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I Built Linux from Scratch

thesloth.me

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Re: I Built Linux from Scratch

#51

Post by coldpie »

Daegalus wrote: post #21

I did LFS back when I was a pre-teen/teen. So late 90s, early 00s. And while I agree to an extent that it doesn't give you much day-to-day stuff, it really makes you more comfortable with operating systems and linux especially. Nowadays, I am a devops/infrastructure engineer, and I can say LFS is a core foundational experience that has let me be better at my job. I know deeper inner workings of a Linux distro and tha…

Same, though a bit later, circa 2007. It's great for software developers too. It's a good quick intro to many different build systems & philosophies, and shows you how the different pieces of software connect together by standard paths and package management tools like pkgconfig. Being able to quickly dive into a new project, understand how to build it and hook other software into it, debug build problems, and make quick hack changes is extremely valuable for developers.

Re: I Built Linux from Scratch

#52

Post by richardwhiuk »

vincent-manis wrote: post #20
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}

https://www.shlomifish.org/humour/by-others/funroll-loops/Ge...

Re: I Built Linux from Scratch

#53

Post by imthesloth »

1970-01-01 wrote: post #46

Do the hashes match? Is it 'wrong' if they don't?

Hi, in which context are you referring to the 'hashes'?

If you're asking about the hashes for required packages in 'Chapter 3. Packages and Patched', the hashes should match if you're downloading from the provided mirror - https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/mirrors.html#files

Downloading from these mirrors ensures that you have the exact version needed for the build, in any other cases you run the risk of the system not working as expected / documented in the book.

Re: I Built Linux from Scratch

#54

Post by sprior »

I did it in 2001 and it was one of the most educational things I've ever done. I think there should be a college course which gives you a box of computer parts at the beginning of the semester and at the end you get the grade displayed on a web page hosted on that computer built entirely from source.

I have some precedent for that kind of thing, back in 1987 I made a deal with a prof that as an independent study course a friend and I were going to build a pair of voice synthesizers on IBM PC Prototype boards using the synth chips available at Radio Shack and he'd give us the grade my computer verbally asked him for at the end of the semester. I had no backup plan and it was a crazy risk, but we got A's and the teacher regretted not having us make one for him as well.

Re: I Built Linux from Scratch

#55

Post by 1970-01-01 »

imthesloth wrote: post #53
1970-01-01 wrote: post #46

Do the hashes match? Is it 'wrong' if they don't?

Hi, in which context are you referring to the 'hashes'? If you're asking about the hashes for required packages in 'Chapter 3. Packages and Patched', the hashes should match if you're downloading from the provided mirror - https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/mirrors.html#files Downloading from these mirrors ensures that you have the exact version needed for the build, in any other cases you run the risk of the syste…

Nevermind, I thought this was about the Linux kernel.

Re: I Built Linux from Scratch

#56

Post by tutfbhuf »

Daegalus wrote: post #21

I did LFS back when I was a pre-teen/teen. So late 90s, early 00s. And while I agree to an extent that it doesn't give you much day-to-day stuff, it really makes you more comfortable with operating systems and linux especially. Nowadays, I am a devops/infrastructure engineer, and I can say LFS is a core foundational experience that has let me be better at my job. I know deeper inner workings of a Linux distro and tha…

How does it compare to install Arch linux without an installer? I remember that it took me a day or two of tinkering, when I did it for the first time (circa 2009) and I learned a lot. As of today, Arch remains my distro of choice.

Re: I Built Linux from Scratch

#57

Post by charcircuit »

It's a waste of time. There is a reason why this is all done automatically. This is one of the things I think about when people say that "Linux is only free if you don't value your time."

Even if you try and argue it is educational. Learning how to build programs does not require LFS. LFS is inefficient as a learning tool

Re: I Built Linux from Scratch

#58

Post by imiric »

tutfbhuf wrote: post #56
Daegalus wrote: post #21

I did LFS back when I was a pre-teen/teen. So late 90s, early 00s. And while I agree to an extent that it doesn't give you much day-to-day stuff, it really makes you more comfortable with operating systems and linux especially. Nowadays, I am a devops/infrastructure engineer, and I can say LFS is a core foundational experience that has let me be better at my job. I know deeper inner workings of a Linux distro and tha…

How does it compare to install Arch linux without an installer? I remember that it took me a day or two of tinkering, when I did it for the first time (circa 2009) and I learned a lot. As of today, Arch remains my distro of choice.

It's very different. With LFS you build your own distro. You bootstrap the filesystem, build your kernel and everything else from source, and there's no package manager. That means manually managing dependencies, which is a nightmare in and of itself, and something we take for granted with Linux distros.

The LFS book is quite thorough, so you technically only need to copy/paste commands, but you learn _a lot_ about Linux in the process. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Linux. I did it once in college, and parts of BLFS IIRC, and it's one of the few memorable projects I got from my degree.

Re: I Built Linux from Scratch

#60

Post by ilyt »

lrvick wrote: post #34
Daegalus wrote: post #21

I did LFS back when I was a pre-teen/teen. So late 90s, early 00s. And while I agree to an extent that it doesn't give you much day-to-day stuff, it really makes you more comfortable with operating systems and linux especially. Nowadays, I am a devops/infrastructure engineer, and I can say LFS is a core foundational experience that has let me be better at my job. I know deeper inner workings of a Linux distro and tha…

IMO a secure server is an immutable appliance. I still build Linux from scratch most weeks as a core part of my job. Bare bones hardened kernel + shim init + target application are all you need, and will be your highest security/reliability systems. And yeah, threadrippers are a must.

As in manually or https://buildroot.org/ ?
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