques that one can use:

The LD_PRELOAD environment variable can be set to point to a library to be preloaded before installation. During installation, this library tracks the packages that are being installed by attaching itself to various executables such as cp, install, mv and tracking the system calls that modify the filesystem. For this approach to work, all the executables need to be dynamically linked without the suid or sgid bit. Preloading the library may cause some unwanted side-effects during installation. Therefore, it's a good idea to perform some tests to ensure that the package manager does not break anything, and that it logs all the appropriate files.

Another technique is to use strace, which logs all the system calls made during the execution of the installation scripts.

8.2.2.6. Creating Package Archives

In this scheme, the package installation is faked into a separate tree as previously described in the symlink style package management section. After the installation, a package archive is created using the installed files. This archive is then used to install the package on the local machine or even on other machines.

This approach is used by most of the package managers found in the commercial distributions. Examples of package managers that follow this approach are RPM (which, incidentally, is required by the Linux Standard Base Specification), pkg-utils, Debian's apt, and Gentoo's Portage system. A hint describing how to adopt this style of package management for LFS systems is located at https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/downloads/files/fakeroot.txt.

The creation of package files that include dependency information is complex, and beyond the scope of LFS.

Slackware uses a tar-based system for package archives. This system purposely does not handle package dependencies as more complex package managers do. For details of Slackware package management, see https://www.slackbook.org/html/package-management.html.

8.2.2.7. User Based Management

This scheme, unique to LFS, was devised by Matthias Benkmann, and is available from the Hints Project. In this scheme, each package is installed as a separate user into the standard locations. Files belonging to a package are easily identified by checking the user ID. The features and shortcomings of this approach are too complex to describe in this section. For the details please see the hint at https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/downloads/files/more_control_and_pkg_man.txt.

8.2.3. Deploying LFS on Multiple Systems

One of the advantages of an LFS system is that there are no files that depend on the position of files on a disk system. Cloning an LFS build to another computer with the same architecture as the base system is as simple as using tar on the LFS partition that contains the root directory (about 900MB uncompressed for a basic LFS build), copying that file via network transfer or CD-ROM / USB stick to the new system, and expanding it. After that, a few configuration files will have to be changed. Configuration files that may need to be updated include: /etc/hosts, /etc/fstab, /etc/passwd, /etc/group, /etc/shadow, /etc/ld.so.conf, /etc/sysconfig/rc.site, /etc/sysconfig/network, and /etc/sysconfig/ifconfig.eth0.

A custom kernel may be needed for the new system, depending on differences in system hardware and the original kernel configuration.

Note

There have been some reports of issues when copying between similar but not identical architectures. For instance, the instruction set for an Intel system is not identical with the AMD processor's instructions, and later versions of some processors may provide instructions that are unavailable with earlier versions.

Finally, the new system has to be made bootable via Section 10.4, “Using GRUB to Set Up the Boot Process”.

8.3. Man-pages-6.05.01

The Man-pages package contains over 2,400 man pages.

Approximate build time: less than 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 33 MB

8.3.1. Installation of Man-pages

Remove two man pages for password hashing functions. Libxcrypt will provide a better version of these man pages:

rm -v man3/crypt*

Install Man-pages by running:

make prefix=/usr install

8.3.2. Contents of Man-pages

Installed files: various man pages

Short Descriptions

man pages

Describe C programming language functions, important device files, and significant configuration files

8.4. Iana-Etc-20230810

The Iana-Etc package provides data for network services and protocols.

Approximate build time: less than 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 4.8 MB

8.4.1. Installation of Iana-Etc

For this package, we only need to copy the files into place:

cp services protocols /etc

8.4.2. Contents of Iana-Etc

Installed files: /etc/protocols and /etc/services

Short Descriptions

/etc/protocols

Describes the various DARPA Internet protocols that are available from the TCP/IP subsystem

/etc/services

Provides a mapping between friendly textual names for internet services, and their underlying assigned port numbers and protocol types

8.5. Glibc-2.38

The Glibc package contains the main C library. This library provides the basic routines for allocating memory, searching directories, opening and closing files, reading and writing files, string handling, pattern matching, arithmetic, and so on.

Approximate build time: 11 SBU
Required disk space: 3.0 GB

8.5.1. Installation of Glibc

Some of the Glibc programs use the non-FHS compliant /var/db directory to store their runtime data. Apply the following patch to make such programs store their runtime data in the FHS-compliant locations:

patch -Np1 -i ../glibc-2.38-fhs-1.patch

Now fix a regression causing the posix_memalign() function to be very slow in some conditions:

patch -Np1 -i ../glibc-2.38-memalign_fix-1.patch

The Glibc documentation recommends building Glibc in a dedicated build directory:

mkdir -v build
cd       build

Ensure that the ldconfig and sln utilities will be installed into /usr/sbin:

echo "rootsbindir=/usr/sbin" > configparms

Prepare Glibc for compilation:

../configure --prefix=/usr                            \
             --disable-werror                         \
             --enable-kernel=4.14                     \
             --enable-stack-protector=strong          \
             --with-headers=/usr/include              \
             libc_cv_slibdir=/usr/lib

The meaning of the configure options:

--disable-werror

This option disables the -Werror option passed to GCC. This is necessary for running the test suite.

--enable-kernel=4.14

This option tells the build system that this Glibc may be used with kernels as old as 4.14. This means generating workarounds in case a system call introduced in a later version cannot be used.

--enable-stack-protector=strong

This option increases system security by adding extra code to check for buffer overflows, such as stack smashing attacks.

--with-headers=/usr/include

This option tells the build system where to find the kernel API headers.

libc_cv_slibdir=/usr/lib

This variable sets the correct library for all systems. We do not want lib64 to be used.

Compile the package:

make

Important

In this section, the test suite for Glibc is considered critical. Do not skip it under any circumstance.

Generally a few tests do not pass. The test failures listed below are usually safe to ignore.

make check

You may see some test failures. The Glibc test suite is somewhat dependent on the host system. A few failures out of over 5000 tests can generally be ignored. This is a list of the most common issues seen for recent versions of LFS:

  • io/tst-lchmod is known to fail in the LFS chroot environment.

  • The stdlib/tst-arc4random-thread test is known to fail if the host kernel is relatively old.

  • Some tests, for example nss/tst-nss-files-hosts-multi, are known to fail on relatively slow systems due to an internal timeout.

  • Additionally, some tests may fail with a relatively old CPU model or host kernel version.

Though it is a harmless message, the install stage of Glibc will complain about the absence of /etc/ld.so.conf. Prevent this warning with:

touch /etc/ld.so.conf

Fix the Makefile to skip an outdated sanity check that fails with a modern Glibc configuration:

sed '/test-installation/s@$(PERL)@echo not running@' -i ../Makefile

Install the package:

make install

Fix a hardcoded path to the executable loader in the ldd script:

sed '/RTLDLIST=/s@/usr@@g' -i /usr/bin/ldd

Install the configuration file and runtime directory for nscd:

cp -v ../nscd/nscd.conf /etc/nscd.conf
mkdir -pv /var/cache/nscd

Next, install the locales that can make the system respond in a different language. None of these locales are required, but if some of them are missing, the test suites of some packages will skip important test cases.

Individual locales can be installed using the localedef program. E.g., the second localedef command below combines the /usr/share/i18n/locales/cs_CZ charset-independent locale definition with the /usr/share/i18n/charmaps/UTF-8.gz charmap definition and appends the result to the /usr/lib/locale/locale-archive file. The following instructions will install the minimum set of locales necessary for the optimal coverage of tests:

mkdir -pv /usr/lib/locale
localedef -i POSIX -f UTF-8 C.UTF-8 2> /dev/null || true
localedef -i cs_CZ -f UTF-8 cs_CZ.UTF-8
localedef -i de_DE -f ISO-8859-1 de_DE
localedef -i de_DE@euro -f ISO-8859-15 de_DE@euro
localedef -i de_DE -f UTF-8 de_DE.UTF-8
localedef -i el_GR -f ISO-8859-7 el_GR
localedef -i en_GB -f ISO-8859-1 en_GB
localedef -i en_GB -f UTF-8 en_GB.UTF-8
localedef -i en_HK -f ISO-8859-1 en_HK
localedef -i en_PH -f ISO-8859-1 en_PH
localedef -i en_US -f ISO-8859-1 en_US
localedef -i en_US -f UTF-8 en_US.UTF-8
localedef -i es_ES -f ISO-8859-15 es_ES@euro
localedef -i es_MX -f ISO-8859-1 es_MX
localedef -i fa_IR -f UTF-8 fa_IR
localedef -i fr_FR -f ISO-8859-1 fr_FR
localedef -i fr_FR@euro -f ISO-8859-15 fr_FR@euro
localedef -i fr_FR -f UTF-8 fr_FR.UTF-8
localedef -i is_IS -f ISO-8859-1 is_IS
localedef -i is_IS -f UTF-8 is_IS.UTF-8
localedef -i it_IT -f ISO-8859-1 it_IT
localedef -i it_IT -f ISO-8859-15 it_IT@euro
localedef -i it_IT -f UTF-8 it_IT.UTF-8
localedef -i ja_JP -f EUC-JP ja_JP
localedef -i ja_JP -f SHIFT_JIS ja_JP.SJIS 2> /dev/null || true
localedef -i ja_JP -f UTF-8 ja_JP.UTF-8
localedef -i nl_NL@euro -f ISO-8859-15 nl_NL@euro
localedef -i ru_RU -f KOI8-R ru_RU.KOI8-R
localedef -i ru_RU -f UTF-8 ru_RU.UTF-8
localedef -i se_NO -f UTF-8 se_NO.UTF-8
localedef -i ta_IN -f UTF-8 ta_IN.UTF-8
localedef -i tr_TR -f UTF-8 tr_TR.UTF-8
localedef -i zh_CN -f GB18030 zh_CN.GB18030
localedef -i zh_HK -f BIG5-HKSCS zh_HK.BIG5-HKSCS
localedef -i zh_TW -f UTF-8 zh_TW.UTF-8

In addition, install the locale for your own country, language and character set.

Alternatively, install all the locales listed in the glibc-2.38/localedata/SUPPORTED file (it includes every locale listed above and many more) at once with the following time-consuming command:

make localedata/install-locales

Then use the localedef command to create and install locales not listed in the glibc-2.38/localedata/SUPPORTED file when you need them. For instance, the following two locales are needed for some tests later in this chapter:

localedef -i POSIX -f UTF-8 C.UTF-8 2> /dev/null || true
localedef -i ja_JP -f SHIFT_JIS ja_JP.SJIS 2> /dev/null || true

Note

Glibc now uses libidn2 when resolving internationalized domain names. This is a run time dependency. If this capability is needed, the instructions for installing libidn2 are in the BLFS libidn2 page.

8.5.2. Configuring Glibc

8.5.2.1. Adding nsswitch.conf

The /etc/nsswitch.conf file needs to be created because the Glibc defaults do not work well in a networked environment.

Create a new file /etc/nsswitch.conf by running the following:

cat > /etc/nsswitch.conf << "EOF"
# Begin /etc/nsswitch.conf

passwd: files
group: files
shadow: files

hosts: files dns
networks: files

protocols: files
services: files
ethers: files
rpc: files

# End /etc/nsswitch.conf
EOF

8.5.2.2. Adding Time Zone Data

Install and set up the time zone data with the following:

tar -xf ../../tzdata2023c.tar.gz

ZONEINFO=/usr/share/zoneinfo
mkdir -pv $ZONEINFO/{posix,right}

for tz in etcetera southamerica northamerica europe africa antarctica  \
          asia australasia backward; do
    zic -L /dev/null   -d $ZONEINFO       ${tz}
    zic -L /dev/null   -d $ZONEINFO/posix ${tz}
    zic -L leapseconds -d $ZONEINFO/right ${tz}
done

cp -v zone.tab zone1970.tab iso3166.tab $ZONEINFO
zic -d $ZONEINFO -p America/New_York
unset ZONEINFO

The meaning of the zic commands:

zic -L /dev/null ...

