This book describes the process of creating your own Linux system from scratch from an already installed Linux distribution, using nothing but the sources of software that are needed.

This book is intended for Linux users who want to learn more about the inner workings of Linux and how the various pieces of the Operating System fit together. This book will guide you step-by-step in creating your own custom build Linux system from scratch, using nothing but the sources of software that are needed.

This book is also intended for Linux users who want to get away from the existing commercial and free distributions that are often too bloated. Using existing distributions also forces you to use the file system structure, boot script structure, etc. that they choose to use. With this book you can create your own structures and methods in exactly the way you like them (which can be based on the ones this book provides) Also, if you have security concerns, you don't want to rely on pre-compiled packages. So instead, you want to compile all programs from scratch and install them yourself. That could be another reason why you would want to build a custom made Linux system.

Those are just a few out of many reasons why people want to build their own Linux system. If you're one of those people, this book is meant for you.

Operating System Free downloadable ebook: Linux from Scratch.pdf

Introduction

Having used a number of different Linux distributions, I was never fully satisfied with any of those. I didn't like the way the bootscripts were arranged, or I didn't like the way certain programs were configured by default and more of those things...........more

I came to realize that when I want to be totally satisfied with a Linux system, I have to build my own Linux system from scratch, ideally only using the source code. Not using pre-compiled packages of any kind. No help from some sort of cdrom or bootdisk that would install some basic utilities. You would use your current Linux system and use that one to build your own.

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

How things are going to be done

We are going to build the LFS system using an already installed Linux distribution such as Debian, SuSe, Slackware, Mandrake, RedHat, etc. You don't need to have any kind of bootdisk. We will use an existing Linux system as the base (since we need a compiler, linker, text editor and other tools).

If you don't have Linux installed yet, you won't be able to put this book to use right away. I suggest you first install a Linux distribution. It really doesn't matter which one you install. It also doesn't need to be the latest version, though it shouldn't be a too old one. If it is about a year old or newer it should do just fine. You will safe yourself a lot of trouble if your normal system uses glibc-2.0 or newer. Libc5 isn't supported by this book, though it isn't impossible to use a libc5 system if you have no choice.

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