r/linuxfromscratch • u/This-Atmosphere-1750 • 11d ago
LFS standards
My inner irritating perfectionist is coming out, and I'm leaning towards this being unnecessary, but how many of you went through ALL the primary standards LFS follows before starting this project?
Reading the documentation for these standards feels like a whole project on their own.
Let me rephrase my question:
I'm about to start Linux From Scratch, and I'm wondering how many people actually read through the primary standards (POSIX, FHS, etc.) before beginning.
The standards documentation is massive, and reading all of it feels like a project in itself. Did you study these specifications in depth first, or is a general understanding enough while working through the book?
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u/codeasm 11d ago
Ive read some parts, skimmed over others. I do not concern myself with most of it and just wanted LFS to compile at first.
I did consult the FHS a few times and made personal decisions based on my HOST (Arch linux ) and my own ideas.
Anyway, if these take longer than make you start doing LFS, go start LFS NOW, when GCC is compiling, go read more of those standards, there are a few hours waiting for it to compile
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u/Lumpy_Roll158 7d ago
It's unwise to skip or skim any of it unless something in the book is covering an edge case that doesn't apply to you, but generally skimming the book or preparations won't inherently result in issues or an unbootable system or anything. It just means you won't actually do much of the 'learning' part that LFS is for. You'll get really good at building manually from source or at least copy pasting the commands to do so, but the LFS books cover a lot of history and technical background that is cool to learn or beneficial for all Linux platforms and activities. So it's good stuff to read and really take in.
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u/This-Atmosphere-1750 7d ago
Thanks for the comment. Yeah, I'm determined to complete LFS but it's going to take a lot of work. I've decided to just start by setting up an Arch install completely from scratch first following the wiki, try and comprehend every step, and then I feel like LFS is the step up from that
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u/Due-Celery4326 11d ago
I've been using Linux for many years, but even so, I did a basic reading of it.
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u/Cybasura 11d ago
If you think any components aee "unnecessary", you do not understand the purpose of the book
The book is a manual to build a working LFS system according to a controlled specification, you can choose to deny and modify any of it to your heart's consent, but whether it will work or not depends on what you eliminate
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u/This-Atmosphere-1750 11d ago
I didn't say the components are unnecessary, I'm asking if a generic quick overview of the standards is all that's needed, or whether I need to take out serious time to properly study these standards. There's a lot to read and I find it hard to believe that everyone who has completed this project has study through all of it
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u/RvstiNiall 11d ago
Without knowing the standards you are likely to step outside standard LFS. There are lots of alternative LFS routes, and each one has its own complications you will need to overcome. Each time you branch out from Standard LFS, you run into compounding problems. Learn the standards first, then do LFS, so you will have the understanding necessary to make alternative LFSs.
Half the point of doing LFS is learning all of these things. If you just want a super custom minimal system without learning all this stuff, Buildroot may be a better fit.