This creates posix time zones without any leap seconds. It is conventional to put these in both zoneinfo and zoneinfo/posix. It is necessary to put the POSIX time zones in zoneinfo, otherwise various test suites will report errors. On an embedded system, where space is tight and you do not intend to ever update the time zones, you could save 1.9 MB by not using the posix directory, but some applications or test suites might produce some failures.

zic -L leapseconds ...

This creates right time zones, including leap seconds. On an embedded system, where space is tight and you do not intend to ever update the time zones, or care about the correct time, you could save 1.9MB by omitting the right directory.

zic ... -p ...

This creates the posixrules file. We use New York because POSIX requires the daylight savings time rules to be in accordance with US rules.

One way to determine the local time zone is to run the following script:

tzselect

After answering a few questions about the location, the script will output the name of the time zone (e.g., America/Edmonton). There are also some other possible time zones listed in /usr/share/zoneinfo such as Canada/Eastern or EST5EDT that are not identified by the script but can be used.

Then create the /etc/localtime file by running:

ln -sfv /usr/share/zoneinfo/<xxx> /etc/localtime

Replace <xxx> with the name of the time zone selected (e.g., Canada/Eastern).

8.5.2.3. Configuring the Dynamic Loader

By default, the dynamic loader (/lib/ld-linux.so.2) searches through /usr/lib for dynamic libraries that are needed by programs as they are run. However, if there are libraries in directories other than /usr/lib, these need to be added to the /etc/ld.so.conf file in order for the dynamic loader to find them. Two directories that are commonly known to contain additional libraries are /usr/local/lib and /opt/lib, so add those directories to the dynamic loader's search path.

Create a new file /etc/ld.so.conf by running the following:

cat > /etc/ld.so.conf << "EOF"
# Begin /etc/ld.so.conf
/usr/local/lib
/opt/lib

EOF

If desired, the dynamic loader can also search a directory and include the contents of files found there. Generally the files in this include directory are one line specifying the desired library path. To add this capability run the following commands:

cat >> /etc/ld.so.conf << "EOF"
# Add an include directory
include /etc/ld.so.conf.d/*.conf

EOF
mkdir -pv /etc/ld.so.conf.d

8.5.3. Contents of Glibc

Installed programs: gencat, getconf, getent, iconv, iconvconfig, ldconfig, ldd, lddlibc4, ld.so (symlink to ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 or ld-linux.so.2), locale, localedef, makedb, mtrace, nscd, pcprofiledump, pldd, sln, sotruss, sprof, tzselect, xtrace, zdump, and zic
Installed libraries: ld-linux-x86-64.so.2, ld-linux.so.2, libBrokenLocale.{a,so}, libanl.{a,so}, libc.{a,so}, libc_nonshared.a, libc_malloc_debug.so, libdl.{a,so.2}, libg.a, libm.{a,so}, libmcheck.a, libmemusage.so, libmvec.{a,so}, libnsl.so.1, libnss_compat.so, libnss_dns.so, libnss_files.so, libnss_hesiod.so, libpcprofile.so, libpthread.{a,so.0}, libresolv.{a,so}, librt.{a,so.1}, libthread_db.so, and libutil.{a,so.1}
Installed directories: /usr/include/arpa, /usr/include/bits, /usr/include/gnu, /usr/include/net, /usr/include/netash, /usr/include/netatalk, /usr/include/netax25, /usr/include/neteconet, /usr/include/netinet, /usr/include/netipx, /usr/include/netiucv, /usr/include/netpacket, /usr/include/netrom, /usr/include/netrose, /usr/include/nfs, /usr/include/protocols, /usr/include/rpc, /usr/include/sys, /usr/lib/audit, /usr/lib/gconv, /usr/lib/locale, /usr/libexec/getconf, /usr/share/i18n, /usr/share/zoneinfo, /var/cache/nscd, and /var/lib/nss_db

Short Descriptions

gencat

Generates message catalogues

getconf

Displays the system configuration values for file system specific variables

getent

Gets entries from an administrative database

iconv

Performs character set conversion

iconvconfig

Creates fastloading iconv module configuration files

ldconfig

Configures the dynamic linker runtime bindings

ldd

Reports which shared libraries are required by each given program or shared library

lddlibc4

Assists ldd with object files. It does not exist on newer architectures like x86_64

locale

Prints various information about the current locale

localedef

Compiles locale specifications

makedb

Creates a simple database from textual input

mtrace

Reads and interprets a memory trace file and displays a summary in human-readable format

nscd

A daemon that provides a cache for the most common name service requests

pcprofiledump

Dump information generated by PC profiling

pldd

Lists dynamic shared objects used by running processes

sln

A statically linked ln program

sotruss

Traces shared library procedure calls of a specified command

sprof

Reads and displays shared object profiling data

tzselect

Asks the user about the location of the system and reports the corresponding time zone description

xtrace

Traces the execution of a program by printing the currently executed function

zdump

The time zone dumper

zic

The time zone compiler

ld-*.so

The helper program for shared library executables

libBrokenLocale

Used internally by Glibc as a gross hack to get broken programs (e.g., some Motif applications) running. See comments in glibc-2.38/locale/broken_cur_max.c for more information

libanl

Dummy library containing no functions. Previously was the asynchronous name lookup library, whose functions are now in libc

libc

The main C library

libc_malloc_debug

Turns on memory allocation checking when preloaded

libdl

Dummy library containing no functions. Previously was the dynamic linking interface library, whose functions are now in libc

libg

Dummy library containing no functions. Previously was a runtime library for g++

libm

The mathematical library

libmvec

The vector math library, linked in as needed when libm is used

libmcheck

Turns on memory allocation checking when linked to

libmemusage

Used by memusage to help collect information about the memory usage of a program

libnsl

The network services library, now deprecated

libnss_*

The Name Service Switch modules, containing functions for resolving host names, user names, group names, aliases, services, protocols, etc. Loaded by libc according to the configuration in /etc/nsswitch.conf

libpcprofile

Can be preloaded to PC profile an executable

libpthread

Dummy library containing no functions. Previously contained functions providing most of the interfaces specified by the POSIX.1c Threads Extensions and the semaphore interfaces specified by the POSIX.1b Real-time Extensions, now the functions are in libc

libresolv

Contains functions for creating, sending, and interpreting packets to the Internet domain name servers

librt

Contains functions providing most of the interfaces specified by the POSIX.1b Real-time Extensions

libthread_db

Contains functions useful for building debuggers for multi-threaded programs

libutil

Dummy library containing no functions. Previously contained code for standard functions used in many different Unix utilities. These functions are now in libc

8.6. Zlib-1.2.13

The Zlib package contains compression and decompression routines used by some programs.

Approximate build time: less than 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 6.2 MB

8.6.1. Installation of Zlib

Prepare Zlib for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr

Compile the package:

make

To test the results, issue:

make check

Install the package:

make install

Remove a useless static library:

rm -fv /usr/lib/libz.a

8.6.2. Contents of Zlib

Installed libraries: libz.so

Short Descriptions

libz

Contains compression and decompression functions used by some programs

8.7. Bzip2-1.0.8

The Bzip2 package contains programs for compressing and decompressing files. Compressing text files with bzip2 yields a much better compression percentage than with the traditional gzip.

Approximate build time: less than 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 7.2 MB

8.7.1. Installation of Bzip2

Apply a patch that will install the documentation for this package:

patch -Np1 -i ../bzip2-1.0.8-install_docs-1.patch

The following command ensures installation of symbolic links are relative:

sed -i 's@\(ln -s -f \)$(PREFIX)/bin/@\1@' Makefile

Ensure the man pages are installed into the correct location:

sed -i "s@(PREFIX)/man@(PREFIX)/share/man@g" Makefile

Prepare Bzip2 for compilation with:

make -f Makefile-libbz2_so
make clean

The meaning of the make parameter:

-f Makefile-libbz2_so

This will cause Bzip2 to be built using a different Makefile file, in this case the Makefile-libbz2_so file, which creates a dynamic libbz2.so library and links the Bzip2 utilities against it.

Compile and test the package:

make

Install the programs:

make PREFIX=/usr install

Install the shared library:

cp -av libbz2.so.* /usr/lib
ln -sv libbz2.so.1.0.8 /usr/lib/libbz2.so

Install the shared bzip2 binary into the /usr/bin directory, and replace two copies of bzip2 with symlinks:

cp -v bzip2-shared /usr/bin/bzip2
for i in /usr/bin/{bzcat,bunzip2}; do
  ln -sfv bzip2 $i
done

Remove a useless static library:

rm -fv /usr/lib/libbz2.a

8.7.2. Contents of Bzip2

Installed programs: bunzip2 (link to bzip2), bzcat (link to bzip2), bzcmp (link to bzdiff), bzdiff, bzegrep (link to bzgrep), bzfgrep (link to bzgrep), bzgrep, bzip2, bzip2recover, bzless (link to bzmore), and bzmore
Installed libraries: libbz2.so
Installed directory: /usr/share/doc/bzip2-1.0.8

Short Descriptions

bunzip2

Decompresses bzipped files

bzcat

Decompresses to standard output

bzcmp

Runs cmp on bzipped files

bzdiff

Runs diff on bzipped files

bzegrep

Runs egrep on bzipped files

bzfgrep

Runs fgrep on bzipped files

bzgrep

Runs grep on bzipped files

bzip2

Compresses files using the Burrows-Wheeler block sorting text compression algorithm with Huffman coding; the compression rate is better than that achieved by more conventional compressors using Lempel-Ziv algorithms, like gzip

bzip2recover

Tries to recover data from damaged bzipped files

bzless

Runs less on bzipped files

bzmore

Runs more on bzipped files

libbz2

The library implementing lossless, block-sorting data compression, using the Burrows-Wheeler algorithm

8.8. Xz-5.4.4

The Xz package contains programs for compressing and decompressing files. It provides capabilities for the lzma and the newer xz compression formats. Compressing text files with xz yields a better compression percentage than with the traditional gzip or bzip2 commands.

Approximate build time: 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 24 MB

8.8.1. Installation of Xz

Prepare Xz for compilation with:

./configure --prefix=/usr    \
            --disable-static \
            --docdir=/usr/share/doc/xz-5.4.4

Compile the package:

make

To test the results, issue:

make check

Install the package:

make install

8.8.2. Contents of Xz

Installed programs: lzcat (link to xz), lzcmp (link to xzdiff), lzdiff (link to xzdiff), lzegrep (link to xzgrep), lzfgrep (link to xzgrep), lzgrep (link to xzgrep), lzless (link to xzless), lzma (link to xz), lzmadec, lzmainfo, lzmore (link to xzmore), unlzma (link to xz), unxz (link to xz), xz, xzcat (link to xz), xzcmp (link to xzdiff), xzdec, xzdiff, xzegrep (link to xzgrep), xzfgrep (link to xzgrep), xzgrep, xzless, and xzmore
Installed libraries: liblzma.so
Installed directories: /usr/include/lzma and /usr/share/doc/xz-5.4.4

Short Descriptions

lzcat

Decompresses to standard output

lzcmp

Runs cmp on LZMA compressed files

lzdiff

Runs diff on LZMA compressed files

lzegrep

Runs egrep on LZMA compressed files

lzfgrep

Runs fgrep on LZMA compressed files

lzgrep

Runs grep on LZMA compressed files

lzless

Runs less on LZMA compressed files

lzma

Compresses or decompresses files using the LZMA format

lzmadec

A small and fast decoder for LZMA compressed files

lzmainfo

Shows information stored in the LZMA compressed file header

lzmore

Runs more on LZMA compressed files

unlzma

Decompresses files using the LZMA format

unxz

Decompresses files using the XZ format

xz

Compresses or decompresses files using the XZ format

xzcat

Decompresses to standard output

xzcmp

Runs cmp on XZ compressed files

xzdec

A small and fast decoder for XZ compressed files

xzdiff

Runs diff on XZ compressed files

xzegrep

Runs egrep on XZ compressed files

xzfgrep

Runs fgrep on XZ compressed files

xzgrep

Runs grep on XZ compressed files

xzless

Runs less on XZ compressed files

xzmore

Runs more on XZ compressed files

liblzma

The library implementing lossless, block-sorting data compression, using the Lempel-Ziv-Markov chain algorithm

8.9. Zstd-1.5.5

Zstandard is a real-time compression algorithm, providing high compression ratios. It offers a very wide range of compression / speed trade-offs, while being backed by a very fast decoder.

