I Built Linux from Scratch • Hacker News Board

Re: I Built Linux from Scratch

#11

Post by TillE » Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 4:48 PM UTC

marginalia_nu wrote: post #7

I built LFS like back in 2005 or something. I remember it took forever. I wonder if it's faster or slower now. My computer is definitely faster, but I also have a creeping suspicion the code has gotten a lot bigger. Then at some point I switched to gentoo. I remember I vacillated between gentoo and slackware. The important thing was that I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time.

Same, I used LFS for a couple months in college until I got annoyed about manual updates and switched to Gentoo. And back in those days you had to do it on actual hardware, not a VM. I had a job interviewer at the time who asked which Linux distro I used, and it was fun to tell them about that.

I would definitely recommend going through LFS to anyone maintaining Linux systems, it really helps you understand how things work.

Re: I Built Linux from Scratch

#12

Post by Shared404 » Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 4:53 PM UTC

wheelerof4te wrote: post #6

If you need something more practical, but still challenging, try Slackware. Use the advanced install feature and only select the packages you need. Build the other software yourself. You can choose your own difficulty this way. You can also follow the distro's way of packaging up software (build scripts), or build it the software developer's way. The main advantages of building software yourself are: 1. You are a dev…

It seems to me that slackware + flatpak could make a _really_ stable base for a desktop, but I've not got deep experience with either so could be making stuff up.

Re: I Built Linux from Scratch

#13

Post by polski-g » Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 4:56 PM UTC

If you have children, a much better investment is to have them install LFS and forbid them from using Windows/Mac, compared to going to college. I did not learn a damn thing in college because I'd been using Linux since age 12.

Re: I Built Linux from Scratch

#14

Post by TuringTourist » Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 5:04 PM UTC

polski-g wrote: post #13

If you have children, a much better investment is to have them install LFS and forbid them from using Windows/Mac, compared to going to college. I did not learn a damn thing in college because I'd been using Linux since age 12.

If you approach college or any education with the attitude that you know everything already, you will likely learn about as much as if that were actually true.

Re: I Built Linux from Scratch

#15

Post by Xeamek » Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 5:11 PM UTC

After I finish the whole process, can I slap pacman on top my freshly build LTS and effectively transform it into Arch and daily drive it? Or is it only meant "for the journey" of building it, but can't realistically be used as a daily?

Re: I Built Linux from Scratch

#16

Post by vmoore » Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 5:11 PM UTC

There's the LFS Project[0] route and then there's building things on top of the latest Debian or Arch releases. All are good learning exercises. The only real hurdle is installing drivers for things like Printers, Wi-Fi adapters, graphics cards, etc. That can be a headache-and-a-half.

[0] https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/

Re: I Built Linux from Scratch

#17

Post by jterrys » Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 5:15 PM UTC

polski-g wrote: post #13

If you have children, a much better investment is to have them install LFS and forbid them from using Windows/Mac, compared to going to college. I did not learn a damn thing in college because I'd been using Linux since age 12.

Perhaps you missed the point of college if all you did were things within your comfort zone

Re: I Built Linux from Scratch

#18

Post by ttyprintk » Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 5:16 PM UTC

vmoore wrote: post #16

There's the LFS Project[0] route and then there's building things on top of the latest Debian or Arch releases. All are good learning exercises. The only real hurdle is installing drivers for things like Printers, Wi-Fi adapters, graphics cards, etc. That can be a headache-and-a-half. [0] https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/

Beyond Linux From Scratch (BLFS) is helpful with the latter.

Re: I Built Linux from Scratch

#19

Post by Melkor765 » Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 5:18 PM UTC

polski-g wrote: post #13

If you have children, a much better investment is to have them install LFS and forbid them from using Windows/Mac, compared to going to college. I did not learn a damn thing in college because I'd been using Linux since age 12.

I have a similar background and got a lot out of my CS program, its about what you put into it. Sorry you had a bad experience, that can absolutely make it harder to invest.

Re: I Built Linux from Scratch

#20

Post by vincent-manis » Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 5:19 PM UTC

polski-g wrote: post #13

If you have children, a much better investment is to have them install LFS and forbid them from using Windows/Mac, compared to going to college. I did not learn a damn thing in college because I'd been using Linux since age 12.

True. Building Linux from scratch will teach you everything in a modern CS curriculum, including the `cut' operator in Prolog, Boyce-Codd Normal Form, and alpha-beta pruning. \end{snark}