Language Selection

English French German Italian Portuguese Spanish

Linux From Scratch 6.1 - Part 2 - BLFS

Filed under
Linux
Reviews
-s

Apparently BLFS-6.1 was released well over a week ago but I didn't notice it until recently. I'd been checking back every few days since my original Linux From Scratch 6.1 article on July 11, ...I thought. Had it really been that long since I checked? Well, no matter, I have it now and unlike the LFS-html docbook, it's not lain out exactly in a linear manner. I had the basic LFS 6.1 install in place and I was hoping I only needed to pick up from there. The BLFS docbook lists such topics as security, filesystems, shells, editors, differing networking configurations, and my main goal here: X and window managers.

First thing I did in preparation to resume the install of the LFS system was to mount the lfs partition and chroot into it. I started with the "After LFS Configuraton Issues," where one is instructed on how to handle a few things under the hood like adding new users, compressing man and info pages, and setting up some user startup files. This section is straight forward and easy to follow.

The next section deals with security. I wasn't too concerned with that portion at this time and as such, most of that section was skipped. If you choose to install BLFS, you may wish to complete much more than I. I really only chose to use the PAM portion of this section, and it went without a hitch and I found the docs very informative.

The next goal was networking. As I wouldn't be using dial-up or pppoe, I just opted for dhcpcd. Again, the procedure in this section was fully explained and the task was easily accomplished. Some of the utilities and programs I chose to install were links, wget, net-tools, ntp, and fetchmail. No problems with this section, but X was next. <shudder>

Despite my trepidation, I was successful this go around. I was quite pleased with the instructions in the section to build X. It listed all dependencies and gave the commands that worked without a hitch. Other instructions included how to setup a xorg.conf, some ttf directories, and keyboard/mice devices. Next I worked on some graphic libraries that a desktop environment or window manager might need. These included qt, gtk, lesstif, and much more (and associated dependencies). All downloaded, compiled and installed with no issue. The docbook is working quite well so far.

The next course of action was get a window manager installed. KDE was once the only window manager (excuse me, desktop environment) for me. However last 6 months or so, since my Month with Fluxbox actually, I've grown quite fond of Fluxbox. This was my choice for my lfs install. Of course all went well with the fluxbox install. The blfs book didn't include feh that I felt I needed, so I had to stray off on my own for that, as well as torsmo, fbpanel and idesk.

Next I needed some internet applications. Without KDE, I was going to need a stand alone browser, email and newgroup applications. ...or I could just use mozilla or opera. That's what I decided to do. Upon booting into my LFS system I installed the nvidia graphic drivers and loaded up some modules and started X with fluxbox. Then I ran the mozilla-installer and was surfing the internet in no time at all.

I still have a lot of work to do in finding and installing other needed applications and configure torsmo and such. I also need to work extensively on the eye candy by installing some icons, more fonts and themes. ...generally make it more useful. But in so much as this is might be considered a review of sorts, I must say the authors at BLFS did a mighty remarkable job. Their instructions pick right up where LFS left off and allows one to build a homemade system without any issue. The added explanations were not only informative, but quite interesting. I found them complete without being boring. I encourage everyone who wishes to learn more how a linux system functions to give it a try. Everyone needs to do it at least once. Big Grin

Download LFS

Download BLFS

One Note: Use the nochunk version (all on one html page) as the multiple-page version isn't quite fully updated as of this writing.

Stay tuned for Part 3.

More in Tux Machines

digiKam 7.7.0 is released

After three months of active maintenance and another bug triage, the digiKam team is proud to present version 7.7.0 of its open source digital photo manager. See below the list of most important features coming with this release. Read more

Dilution and Misuse of the "Linux" Brand

Samsung, Red Hat to Work on Linux Drivers for Future Tech

The metaverse is expected to uproot system design as we know it, and Samsung is one of many hardware vendors re-imagining data center infrastructure in preparation for a parallel 3D world. Samsung is working on new memory technologies that provide faster bandwidth inside hardware for data to travel between CPUs, storage and other computing resources. The company also announced it was partnering with Red Hat to ensure these technologies have Linux compatibility. Read more

today's howtos

  • How to install go1.19beta on Ubuntu 22.04 – NextGenTips

    In this tutorial, we are going to explore how to install go on Ubuntu 22.04 Golang is an open-source programming language that is easy to learn and use. It is built-in concurrency and has a robust standard library. It is reliable, builds fast, and efficient software that scales fast. Its concurrency mechanisms make it easy to write programs that get the most out of multicore and networked machines, while its novel-type systems enable flexible and modular program constructions. Go compiles quickly to machine code and has the convenience of garbage collection and the power of run-time reflection. In this guide, we are going to learn how to install golang 1.19beta on Ubuntu 22.04. Go 1.19beta1 is not yet released. There is so much work in progress with all the documentation.

  • molecule test: failed to connect to bus in systemd container - openQA bites

    Ansible Molecule is a project to help you test your ansible roles. I’m using molecule for automatically testing the ansible roles of geekoops.

  • How To Install MongoDB on AlmaLinux 9 - idroot

    In this tutorial, we will show you how to install MongoDB on AlmaLinux 9. For those of you who didn’t know, MongoDB is a high-performance, highly scalable document-oriented NoSQL database. Unlike in SQL databases where data is stored in rows and columns inside tables, in MongoDB, data is structured in JSON-like format inside records which are referred to as documents. The open-source attribute of MongoDB as a database software makes it an ideal candidate for almost any database-related project. This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of the MongoDB NoSQL database on AlmaLinux 9. You can follow the same instructions for CentOS and Rocky Linux.

  • An introduction (and how-to) to Plugin Loader for the Steam Deck. - Invidious
  • Self-host a Ghost Blog With Traefik

    Ghost is a very popular open-source content management system. Started as an alternative to WordPress and it went on to become an alternative to Substack by focusing on membership and newsletter. The creators of Ghost offer managed Pro hosting but it may not fit everyone's budget. Alternatively, you can self-host it on your own cloud servers. On Linux handbook, we already have a guide on deploying Ghost with Docker in a reverse proxy setup. Instead of Ngnix reverse proxy, you can also use another software called Traefik with Docker. It is a popular open-source cloud-native application proxy, API Gateway, Edge-router, and more. I use Traefik to secure my websites using an SSL certificate obtained from Let's Encrypt. Once deployed, Traefik can automatically manage your certificates and their renewals. In this tutorial, I'll share the necessary steps for deploying a Ghost blog with Docker and Traefik.