Approximate build time: 0.4 SBU
Required disk space: 77 MB

8.9.1. Installation of Zstd

Compile the package:

make prefix=/usr

Note

In the test output there are several places that indicate 'failed'. These are expected and only 'FAIL' is an actual test failure. There should be no test failures.

To test the results, issue:

make check

Install the package:

make prefix=/usr install

Remove the static library:

rm -v /usr/lib/libzstd.a

8.9.2. Contents of Zstd

Installed programs: zstd, zstdcat (link to zstd), zstdgrep, zstdless, zstdmt (link to zstd), and unzstd (link to zstd)
Installed library: libzstd.so

Short Descriptions

zstd

Compresses or decompresses files using the ZSTD format

zstdgrep

Runs grep on ZSTD compressed files

zstdless

Runs less on ZSTD compressed files

libzstd

The library implementing lossless data compression, using the ZSTD algorithm

8.10. File-5.45

The File package contains a utility for determining the type of a given file or files.

Approximate build time: less than 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 17 MB

8.10.1. Installation of File

Prepare File for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr

Compile the package:

make

To test the results, issue:

make check

Install the package:

make install

8.10.2. Contents of File

Installed programs: file
Installed library: libmagic.so

Short Descriptions

file

Tries to classify each given file; it does this by performing several tests—file system tests, magic number tests, and language tests

libmagic

Contains routines for magic number recognition, used by the file program

8.11. Readline-8.2

The Readline package is a set of libraries that offer command-line editing and history capabilities.

Approximate build time: less than 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 16 MB

8.11.1. Installation of Readline

Reinstalling Readline will cause the old libraries to be moved to <libraryname>.old. While this is normally not a problem, in some cases it can trigger a linking bug in ldconfig. This can be avoided by issuing the following two seds:

sed -i '/MV.*old/d' Makefile.in
sed -i '/{OLDSUFF}/c:' support/shlib-install

Now fix a problem identified upstream:

patch -Np1 -i ../readline-8.2-upstream_fix-1.patch

Prepare Readline for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr    \
            --disable-static \
            --with-curses    \
            --docdir=/usr/share/doc/readline-8.2

The meaning of the new configure option:

--with-curses

This option tells Readline that it can find the termcap library functions in the curses library, not a separate termcap library. This will generate the correct readline.pc file.

Compile the package:

make SHLIB_LIBS="-lncursesw"

The meaning of the make option:

SHLIB_LIBS="-lncursesw"

This option forces Readline to link against the libncursesw library.

This package does not come with a test suite.

Install the package:

make SHLIB_LIBS="-lncursesw" install

If desired, install the documentation:

install -v -m644 doc/*.{ps,pdf,html,dvi} /usr/share/doc/readline-8.2

8.11.2. Contents of Readline

Installed libraries: libhistory.so and libreadline.so
Installed directories: /usr/include/readline and /usr/share/doc/readline-8.2

Short Descriptions

libhistory

Provides a consistent user interface for recalling lines of history

libreadline

Provides a set of commands for manipulating text entered in an interactive session of a program

8.12. M4-1.4.19

The M4 package contains a macro processor.

Approximate build time: 0.3 SBU
Required disk space: 49 MB

8.12.1. Installation of M4

Prepare M4 for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr

Compile the package:

make

To test the results, issue:

make check

Install the package:

make install

8.12.2. Contents of M4

Installed program: m4

Short Descriptions

m4

Copies the given files while expanding the macros that they contain. These macros are either built-in or user-defined and can take any number of arguments. Besides performing macro expansion, m4 has built-in functions for including named files, running Unix commands, performing integer arithmetic, manipulating text, recursion, etc. The m4 program can be used either as a front end to a compiler or as a macro processor in its own right

8.13. Bc-6.6.0

The Bc package contains an arbitrary precision numeric processing language.

Approximate build time: less than 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 7.7 MB

8.13.1. Installation of Bc

Prepare Bc for compilation:

CC=gcc ./configure --prefix=/usr -G -O3 -r

The meaning of the configure options:

CC=gcc

This parameter specifies the compiler to use.

-G

Omit parts of the test suite that won't work until the bc program has been installed.

-O3

Specify the optimization to use.

-r

Enable the use of Readline to improve the line editing feature of bc.

Compile the package:

make

To test bc, run:

make test

Install the package:

make install

8.13.2. Contents of Bc

Installed programs: bc and dc

Short Descriptions

bc

A command line calculator

dc

A reverse-polish command line calculator

8.14. Flex-2.6.4

The Flex package contains a utility for generating programs that recognize patterns in text.

Approximate build time: 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 33 MB

8.14.1. Installation of Flex

Prepare Flex for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr \
            --docdir=/usr/share/doc/flex-2.6.4 \
            --disable-static

Compile the package:

make

To test the results (about 0.5 SBU), issue:

make check

Install the package:

make install

A few programs do not know about flex yet and try to run its predecessor, lex. To support those programs, create a symbolic link named lex that runs flex in lex emulation mode, and also create the man page of lex as a symlink:

ln -sv flex   /usr/bin/lex
ln -sv flex.1 /usr/share/man/man1/lex.1

8.14.2. Contents of Flex

Installed programs: flex, flex++ (link to flex), and lex (link to flex)
Installed libraries: libfl.so
Installed directory: /usr/share/doc/flex-2.6.4

Short Descriptions

flex

A tool for generating programs that recognize patterns in text; it allows for the versatility to specify the rules for pattern-finding, eradicating the need to develop a specialized program

flex++

An extension of flex, is used for generating C++ code and classes. It is a symbolic link to flex

lex

A symbolic link that runs flex in lex emulation mode

libfl

The flex library

8.15. Tcl-8.6.13

The Tcl package contains the Tool Command Language, a robust general-purpose scripting language. The Expect package is written in Tcl (pronounced "tickle").

Approximate build time: 2.7 SBU
Required disk space: 89 MB

8.15.1. Installation of Tcl

This package and the next two (Expect and DejaGNU) are installed to support running the test suites for Binutils, GCC and other packages. Installing three packages for testing purposes may seem excessive, but it is very reassuring, if not essential, to know that the most important tools are working properly.

Prepare Tcl for compilation:

SRCDIR=$(pwd)
cd unix
./configure --prefix=/usr           \
            --mandir=/usr/share/man

Build the package:

make

sed -e "s|$SRCDIR/unix|/usr/lib|" \
    -e "s|$SRCDIR|/usr/include|"  \
    -i tclConfig.sh

sed -e "s|$SRCDIR/unix/pkgs/tdbc1.1.5|/usr/lib/tdbc1.1.5|" \
    -e "s|$SRCDIR/pkgs/tdbc1.1.5/generic|/usr/include|"    \
    -e "s|$SRCDIR/pkgs/tdbc1.1.5/library|/usr/lib/tcl8.6|" \
    -e "s|$SRCDIR/pkgs/tdbc1.1.5|/usr/include|"            \
    -i pkgs/tdbc1.1.5/tdbcConfig.sh

sed -e "s|$SRCDIR/unix/pkgs/itcl4.2.3|/usr/lib/itcl4.2.3|" \
    -e "s|$SRCDIR/pkgs/itcl4.2.3/generic|/usr/include|"    \
    -e "s|$SRCDIR/pkgs/itcl4.2.3|/usr/include|"            \
    -i pkgs/itcl4.2.3/itclConfig.sh

unset SRCDIR

The various sed instructions after the make command remove references to the build directory from the configuration files and replace them with the install directory. This is not mandatory for the remainder of LFS, but may be needed if a package built later uses Tcl.

To test the results, issue:

make test

Install the package:

make install

Make the installed library writable so debugging symbols can be removed later:

chmod -v u+w /usr/lib/libtcl8.6.so

Install Tcl's headers. The next package, Expect, requires them.

make install-private-headers

Now make a necessary symbolic link:

ln -sfv tclsh8.6 /usr/bin/tclsh

Rename a man page that conflicts with a Perl man page:

mv /usr/share/man/man3/{Thread,Tcl_Thread}.3

Optionally, install the documentation by issuing the following commands:

cd ..
tar -xf ../tcl8.6.13-html.tar.gz --strip-components=1
mkdir -v -p /usr/share/doc/tcl-8.6.13
cp -v -r  ./html/* /usr/share/doc/tcl-8.6.13

8.15.2. Contents of Tcl

Installed programs: tclsh (link to tclsh8.6) and tclsh8.6
Installed library: libtcl8.6.so and libtclstub8.6.a

Short Descriptions

tclsh8.6

The Tcl command shell

tclsh

A link to tclsh8.6

libtcl8.6.so

The Tcl library

libtclstub8.6.a

The Tcl Stub library

8.16. Expect-5.45.4

The Expect package contains tools for automating, via scripted dialogues, interactive applications such as telnet, ftp, passwd, fsck, rlogin, and tip. Expect is also useful for testing these same applications as well as easing all sorts of tasks that are prohibitively difficult with anything else. The DejaGnu framework is written in Expect.

Approximate build time: 0.2 SBU
Required disk space: 3.9 MB

8.16.1. Installation of Expect

Prepare Expect for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr           \
            --with-tcl=/usr/lib     \
            --enable-shared         \
            --mandir=/usr/share/man \
            --with-tclinclude=/usr/include

The meaning of the configure options:

--with-tcl=/usr/lib

This parameter is needed to tell configure where the tclConfig.sh script is located.

--with-tclinclude=/usr/include

This explicitly tells Expect where to find Tcl's internal headers.

Build the package:

make

Important

The test suite for Expect is considered critical. Do not skip it under any circumstances.

To test the results, issue:

make test

If any test fails with the message The system has no more ptys. Ask your system administrator to create more, it indicates you've not mounted the devpts file system correctly. You need to exit from the chroot environment, read Section 7.3, “Preparing Virtual Kernel File Systems” again, and ensure the devpts file system (and other virtual kernel file systems) mounted correctly. Then reenter the chroot environment following Section 7.4, “Entering the Chroot Environment”. This issue needs to be resolved before continuing.

Install the package:

make install
ln -svf expect5.45.4/libexpect5.45.4.so /usr/lib

8.16.2. Contents of Expect

Installed program: expect
Installed library: libexpect5.45.4.so

Short Descriptions

expect

Communicates with other interactive programs according to a script

libexpect-5.45.4.so

Contains functions that allow Expect to be used as a Tcl extension or to be used directly from C or C++ (without Tcl)

8.17. DejaGNU-1.6.3

The DejaGnu package contains a framework for running test suites on GNU tools. It is written in expect, which itself uses Tcl (Tool Command Language).

