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.
Emphasis
This form of text is used for several purposes in the book. Its main purpose is to emphasize important points or items.
http://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 specific page being
referred to. It should be noted that most man pages do not have
duplicate page names in different sections. Therefore, man <program
name> is generally sufficient.