Approximate build time: less than 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 6.9 MB

8.17.1. Installation of DejaGNU

The upstream recommends building DejaGNU in a dedicated build directory:

mkdir -v build
cd       build

Prepare DejaGNU for compilation:

../configure --prefix=/usr
makeinfo --html --no-split -o doc/dejagnu.html ../doc/dejagnu.texi
makeinfo --plaintext       -o doc/dejagnu.txt  ../doc/dejagnu.texi

Build and install the package:

make install
install -v -dm755  /usr/share/doc/dejagnu-1.6.3
install -v -m644   doc/dejagnu.{html,txt} /usr/share/doc/dejagnu-1.6.3

To test the results, issue:

make check

8.17.2. Contents of DejaGNU

Installed program: dejagnu and runtest

Short Descriptions

dejagnu

DejaGNU auxiliary command launcher

runtest

A wrapper script that locates the proper expect shell and then runs DejaGNU

8.18. Binutils-2.41

The Binutils package contains a linker, an assembler, and other tools for handling object files.

Approximate build time: 2.2 SBU
Required disk space: 2.7 GB

8.18.1. Installation of Binutils

The Binutils documentation recommends building Binutils in a dedicated build directory:

mkdir -v build
cd       build

Prepare Binutils for compilation:

../configure --prefix=/usr       \
             --sysconfdir=/etc   \
             --enable-gold       \
             --enable-ld=default \
             --enable-plugins    \
             --enable-shared     \
             --disable-werror    \
             --enable-64-bit-bfd \
             --with-system-zlib

The meaning of the configure parameters:

--enable-gold

Build the gold linker and install it as ld.gold (alongside the default linker).

--enable-ld=default

Build the original bfd linker and install it as both ld (the default linker) and ld.bfd.

--enable-plugins

Enables plugin support for the linker.

--enable-64-bit-bfd

Enables 64-bit support (on hosts with narrower word sizes). May not be needed on 64-bit systems, but does no harm.

--with-system-zlib

Use the installed zlib library instead of building the included version.

Compile the package:

make tooldir=/usr

The meaning of the make parameter:

tooldir=/usr

Normally, the tooldir (the directory where the executables will ultimately be located) is set to $(exec_prefix)/$(target_alias). For example, x86_64 machines would expand that to /usr/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu. Because this is a custom system, this target-specific directory in /usr is not required. $(exec_prefix)/$(target_alias) would be used if the system were used to cross-compile (for example, compiling a package on an Intel machine that generates code that can be executed on PowerPC machines).

Important

The test suite for Binutils in this section is considered critical. Do not skip it under any circumstances.

Test the results:

make -k check

For a list of failed tests, run:

grep '^FAIL:' $(find -name '*.log')

Twelve tests fail in the gold test suite when the --enable-default-pie and --enable-default-ssp options are passed to GCC.

Three tests in the gprofng suite are also known to fail.

Install the package:

make tooldir=/usr install

Remove useless static libraries:

rm -fv /usr/lib/lib{bfd,ctf,ctf-nobfd,gprofng,opcodes,sframe}.a

8.18.2. Contents of Binutils

Installed programs: addr2line, ar, as, c++filt, dwp, elfedit, gprof, gprofng, ld, ld.bfd, ld.gold, nm, objcopy, objdump, ranlib, readelf, size, strings, and strip
Installed libraries: libbfd.so, libctf.so, libctf-nobfd.so, libgprofng.so, libopcodes.so, and libsframe.so
Installed directory: /usr/lib/ldscripts

Short Descriptions

addr2line

Translates program addresses to file names and line numbers; given an address and the name of an executable, it uses the debugging information in the executable to determine which source file and line number are associated with the address

ar

Creates, modifies, and extracts from archives

as

An assembler that assembles the output of gcc into object files

c++filt

Used by the linker to de-mangle C++ and Java symbols and to keep overloaded functions from clashing

dwp

The DWARF packaging utility

elfedit

Updates the ELF headers of ELF files

gprof

Displays call graph profile data

gprofng

Gathers and analyzes performance data

ld

A linker that combines a number of object and archive files into a single file, relocating their data and tying up symbol references

ld.gold

A cut down version of ld that only supports the elf object file format

ld.bfd

A hard link to ld

nm

Lists the symbols occurring in a given object file

objcopy

Translates one type of object file into another

objdump

Displays information about the given object file, with options controlling the particular information to display; the information shown is useful to programmers who are working on the compilation tools

ranlib

Generates an index of the contents of an archive and stores it in the archive; the index lists all of the symbols defined by archive members that are relocatable object files

readelf

Displays information about ELF type binaries

size

Lists the section sizes and the total size for the given object files

strings

Outputs, for each given file, the sequences of printable characters that are of at least the specified length (defaulting to four); for object files, it prints, by default, only the strings from the initializing and loading sections while for other types of files, it scans the entire file

strip

Discards symbols from object files

libbfd

The Binary File Descriptor library

libctf

The Compat ANSI-C Type Format debugging support library

libctf-nobfd

A libctf variant which does not use libbfd functionality

libgprofng

A library containing most routines used by gprofng

libopcodes

A library for dealing with opcodes—the readable text versions of instructions for the processor; it is used for building utilities like objdump

libsframe

A library to support online backtracing using a simple unwinder

8.19. GMP-6.3.0

The GMP package contains math libraries. These have useful functions for arbitrary precision arithmetic.

Approximate build time: 0.3 SBU
Required disk space: 54 MB

8.19.1. Installation of GMP

Note

If you are building for 32-bit x86, but you have a CPU which is capable of running 64-bit code and you have specified CFLAGS in the environment, the configure script will attempt to configure for 64-bits and fail. Avoid this by invoking the configure command below with

ABI=32 ./configure ...

Note

The default settings of GMP produce libraries optimized for the host processor. If libraries suitable for processors less capable than the host's CPU are desired, generic libraries can be created by appending the --host=none-linux-gnu option to the configure command.

Prepare GMP for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr    \
            --enable-cxx     \
            --disable-static \
            --docdir=/usr/share/doc/gmp-6.3.0

The meaning of the new configure options:

--enable-cxx

This parameter enables C++ support

--docdir=/usr/share/doc/gmp-6.3.0

This variable specifies the correct place for the documentation.

Compile the package and generate the HTML documentation:

make
make html

Important

The test suite for GMP in this section is considered critical. Do not skip it under any circumstances.

Test the results:

make check 2>&1 | tee gmp-check-log

Caution

The code in gmp is highly optimized for the processor where it is built. Occasionally, the code that detects the processor misidentifies the system capabilities and there will be errors in the tests or other applications using the gmp libraries with the message "Illegal instruction". In this case, gmp should be reconfigured with the option --host=none-linux-gnu and rebuilt.

Ensure that all 199 tests in the test suite passed. Check the results by issuing the following command:

awk '/# PASS:/{total+=$3} ; END{print total}' gmp-check-log

Install the package and its documentation:

make install
make install-html

8.19.2. Contents of GMP

Installed Libraries: libgmp.so and libgmpxx.so
Installed directory: /usr/share/doc/gmp-6.3.0

Short Descriptions

libgmp

Contains precision math functions

libgmpxx

Contains C++ precision math functions

8.20. MPFR-4.2.0

The MPFR package contains functions for multiple precision math.

Approximate build time: 0.2 SBU
Required disk space: 43 MB

8.20.1. Installation of MPFR

Fix a test case based on a bug of old Glibc releases:

sed -e 's/+01,234,567/+1,234,567 /' \
    -e 's/13.10Pd/13Pd/'            \
    -i tests/tsprintf.c

Prepare MPFR for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr        \
            --disable-static     \
            --enable-thread-safe \
            --docdir=/usr/share/doc/mpfr-4.2.0

Compile the package and generate the HTML documentation:

make
make html

Important

The test suite for MPFR in this section is considered critical. Do not skip it under any circumstances.

Test the results and ensure that all 197 tests passed:

make check

Install the package and its documentation:

make install
make install-html

8.20.2. Contents of MPFR

Installed Libraries: libmpfr.so
Installed directory: /usr/share/doc/mpfr-4.2.0

Short Descriptions

libmpfr

Contains multiple-precision math functions

8.21. MPC-1.3.1

The MPC package contains a library for the arithmetic of complex numbers with arbitrarily high precision and correct rounding of the result.

Approximate build time: 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 22 MB

8.21.1. Installation of MPC

Prepare MPC for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr    \
            --disable-static \
            --docdir=/usr/share/doc/mpc-1.3.1

Compile the package and generate the HTML documentation:

make
make html

To test the results, issue:

make check

Install the package and its documentation:

make install
make install-html

8.21.2. Contents of MPC

Installed Libraries: libmpc.so
Installed Directory: /usr/share/doc/mpc-1.3.1

Short Descriptions

libmpc

Contains complex math functions

8.22. Attr-2.5.1

The Attr package contains utilities to administer the extended attributes of filesystem objects.

Approximate build time: less than 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 4.1 MB

8.22.1. Installation of Attr

Prepare Attr for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr     \
            --disable-static  \
            --sysconfdir=/etc \
            --docdir=/usr/share/doc/attr-2.5.1

Compile the package:

make

The tests must be run on a filesystem that supports extended attributes such as the ext2, ext3, or ext4 filesystems. To test the results, issue:

make check

Install the package:

make install

8.22.2. Contents of Attr

Installed programs: attr, getfattr, and setfattr
Installed library: libattr.so
Installed directories: /usr/include/attr and /usr/share/doc/attr-2.5.1

Short Descriptions

attr

Extends attributes on filesystem objects

getfattr

Gets the extended attributes of filesystem objects

setfattr

Sets the extended attributes of filesystem objects

libattr

Contains the library functions for manipulating extended attributes

8.23. Acl-2.3.1

The Acl package contains utilities to administer Access Control Lists, which are used to define fine-grained discretionary access rights for files and directories.

Approximate build time: less than 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 6.1 MB

8.23.1. Installation of Acl

Prepare Acl for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr         \
            --disable-static      \
            --docdir=/usr/share/doc/acl-2.3.1

Compile the package:

make

The Acl tests must be run on a filesystem that supports access controls, but not until the Coreutils package has been built, using the Acl libraries. If desired, return to this package and run make check after the Coreutils package has been built.

Install the package:

make install

8.23.2. Contents of Acl

Installed programs: chacl, getfacl, and setfacl
Installed library: libacl.so
Installed directories: /usr/include/acl and /usr/share/doc/acl-2.3.1

Short Descriptions

chacl

Changes the access control list of a file or directory

getfacl

Gets file access control lists

setfacl

Sets file access control lists

libacl

Contains the library functions for manipulating Access Control Lists

8.24. Libcap-2.69

The Libcap package implements the userspace interface to the POSIX 1003.1e capabilities available in Linux kernels. These capabilities partition the all-powerful root privilege into a set of distinct privileges.

Approximate build time: less than 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 2.9 MB

8.24.1. Installation of Libcap

Prevent static libraries from being installed:

sed -i '/install -m.*STA/d' libcap/Makefile

Compile the package:

make prefix=/usr lib=lib

The meaning of the make option:

lib=lib

This parameter sets the library directory to /usr/lib rather than /usr/lib64 on x86_64. It has no effect on x86.

To test the results, issue:

make test

Install the package:

make prefix=/usr lib=lib install

8.24.2. Contents of Libcap

Installed programs: capsh, getcap, getpcaps, and setcap
Installed library: libcap.so and libpsx.so

Short Descriptions

capsh

A shell wrapper to explore and constrain capability support

getcap

Examines file capabilities

getpcaps

Displays the capabilities of the queried process(es)

setcap

Sets file capabilities

libcap

Contains the library functions for manipulating POSIX 1003.1e capabilities

libpsx

Contains functions to support POSIX semantics for syscalls associated with the pthread library

8.25. Libxcrypt-4.4.36

The Libxcrypt package contains a modern library for one-way hashing of passwords.

Approximate build time: 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 15 MB

8.25.1. Installation of Libxcrypt

Prepare Libxcrypt for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr                \
            --enable-hashes=strong,glibc \
            --enable-obsolete-api=no     \
            --disable-static             \
            --disable-failure-tokens

The meaning of the new configure options:

--enable-hashes=strong,glibc

Build strong hash algorithms recommended for security use cases, and the hash algorithms provided by traditional Glibc libcrypt for compatibility.

--enable-obsolete-api=no

Disable obsolete API functions. They are not needed for a modern Linux system built from source.

--disable-failure-tokens

Disable failure token feature. It's needed for compatibility with the traditional hash libraries of some platforms, but a Linux system based on Glibc does not need it.

Compile the package:

make

To test the results, issue:

make check

Install the package:

make install

Note

The instructions above disabled obsolete API functions since no package installed by compiling from sources would link against them at runtime. However, the only known binary-only applications that link against these functions require ABI version 1. If you must have such functions because of some binary-only application or to be to be compliant with LSB, build the package again with the following commands:

make distclean
./configure --prefix=/usr                \
            --enable-hashes=strong,glibc \
            --enable-obsolete-api=glibc  \
            --disable-static             \
            --disable-failure-tokens
make
cp -av .libs/libcrypt.so.1* /usr/lib

8.25.2. Contents of Libxcrypt

Installed libraries: libcrypt.so

Short Descriptions

libcrypt

Contains functions to hash passwords

8.26. Shadow-4.13

The Shadow package contains programs for handling passwords in a secure way.

Approximate build time: 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 46 MB

8.26.1. Installation of Shadow

Note

If you would like to enforce the use of strong passwords, refer to https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/view/svn/postlfs/cracklib.html for installing CrackLib prior to building Shadow. Then add --with-libcrack to the configure command below.

Disable the installation of the groups program and its man pages, as Coreutils provides a better version. Also, prevent the installation of manual pages that were already installed in Section 8.3, “Man-pages-6.05.01”:

sed -i 's/groups$(EXEEXT) //' src/Makefile.in
find man -name Makefile.in -exec sed -i 's/groups\.1 / /'   {} \;
find man -name Makefile.in -exec sed -i 's/getspnam\.3 / /' {} \;
find man -name Makefile.in -exec sed -i 's/passwd\.5 / /'   {} \;

Instead of using the default crypt method, use the much more secure YESCRYPT method of password encryption, which also allows passwords longer than 8 characters. It is also necessary to change the obsolete /var/spool/mail location for user mailboxes that Shadow uses by default to the /var/mail location used currently. And, remove /bin and /sbin from the PATH, since they are simply symlinks to their counterparts in /usr.

Note

If you wish to include /bin and/or /sbin in the PATH for some reason, modify the PATH in .bashrc after LFS has been built.

sed -e 's:#ENCRYPT_METHOD DES:ENCRYPT_METHOD YESCRYPT:' \
    -e 's:/var/spool/mail:/var/mail:'                   \
    -e '/PATH=/{s@/sbin:@@;s@/bin:@@}'                  \
    -i etc/login.defs

Note

If you chose to build Shadow with Cracklib support, issue this command:

sed -i 's:DICTPATH.*:DICTPATH\t/lib/cracklib/pw_dict:' etc/login.defs

Prepare Shadow for compilation:

touch /usr/bin/passwd
./configure --sysconfdir=/etc   \
            --disable-static    \
            --with-{b,yes}crypt \
            --with-group-name-max-length=32

The meaning of the new configuration options:

touch /usr/bin/passwd

The file /usr/bin/passwd needs to exist because its location is hardcoded in some programs; if it does not already exist, the installation script will create it in the wrong place.

--with-{b,yes}crypt

The shell expands this to two switches, --with-bcrypt and --with-yescrypt. They allow shadow to use the Bcrypt and Yescrypt algorithms implemented by Libxcrypt for hashing passwords. These algorithms are more secure (in particular, much more resistant to GPU-based attacks) than the traditional SHA algorithms.

--with-group-name-max-length=32

The longest permissible user name is 32 characters. Make the maximum length of a group name the same.

Compile the package:

make

This package does not come with a test suite.

Install the package:

make exec_prefix=/usr install
make -C man install-man

8.26.2. Configuring Shadow

This package contains utilities to add, modify, and delete users and groups; set and change their passwords; and perform other administrative tasks. For a full explanation of what password shadowing means, see the doc/HOWTO file within the unpacked source tree. If you use Shadow support, keep in mind that programs which need to verify passwords (display managers, FTP programs, pop3 daemons, etc.) must be Shadow-compliant. That is, they must be able to work with shadowed passwords.

To enable shadowed passwords, run the following command:

pwconv

To enable shadowed group passwords, run:

grpconv

Shadow's default configuration for the useradd utility needs some explanation. First, the default action for the useradd utility is to create the user and a group with the same name as the user. By default the user ID (UID) and group ID (GID) numbers will begin at 1000. This means if you don't pass extra parameters to useradd, each user will be a member of a unique group on the system. If this behavior is undesirable, you'll need to pass either the -g or -N parameter to useradd, or else change the setting of USERGROUPS_ENAB in /etc/login.defs. See useradd(8) for more information.

Second, to change the default parameters, the file /etc/default/useradd must be created and tailored to suit your particular needs. Create it with:

mkdir -p /etc/default
useradd -D --gid 999

/etc/default/useradd parameter explanations

GROUP=999

This parameter sets the beginning of the group numbers used in the /etc/group file. The particular value 999 comes from the --gid parameter above. You may set it to any desired value. Note that useradd will never reuse a UID or GID. If the number identified in this parameter is used, it will use the next available number. Note also that if you don't have a group with an ID equal to this number on your system, then the first time you use useradd without the -g parameter, an error message will be generated—useradd: unknown GID 999, even though the account has been created correctly. That is why we created the group users with this group ID in Section 7.6, “Creating Essential Files and Symlinks”.

CREATE_MAIL_SPOOL=yes

This parameter causes useradd to create a mailbox file for each new user. useradd will assign the group ownership of this file to the mail group with 0660 permissions. If you would rather not create these files, issue the following command:

sed -i '/MAIL/s/yes/no/' /etc/default/useradd

8.26.3. Setting the Root Password

Choose a password for user root and set it by running:

passwd root

8.26.4. Contents of Shadow

Installed programs: chage, chfn, chgpasswd, chpasswd, chsh, expiry, faillog, getsubids, gpasswd, groupadd, groupdel, groupmems, groupmod, grpck, grpconv, grpunconv, lastlog, login, logoutd, newgidmap, newgrp, newuidmap, newusers, nologin, passwd, pwck, pwconv, pwunconv, sg (link to newgrp), su, useradd, userdel, usermod, vigr (link to vipw), and vipw
Installed directories: /etc/default and /usr/include/shadow
Installed libraries: libsubid.so

Short Descriptions

chage

Used to change the maximum number of days between obligatory password changes

chfn

Used to change a user's full name and other information

chgpasswd

Used to update group passwords in batch mode

chpasswd

Used to update user passwords in batch mode

chsh

Used to change a user's default login shell

expiry

Checks and enforces the current password expiration policy

faillog

Is used to examine the log of login failures, to set a maximum number of failures before an account is blocked, and to reset the failure count

getsubids

Is used to list the subordinate id ranges for a user

gpasswd

Is used to add and delete members and administrators to groups

groupadd

Creates a group with the given name

groupdel

Deletes the group with the given name

groupmems

Allows a user to administer his/her own group membership list without the requirement of super user privileges.

groupmod

Is used to modify the given group's name or GID

grpck

Verifies the integrity of the group files /etc/group and /etc/gshadow

grpconv

Creates or updates the shadow group file from the normal group file

grpunconv

Updates /etc/group from /etc/gshadow and then deletes the latter

lastlog

Reports the most recent login of all users or of a given user

login

Is used by the system to let users sign on

logoutd

Is a daemon used to enforce restrictions on log-on time and ports

newgidmap

Is used to set the gid mapping of a user namespace

newgrp

Is used to change the current GID during a login session

newuidmap

Is used to set the uid mapping of a user namespace

newusers

Is used to create or update an entire series of user accounts

nologin

Displays a message saying an account is not available; it is designed to be used as the default shell for disabled accounts

passwd

Is used to change the password for a user or group account

pwck

Verifies the integrity of the password files /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow

pwconv

Creates or updates the shadow password file from the normal password file

pwunconv

Updates /etc/passwd from /etc/shadow and then deletes the latter

sg

Executes a given command while the user's GID is set to that of the given group

su

Runs a shell with substitute user and group IDs

useradd

Creates a new user with the given name, or updates the default new-user information

userdel

Deletes the specified user account

usermod

Is used to modify the given user's login name, user identification (UID), shell, initial group, home directory, etc.

vigr

Edits the /etc/group or /etc/gshadow files

vipw

Edits the /etc/passwd or /etc/shadow files

libsubid

library to handle subordinate id ranges for users and groups

8.27. GCC-13.2.0

The GCC package contains the GNU compiler collection, which includes the C and C++ compilers.

Approximate build time: 42 SBU (with tests)
Required disk space: 5.5 GB

8.27.1. Installation of GCC

If building on x86_64, change the default directory name for 64-bit libraries to lib:

case $(uname -m) in
  x86_64)
    sed -e '/m64=/s/lib64/lib/' \
        -i.orig gcc/config/i386/t-linux64
  ;;
esac

The GCC documentation recommends building GCC in a dedicated build directory:

mkdir -v build
cd       build

Prepare GCC for compilation:

../configure --prefix=/usr            \
             LD=ld                    \
             --enable-languages=c,c++ \
             --enable-default-pie     \
             --enable-default-ssp     \
             --disable-multilib       \
             --disable-bootstrap      \
             --disable-fixincludes    \
             --with-system-zlib

GCC supports seven different computer languages, but the prerequisites for most of them have not yet been installed. See the BLFS Book GCC page for instructions on how to build all of GCC's supported languages.

The meaning of the new configure parameters:

LD=ld

This parameter makes the configure script use the ld program installed by the Binutils package built earlier in this chapter, rather than the cross-built version which would otherwise be used.

--disable-fixincludes

By default, during the installation of GCC some system headers would be fixed to be used with GCC. This is not necessary for a modern Linux system, and potentially harmful if a package is reinstalled after installing GCC. This switch prevents GCC from fixing the headers.

--with-system-zlib

This switch tells GCC to link to the system installed copy of the Zlib library, rather than its own internal copy.

Note

PIE (position-independent executables) are binary programs that can be loaded anywhere in memory. Without PIE, the security feature named ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization) can be applied for the shared libraries, but not for the executables themselves. Enabling PIE allows ASLR for the executables in addition to the shared libraries, and mitigates some attacks based on fixed addresses of sensitive code or data in the executables.

SSP (Stack Smashing Protection) is a technique to ensure that the parameter stack is not corrupted. Stack corruption can, for example, alter the return address of a subroutine, thus transferring control to some dangerous code (existing in the program or shared libraries, or injected by the attacker somehow).

Compile the package:

make

Important

In this section, the test suite for GCC is considered important, but it takes a long time. First-time builders are encouraged to run the test suite. The time to run the tests can be reduced significantly by adding -jx to the make -k check command below, where x is the number of CPU cores on your system.

One set of tests in the GCC test suite is known to exhaust the default stack, so increase the stack size prior to running the tests:

ulimit -s 32768

Test the results as a non-privileged user, but do not stop at errors:

chown -Rv tester .
su tester -c "PATH=$PATH make -k check"

To extract a summary of the test suite results, run:

../contrib/test_summary

To filter out only the summaries, pipe the output through grep -A7 Summ.

Results can be compared with those located at https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/build-logs/12.0-rc1/ and https://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc-testresults/.

Two tests named copy.cc and pr56837.c are known to fail. Additionally, several tests in the vect directory are known to fail if the hardware does not support AVX.

With Glibc-2.38, the analyzer tests named data-model-4.c and conftest-1.c are known to fail. In the asan tests, several tests in asan_test.C are known to fail. The test named interception-malloc-test-1.C are known to fail.

A few unexpected failures cannot always be avoided. The GCC developers are usually aware of these issues, but have not resolved them yet. Unless the test results are vastly different from those at the above URL, it is safe to continue.

Install the package:

make install

The GCC build directory is owned by tester now, and the ownership of the installed header directory (and its content) is incorrect. Change the ownership to the root user and group:

chown -v -R root:root \
    /usr/lib/gcc/$(gcc -dumpmachine)/13.2.0/include{,-fixed}

Create a symlink required by the FHS for "historical" reasons.

ln -svr /usr/bin/cpp /usr/lib

Many packages use the name cc to call the C compiler. We've already created cc as a symlink in gcc-pass2, create its man page as a symlink as well:

ln -sv gcc.1 /usr/share/man/man1/cc.1

Add a compatibility symlink to enable building programs with Link Time Optimization (LTO):

ln -sfv ../../libexec/gcc/$(gcc -dumpmachine)/13.2.0/liblto_plugin.so \
        /usr/lib/bfd-plugins/

Now that our final toolchain is in place, it is important to again ensure that compiling and linking will work as expected. We do this by performing some sanity checks:

echo 'int main(){}' > dummy.c
cc dummy.c -v -Wl,--verbose &> dummy.log
readelf -l a.out | grep ': /lib'

There should be no errors, and the output of the last command will be (allowing for platform-specific differences in the dynamic linker name):

[Requesting program interpreter: /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2]

Now make sure that we're set up to use the correct start files:

grep -E -o '/usr/lib.*/S?crt[1in].*succeeded' dummy.log

The output of the last command should be:

/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/13.2.0/../../../../lib/Scrt1.o succeeded
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/13.2.0/../../../../lib/crti.o succeeded
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/13.2.0/../../../../lib/crtn.o succeeded

Depending on your machine architecture, the above may differ slightly. The difference will be the name of the directory after /usr/lib/gcc. The important thing to look for here is that gcc has found all three crt*.o files under the /usr/lib directory.

Verify that the compiler is searching for the correct header files:

grep -B4 '^ /usr/include' dummy.log

This command should return the following output:

#include <...> search starts here:
 /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/13.2.0/include
 /usr/local/include
 /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/13.2.0/include-fixed
 /usr/include

Again, the directory named after your target triplet may be different than the above, depending on your system architecture.

Next, verify that the new linker is being used with the correct search paths:

grep 'SEARCH.*/usr/lib' dummy.log |sed 's|; |\n|g'

References to paths that have components with '-linux-gnu' should be ignored, but otherwise the output of the last command should be:

SEARCH_DIR("/usr/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/lib64")
SEARCH_DIR("/usr/local/lib64")
SEARCH_DIR("/lib64")
SEARCH_DIR("/usr/lib64")
SEARCH_DIR("/usr/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/lib")
SEARCH_DIR("/usr/local/lib")
SEARCH_DIR("/lib")
SEARCH_DIR("/usr/lib");

A 32-bit system may use a few other directories. For example, here is the output from an i686 machine:

SEARCH_DIR("/usr/i686-pc-linux-gnu/lib32")
SEARCH_DIR("/usr/local/lib32")
SEARCH_DIR("/lib32")
SEARCH_DIR("/usr/lib32")
SEARCH_DIR("/usr/i686-pc-linux-gnu/lib")
SEARCH_DIR("/usr/local/lib")
SEARCH_DIR("/lib")
SEARCH_DIR("/usr/lib");

Next make sure that we're using the correct libc:

grep "/lib.*/libc.so.6 " dummy.log

The output of the last command should be:

attempt to open /usr/lib/libc.so.6 succeeded

Make sure GCC is using the correct dynamic linker:

grep found dummy.log

The output of the last command should be (allowing for platform-specific differences in dynamic linker name):

found ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 at /usr/lib/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2

If the output does not appear as shown above or is not received at all, then something is seriously wrong. Investigate and retrace the steps to find out where the problem is and correct it. Any issues should be resolved before continuing with the process.

Once everything is working correctly, clean up the test files:

rm -v dummy.c a.out dummy.log

Finally, move a misplaced file:

mkdir -pv /usr/share/gdb/auto-load/usr/lib
mv -v /usr/lib/*gdb.py /usr/share/gdb/auto-load/usr/lib

8.27.2. Contents of GCC

Installed programs: c++, cc (link to gcc), cpp, g++, gcc, gcc-ar, gcc-nm, gcc-ranlib, gcov, gcov-dump, gcov-tool, and lto-dump
Installed libraries: libasan.{a,so}, libatomic.{a,so}, libcc1.so, libgcc.a, libgcc_eh.a, libgcc_s.so, libgcov.a, libgomp.{a,so}, libhwasan.{a,so}, libitm.{a,so}, liblsan.{a,so}, liblto_plugin.so, libquadmath.{a,so}, libssp.{a,so}, libssp_nonshared.a, libstdc++.{a,so}, libstdc++exp.a, libstdc++fs.a, libsupc++.a, libtsan.{a,so}, and libubsan.{a,so}
Installed directories: /usr/include/c++, /usr/lib/gcc, /usr/libexec/gcc, and /usr/share/gcc-13.2.0

Short Descriptions

c++

The C++ compiler

cc

The C compiler

cpp

The C preprocessor; it is used by the compiler to expand the #include, #define, and similar directives in the source files

g++

The C++ compiler

gcc

The C compiler

gcc-ar

A wrapper around ar that adds a plugin to the command line. This program is only used to add "link time optimization" and is not useful with the default build options.

gcc-nm

A wrapper around nm that adds a plugin to the command line. This program is only used to add "link time optimization" and is not useful with the default build options.

gcc-ranlib

A wrapper around ranlib that adds a plugin to the command line. This program is only used to add "link time optimization" and is not useful with the default build options.

gcov

A coverage testing tool; it is used to analyze programs to determine where optimizations will have the greatest effect

gcov-dump

Offline gcda and gcno profile dump tool

gcov-tool

Offline gcda profile processing tool

lto-dump

Tool for dumping object files produced by GCC with LTO enabled

libasan

The Address Sanitizer runtime library

libatomic

GCC atomic built-in runtime library

libcc1

The C preprocessing library

libgcc

Contains run-time support for gcc

libgcov

This library is linked into a program when GCC is instructed to enable profiling

libgomp

GNU implementation of the OpenMP API for multi-platform shared-memory parallel programming in C/C++ and Fortran

libhwasan

The Hardware-assisted Address Sanitizer runtime library

libitm

The GNU transactional memory library

liblsan

The Leak Sanitizer runtime library

liblto_plugin

GCC's LTO plugin allows Binutils to process object files produced by GCC with LTO enabled

libquadmath

GCC Quad Precision Math Library API

libssp

Contains routines supporting GCC's stack-smashing protection functionality. Normally it is not used, because Glibc also provides those routines.

libstdc++

The standard C++ library

libstdc++exp

Experimental C++ Contracts library

libstdc++fs

ISO/IEC TS 18822:2015 Filesystem library

libsupc++

Provides supporting routines for the C++ programming language

libtsan

The Thread Sanitizer runtime library

libubsan

The Undefined Behavior Sanitizer runtime library

8.28. Pkgconf-2.0.1

The pkgconf package is a successor to pkg-config and contains a tool for passing the include path and/or library paths to build tools during the configure and make phases of package installations.

Approximate build time: less than 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 4.6 MB

8.28.1. Installation of Pkgconf

Prepare Pkgconf for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr              \
            --disable-static           \
            --docdir=/usr/share/doc/pkgconf-2.0.1

Compile the package:

make

Install the package:

make install

To maintain compatibility with the original Pkg-config create two symlinks:

ln -sv pkgconf   /usr/bin/pkg-config
ln -sv pkgconf.1 /usr/share/man/man1/pkg-config.1

8.28.2. Contents of Pkgconf

Installed programs: pkgconf, pkg-config (link to pkgconf), and bomtool
Installed library: libpkgconf.so
Installed directory: /usr/share/doc/pkgconf-2.0.1

Short Descriptions

pkgconf

Returns meta information for the specified library or package

bomtool

Generates a Software Bill Of Materials from pkg-config .pc files

libpkgconf

Contains most of pkgconf's functionality, while allowing other tools like IDEs and compilers to use its frameworks

8.29. Ncurses-6.4

The Ncurses package contains libraries for terminal-independent handling of character screens.

Approximate build time: 0.2 SBU
Required disk space: 45 MB

8.29.1. Installation of Ncurses

Prepare Ncurses for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr           \
            --mandir=/usr/share/man \
            --with-shared           \
            --without-debug         \
            --without-normal        \
            --with-cxx-shared       \
            --enable-pc-files       \
            --enable-widec          \
            --with-pkg-config-libdir=/usr/lib/pkgconfig

The meaning of the new configure options:

--with-shared

This makes Ncurses build and install shared C libraries.

--without-normal

This prevents Ncurses building and installing static C libraries.

--without-debug

This prevents Ncurses building and installing debug libraries.

--with-cxx-shared

This makes Ncurses build and install shared C++ bindings. It also prevents it building and installing static C++ bindings.

--enable-pc-files

This switch generates and installs .pc files for pkg-config.

--enable-widec

This switch causes wide-character libraries (e.g., libncursesw.so.6.4) to be built instead of normal ones (e.g., libncurses.so.6.4). These wide-character libraries are usable in both multibyte and traditional 8-bit locales, while normal libraries work properly only in 8-bit locales. Wide-character and normal libraries are source-compatible, but not binary-compatible.

Compile the package:

make

This package has a test suite, but it can only be run after the package has been installed. The tests reside in the test/ directory. See the README file in that directory for further details.

The installation of this package will overwrite libncursesw.so.6.4 in-place. It may crash the shell process which is using code and data from the library file. Install the package with DESTDIR, and replace the library file correctly using install command:

make DESTDIR=$PWD/dest install
install -vm755 dest/usr/lib/libncursesw.so.6.4 /usr/lib
rm -v  dest/usr/lib/libncursesw.so.6.4
cp -av dest/* /

Many applications still expect the linker to be able to find non-wide-character Ncurses libraries. Trick such applications into linking with wide-character libraries by means of symlinks and linker scripts:

for lib in ncurses form panel menu ; do
    rm -vf                    /usr/lib/lib${lib}.so
    echo "INPUT(-l${lib}w)" > /usr/lib/lib${lib}.so
    ln -sfv ${lib}w.pc        /usr/lib/pkgconfig/${lib}.pc
done

Finally, make sure that old applications that look for -lcurses at build time are still buildable:

rm -vf                     /usr/lib/libcursesw.so
echo "INPUT(-lncursesw)" > /usr/lib/libcursesw.so
ln -sfv libncurses.so      /usr/lib/libcurses.so

If desired, install the Ncurses documentation:

cp -v -R doc -T /usr/share/doc/ncurses-6.4

Note

The instructions above don't create non-wide-character Ncurses libraries since no package installed by compiling from sources would link against them at runtime. However, the only known binary-only applications that link against non-wide-character Ncurses libraries require version 5. If you must have such libraries because of some binary-only application or to be compliant with LSB, build the package again with the following commands:

make distclean
./configure --prefix=/usr    \
            --with-shared    \
            --without-normal \
            --without-debug  \
            --without-cxx-binding \
            --with-abi-version=5
make sources libs
cp -av lib/lib*.so.5* /usr/lib

8.29.2. Contents of Ncurses

Installed programs: captoinfo (link to tic), clear, infocmp, infotocap (link to tic), ncursesw6-config, reset (link to tset), tabs, tic, toe, tput, and tset
Installed libraries: libcursesw.so (symlink and linker script to libncursesw.so), libformw.so, libmenuw.so, libncursesw.so, libncurses++w.so, libpanelw.so, and their non-wide-character counterparts without "w" in the library names.
Installed directories: /usr/share/tabset, /usr/share/terminfo, and /usr/share/doc/ncurses-6.4

Short Descriptions

captoinfo

Converts a termcap description into a terminfo description

clear

Clears the screen, if possible

infocmp

Compares or prints out terminfo descriptions

infotocap

Converts a terminfo description into a termcap description

ncursesw6-config

Provides configuration information for ncurses

reset

Reinitializes a terminal to its default values

tabs

Clears and sets tab stops on a terminal

tic

The terminfo entry-description compiler that translates a terminfo file from source format into the binary format needed for the ncurses library routines [A terminfo file contains information on the capabilities of a certain terminal.]

toe

Lists all available terminal types, giving the primary name and description for each

tput

Makes the values of terminal-dependent capabilities available to the shell; it can also be used to reset or initialize a terminal or report its long name

tset

Can be used to initialize terminals

libcursesw

A link to libncursesw

libncursesw

Contains functions to display text in many complex ways on a terminal screen; a good example of the use of these functions is the menu displayed during the kernel's make menuconfig

libncurses++w

Contains C++ binding for other libraries in this package

libformw

Contains functions to implement forms

libmenuw

Contains functions to implement menus

libpanelw

Contains functions to implement panels

8.30. Sed-4.9

The Sed package contains a stream editor.

Approximate build time: 0.3 SBU
Required disk space: 30 MB

8.30.1. Installation of Sed

Prepare Sed for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr

Compile the package and generate the HTML documentation:

make
make html

To test the results, issue:

chown -Rv tester .
su tester -c "PATH=$PATH make check"

Install the package and its documentation:

make install
install -d -m755           /usr/share/doc/sed-4.9
install -m644 doc/sed.html /usr/share/doc/sed-4.9

8.30.2. Contents of Sed

Installed program: sed
Installed directory: /usr/share/doc/sed-4.9

Short Descriptions

sed

Filters and transforms text files in a single pass

8.31. Psmisc-23.6

The Psmisc package contains programs for displaying information about running processes.

Approximate build time: less than 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 6.6 MB

8.31.1. Installation of Psmisc

Prepare Psmisc for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr

Compile the package:

make

To run the test suite, run:

make check

Install the package:

make install

8.31.2. Contents of Psmisc

Installed programs: fuser, killall, peekfd, prtstat, pslog, pstree, and pstree.x11 (link to pstree)

Short Descriptions

fuser

Reports the Process IDs (PIDs) of processes that use the given files or file systems

killall

Kills processes by name; it sends a signal to all processes running any of the given commands

peekfd

Peek at file descriptors of a running process, given its PID

prtstat

Prints information about a process

pslog

Reports current logs path of a process

pstree

Displays running processes as a tree

pstree.x11

Same as pstree, except that it waits for confirmation before exiting

8.32. Gettext-0.22

The Gettext package contains utilities for internationalization and localization. These allow programs to be compiled with NLS (Native Language Support), enabling them to output messages in the user's native language.

Approximate build time: 1.4 SBU
Required disk space: 250 MB

8.32.1. Installation of Gettext

Prepare Gettext for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr    \
            --disable-static \
            --docdir=/usr/share/doc/gettext-0.22

Compile the package:

make

To test the results (this takes a long time, around 3 SBUs), issue:

make check

Install the package:

make install
chmod -v 0755 /usr/lib/preloadable_libintl.so

8.32.2. Contents of Gettext

Installed programs: autopoint, envsubst, gettext, gettext.sh, gettextize, msgattrib, msgcat, msgcmp, msgcomm, msgconv, msgen, msgexec, msgfilter, msgfmt, msggrep, msginit, msgmerge, msgunfmt, msguniq, ngettext, recode-sr-latin, and xgettext
Installed libraries: libasprintf.so, libgettextlib.so, libgettextpo.so, libgettextsrc.so, libtextstyle.so, and preloadable_libintl.so
Installed directories: /usr/lib/gettext, /usr/share/doc/gettext-0.22, /usr/share/gettext, and /usr/share/gettext-0.22

Short Descriptions

autopoint

Copies standard Gettext infrastructure files into a source package

envsubst

Substitutes environment variables in shell format strings

gettext

Translates a natural language message into the user's language by looking up the translation in a message catalog

gettext.sh

Primarily serves as a shell function library for gettext

gettextize

Copies all standard Gettext files into the given top-level directory of a package to begin internationalizing it

msgattrib

Filters the messages of a translation catalog according to their attributes and manipulates the attributes

msgcat

Concatenates and merges the given .po files

msgcmp

Compares two .po files to check that both contain the same set of msgid strings

msgcomm

Finds the messages that are common to the given .po files

msgconv

Converts a translation catalog to a different character encoding

msgen

Creates an English translation catalog

msgexec

Applies a command to all translations of a translation catalog

msgfilter

Applies a filter to all translations of a translation catalog

msgfmt

Generates a binary message catalog from a translation catalog

msggrep

Extracts all messages of a translation catalog that match a given pattern or belong to some given source files

msginit

Creates a new .po file, initializing the meta information with values from the user's environment

msgmerge

Combines two raw translations into a single file

msgunfmt

Decompiles a binary message catalog into raw translation text

msguniq

Unifies duplicate translations in a translation catalog

ngettext

Displays native language translations of a textual message whose grammatical form depends on a number

recode-sr-latin

Recodes Serbian text from Cyrillic to Latin script

xgettext

Extracts the translatable message lines from the given source files to make the first translation template

libasprintf

Defines the autosprintf class, which makes C formatted output routines usable in C++ programs, for use with the <string> strings and the <iostream> streams

libgettextlib

Contains common routines used by the various Gettext programs; these are not intended for general use

libgettextpo

Used to write specialized programs that process .po files; this library is used when the standard applications shipped with Gettext (such as msgcomm, msgcmp, msgattrib, and msgen) will not suffice

libgettextsrc

Provides common routines used by the various Gettext programs; these are not intended for general use

libtextstyle

Text styling library

preloadable_libintl

A library, intended to be used by LD_PRELOAD, that helps libintl log untranslated messages

8.33. Bison-3.8.2

The Bison package contains a parser generator.

Approximate build time: 2.2 SBU
Required disk space: 62 MB

8.33.1. Installation of Bison

Prepare Bison for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr --docdir=/usr/share/doc/bison-3.8.2

Compile the package:

make

To test the results (about 5.5 SBU), issue:

make check

Install the package:

make install

8.33.2. Contents of Bison

Installed programs: bison and yacc
Installed library: liby.a
Installed directory: /usr/share/bison

Short Descriptions

bison

Generates, from a series of rules, a program for analyzing the structure of text files; Bison is a replacement for Yacc (Yet Another Compiler Compiler)

yacc

A wrapper for bison, meant for programs that still call yacc instead of bison; it calls bison with the -y option

liby

The Yacc library containing implementations of Yacc-compatible yyerror and main functions; this library is normally not very useful, but POSIX requires it

8.34. Grep-3.11

The Grep package contains programs for searching through the contents of files.

Approximate build time: 0.4 SBU
Required disk space: 39 MB

8.34.1. Installation of Grep

First, remove a warning about using egrep and fgrep that makes tests on some packages fail:

sed -i "s/echo/#echo/" src/egrep.sh

Prepare Grep for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr

Compile the package:

make

To test the results, issue:

make check

Install the package:

make install

8.34.2. Contents of Grep

Installed programs: egrep, fgrep, and grep

Short Descriptions

egrep

Prints lines matching an extended regular expression. It is obsolete, use grep -E instead

fgrep

Prints lines matching a list of fixed strings. It is obsolete, use grep -F instead

grep

Prints lines matching a basic regular expression

8.35. Bash-5.2.15

The Bash package contains the Bourne-Again Shell.

Approximate build time: 1.1 SBU
Required disk space: 52 MB

8.35.1. Installation of Bash

Prepare Bash for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr             \
            --without-bash-malloc     \
            --with-installed-readline \
            --docdir=/usr/share/doc/bash-5.2.15

The meaning of the new configure option:

--with-installed-readline

This option tells Bash to use the readline library that is already installed on the system rather than using its own readline version.

Compile the package:

make

Skip down to Install the package if not running the test suite.

To prepare the tests, ensure that the tester user can write to the sources tree:

chown -Rv tester .

The test suite of this package is designed to be run as a non-root user who owns the terminal connected to standard input. To satisfy the requirement, spawn a new pseudo terminal using Expect and run the tests as the tester user:

su -s /usr/bin/expect tester << EOF
set timeout -1
spawn make tests
expect eof
lassign [wait] _ _ _ value
exit $value
EOF

The test suite uses diff to detect the difference between test script output and the expected output. Any output from diff (prefixed with < and >) indicates a test failure, unless there is a message saying the difference can be ignored. One test named run-builtins is known to fail on some host distros with a difference on the first line of the output.

Install the package:

make install

Run the newly compiled bash program (replacing the one that is currently being executed):

exec /usr/bin/bash --login

8.35.2. Contents of Bash

Installed programs: bash, bashbug, and sh (link to bash)
Installed directory: /usr/include/bash, /usr/lib/bash, and /usr/share/doc/bash-5.2.15

Short Descriptions

bash

A widely-used command interpreter; it performs many types of expansions and substitutions on a given command line before executing it, thus making this interpreter a powerful tool

bashbug

A shell script to help the user compose and mail standard formatted bug reports concerning bash

sh

A symlink to the bash program; when invoked as sh, bash tries to mimic the startup behavior of historical versions of sh as closely as possible, while conforming to the POSIX standard as well

8.36. Libtool-2.4.7

The Libtool package contains the GNU generic library support script. It makes the use of shared libraries simpler with a consistent, portable interface.

Approximate build time: 1.3 SBU
Required disk space: 45 MB

8.36.1. Installation of Libtool

Prepare Libtool for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr

Compile the package:

make

To test the results, issue:

make -k check

Note

The test time for Libtool can be reduced significantly on a system with multiple cores. To do this, append TESTSUITEFLAGS=-j<N> to the line above. For instance, using -j4 can reduce the test time by over 60 percent.

Five tests are known to fail in the LFS build environment due to a circular dependency, but these tests pass if rechecked after automake has been installed. Additionally, with grep-3.8, two tests will trigger a warning for non-POSIX regular expressions and fail.

Install the package:

make install

Remove a useless static library:

rm -fv /usr/lib/libltdl.a

8.36.2. Contents of Libtool

Installed programs: libtool and libtoolize
Installed libraries: libltdl.so
Installed directories: /usr/include/libltdl and /usr/share/libtool

Short Descriptions

libtool

Provides generalized library-building support services

libtoolize

Provides a standard way to add libtool support to a package

libltdl

Hides the various difficulties of opening dynamically loaded libraries

8.37. GDBM-1.23

The GDBM package contains the GNU Database Manager. It is a library of database functions that uses extensible hashing and works like the standard UNIX dbm. The library provides primitives for storing key/data pairs, searching and retrieving the data by its key and deleting a key along with its data.

Approximate build time: less than 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 13 MB

8.37.1. Installation of GDBM

Prepare GDBM for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr    \
            --disable-static \
            --enable-libgdbm-compat

The meaning of the configure option:

--enable-libgdbm-compat

This switch enables building the libgdbm compatibility library. Some packages outside of LFS may require the older DBM routines it provides.

Compile the package:

make

To test the results, issue:

make check

Install the package:

make install

8.37.2. Contents of GDBM

Installed programs: gdbm_dump, gdbm_load, and gdbmtool
Installed libraries: libgdbm.so and libgdbm_compat.so

Short Descriptions

gdbm_dump

Dumps a GDBM database to a file

gdbm_load

Recreates a GDBM database from a dump file

gdbmtool

Tests and modifies a GDBM database

libgdbm

Contains functions to manipulate a hashed database

libgdbm_compat

Compatibility library containing older DBM functions

8.38. Gperf-3.1

Gperf generates a perfect hash function from a key set.

Approximate build time: less than 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 6.1 MB

8.38.1. Installation of Gperf

Prepare Gperf for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr --docdir=/usr/share/doc/gperf-3.1

Compile the package:

make

The tests are known to fail if running multiple simultaneous tests (-j option greater than 1). To test the results, issue:

make -j1 check

Install the package:

make install

8.38.2. Contents of Gperf

Installed program: gperf
Installed directory: /usr/share/doc/gperf-3.1

Short Descriptions

gperf

Generates a perfect hash from a key set

8.39. Expat-2.5.0

The Expat package contains a stream oriented C library for parsing XML.

Approximate build time: 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 12 MB

8.39.1. Installation of Expat

Prepare Expat for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr    \
            --disable-static \
            --docdir=/usr/share/doc/expat-2.5.0

Compile the package:

make

To test the results, issue:

make check

Install the package:

make install

If desired, install the documentation:

install -v -m644 doc/*.{html,css} /usr/share/doc/expat-2.5.0

8.39.2. Contents of Expat

Installed program: xmlwf
Installed libraries: libexpat.so
Installed directory: /usr/share/doc/expat-2.5.0

Short Descriptions

xmlwf

Is a non-validating utility to check whether or not XML documents are well formed

libexpat

Contains API functions for parsing XML

8.40. Inetutils-2.4

The Inetutils package contains programs for basic networking.

Approximate build time: 0.2 SBU
Required disk space: 31 MB

8.40.1. Installation of Inetutils

Prepare Inetutils for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr        \
            --bindir=/usr/bin    \
            --localstatedir=/var \
            --disable-logger     \
            --disable-whois      \
            --disable-rcp        \
            --disable-rexec      \
            --disable-rlogin     \
            --disable-rsh        \
            --disable-servers

The meaning of the configure options:

--disable-logger

This option prevents Inetutils from installing the logger program, which is used by scripts to pass messages to the System Log Daemon. Do not install it because Util-linux installs a more recent version.

--disable-whois

This option disables the building of the Inetutils whois client, which is out of date. Instructions for a better whois client are in the BLFS book.

--disable-r*

These parameters disable building obsolete programs that should not be used due to security issues. The functions provided by these programs can be provided by the openssh package in the BLFS book.

--disable-servers

This disables the installation of the various network servers included as part of the Inetutils package. These servers are deemed not appropriate in a basic LFS system. Some are insecure by nature and are only considered safe on trusted networks. Note that better replacements are available for many of these servers.

Compile the package:

make

To test the results, issue:

make check

Install the package:

make install

Move a program to the proper location:

mv -v /usr/{,s}bin/ifconfig

8.40.2. Contents of Inetutils

Installed programs: dnsdomainname, ftp, ifconfig, hostname, ping, ping6, talk, telnet, tftp, and traceroute

Short Descriptions

dnsdomainname

Show the system's DNS domain name

ftp

Is the file transfer protocol program

hostname

Reports or sets the name of the host

ifconfig

Manages network interfaces

ping

Sends echo-request packets and reports how long the replies take

ping6

A version of ping for IPv6 networks

talk

Is used to chat with another user

telnet

An interface to the TELNET protocol

tftp

A trivial file transfer program

traceroute

Traces the route your packets take from the host you are working on to another host on a network, showing all the intermediate hops (gateways) along the way

8.41. Less-643

The Less package contains a text file viewer.

Approximate build time: less than 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 12 MB

8.41.1. Installation of Less

Prepare Less for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc

The meaning of the configure options:

--sysconfdir=/etc

This option tells the programs created by the package to look in /etc for the configuration files.

Compile the package:

make

To test the results, issue:

make check

Install the package:

make install

8.41.2. Contents of Less

Installed programs: less, lessecho, and lesskey

Short Descriptions

less

A file viewer or pager; it displays the contents of the given file, letting the user scroll, find strings, and jump to marks

lessecho

Needed to expand meta-characters, such as * and ?, in filenames on Unix systems

lesskey

Used to specify the key bindings for less

8.42. Perl-5.38.0

The Perl package contains the Practical Extraction and Report Language.

Approximate build time: 7.1 SBU
Required disk space: 239 MB

8.42.1. Installation of Perl

This version of Perl builds the Compress::Raw::Zlib and Compress::Raw::BZip2 modules. By default Perl will use an internal copy of the sources for the build. Issue the following command so that Perl will use the libraries installed on the system:

export BUILD_ZLIB=False
export BUILD_BZIP2=0

To have full control over the way Perl is set up, you can remove the -des options from the following command and hand-pick the way this package is built. Alternatively, use the command exactly as shown below to use the defaults that Perl auto-detects:

sh Configure -des                                         \
             -Dprefix=/usr                                \
             -Dvendorprefix=/usr                          \
             -Dprivlib=/usr/lib/perl5/5.38/core_perl      \
             -Darchlib=/usr/lib/perl5/5.38/core_perl      \
             -Dsitelib=/usr/lib/perl5/5.38/site_perl      \
             -Dsitearch=/usr/lib/perl5/5.38/site_perl     \
             -Dvendorlib=/usr/lib/perl5/5.38/vendor_perl  \
             -Dvendorarch=/usr/lib/perl5/5.38/vendor_perl \
             -Dman1dir=/usr/share/man/man1                \
             -Dman3dir=/usr/share/man/man3                \
             -Dpager="/usr/bin/less -isR"                 \
             -Duseshrplib                                 \
             -Dusethreads

The meaning of the configure options:

-Dvendorprefix=/usr

This ensures perl knows how to tell packages where they should install their Perl modules.

-Dpager="/usr/bin/less -isR"

This ensures that less is used instead of more.

-Dman1dir=/usr/share/man/man1 -Dman3dir=/usr/share/man/man3

Since Groff is not installed yet, Configure will not create man pages for Perl. These parameters override this behavior.

-Duseshrplib

Build a shared libperl needed by some Perl modules.

-Dusethreads

Build Perl with support for threads.

-Dprivlib,-Darchlib,-Dsitelib,...

These settings define where Perl looks for installed modules. The LFS editors chose to put them in a directory structure based on the MAJOR.MINOR version of Perl (5.38) which allows upgrading Perl to newer patch levels (the patch level is the last dot separated part in the full version string like 5.38.0) without reinstalling all of the modules.

Compile the package:

make

To test the results (approximately 11 SBU), issue:

make test

Install the package and clean up:

make install
unset BUILD_ZLIB BUILD_BZIP2

8.42.2. Contents of Perl

Installed programs: corelist, cpan, enc2xs, encguess, h2ph, h2xs, instmodsh, json_pp, libnetcfg, perl, perl5.38.0 (hard link to perl), perlbug, perldoc, perlivp, perlthanks (hard link to perlbug), piconv, pl2pm, pod2html, pod2man, pod2text, pod2usage, podchecker, podselect, prove, ptar, ptardiff, ptargrep, shasum, splain, xsubpp, and zipdetails
Installed libraries: Many which cannot all be listed here
Installed directory: /usr/lib/perl5

Short Descriptions

corelist

A command line front end to Module::CoreList

cpan

Interact with the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN) from the command line

enc2xs

Builds a Perl extension for the Encode module from either Unicode Character Mappings or Tcl Encoding Files

encguess

Guess the encoding type of one or several files

h2ph

Converts .h C header files to .ph Perl header files

h2xs

Converts .h C header files to Perl extensions

instmodsh

Shell script for examining installed Perl modules; it can create a tarball from an installed module

json_pp

Converts data between certain input and output formats

libnetcfg

Can be used to configure the libnet Perl module

perl

Combines some of the best features of C, sed, awk and sh into a single Swiss Army language

perl5.38.0

A hard link to perl

perlbug

Used to generate bug reports about Perl, or the modules that come with it, and mail them

perldoc

Displays a piece of documentation in pod format that is embedded in the Perl installation tree or in a Perl script

perlivp

The Perl Installation Verification Procedure; it can be used to verify that Perl and its libraries have been installed correctly

perlthanks

Used to generate thank you messages to mail to the Perl developers

piconv

A Perl version of the character encoding converter iconv

pl2pm

A rough tool for converting Perl4 .pl files to Perl5 .pm modules

pod2html

Converts files from pod format to HTML format

pod2man

Converts pod data to formatted *roff input

pod2text

Converts pod data to formatted ASCII text

pod2usage

Prints usage messages from embedded pod docs in files

podchecker

Checks the syntax of pod format documentation files

podselect

Displays selected sections of pod documentation

prove

Command line tool for running tests against the Test::Harness module

ptar

A tar-like program written in Perl

ptardiff

A Perl program that compares an extracted archive with an unextracted one

ptargrep

A Perl program that applies pattern matching to the contents of files in a tar archive

shasum

Prints or checks SHA checksums

splain

Is used to force verbose warning diagnostics in Perl

xsubpp

Converts Perl XS code into C code

zipdetails

Displays details about the internal structure of a Zip file

8.43. XML::Parser-2.46

The XML::Parser module is a Perl interface to James Clark's XML parser, Expat.

Approximate build time: less than 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 2.3 MB

8.43.1. Installation of XML::Parser

Prepare XML::Parser for compilation:

perl Makefile.PL

Compile the package:

make

To test the results, issue:

make test

Install the package:

make install

8.43.2. Contents of XML::Parser

Installed module: Expat.so

Short Descriptions

Expat

provides the Perl Expat interface

8.44. Intltool-0.51.0

The Intltool is an internationalization tool used for extracting translatable strings from source files.

Approximate build time: less than 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 1.5 MB

8.44.1. Installation of Intltool

First fix a warning that is caused by perl-5.22 and later:

sed -i 's:\\\${:\\\$\\{:' intltool-update.in

Note

The above regular expression looks unusual because of all the backslashes. What it does is add a backslash before the right brace character in the sequence '\${' resulting in '\$\{'.

Prepare Intltool for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr

Compile the package:

make

To test the results, issue:

make check

Install the package:

make install
install -v -Dm644 doc/I18N-HOWTO /usr/share/doc/intltool-0.51.0/I18N-HOWTO

8.44.2. Contents of Intltool

Installed programs: intltool-extract, intltool-merge, intltool-prepare, intltool-update, and intltoolize
Installed directories: /usr/share/doc/intltool-0.51.0 and /usr/share/intltool

Short Descriptions

intltoolize

Prepares a package to use intltool

intltool-extract

Generates header files that can be read by gettext

intltool-merge

Merges translated strings into various file types

intltool-prepare

Updates pot files and merges them with translation files

intltool-update

Updates the po template files and merges them with the translations

8.45. Autoconf-2.71

The Autoconf package contains programs for producing shell scripts that can automatically configure source code.

Approximate build time: less than 0.1 SBU (about 6.0 SBU with tests)
Required disk space: 24 MB

8.45.1. Installation of Autoconf

First, fix several problems with the tests caused by bash-5.2 and later:

sed -e 's/SECONDS|/&SHLVL|/'               \
    -e '/BASH_ARGV=/a\        /^SHLVL=/ d' \
    -i.orig tests/local.at

Prepare Autoconf for compilation:

./configure --prefix=/usr

Compile the package:

make

To test the results, issue:

make check

Note

The test time for autoconf can be reduced significantly on a system with multiple cores. To do this, append TESTSUITEFLAGS=-j<N> to the line above. For instance, using -j4 can reduce the test time by over 60 percent.

Install the package:

make install

8.45.2. Contents of Autoconf

Installed programs: autoconf, autoheader, autom4te, autoreconf, autoscan, autoupdate, and ifnames
Installed directory: /usr/share/autoconf

Short Descriptions

autoconf