Build Linux from scratch

I still love this idea, however I haven’t done it. Mostly because of the issues I had for such a long time with my hardware. Now that I’ve finally got decent equipment and the means to maintain it, I’m going to start over from scratch with this. No pun intended. The next thing I need to do is set up a partition for LFS on my Laptop. Its already got a shiny Mint installation, so once I have that spare partition, I should be good to go.

The funny thing is that I am really enthusiastic about this. Its just that my tools are letting me down. I even put my decrepit old laptop in an industrial ice cream freezer in order to get this Thing done.

To elaborate, I started my Linux from Scratch project on my old Pentium 3 laptop. It was the only computer I owned when I started this that had both Linux and a working CD-ROM. Important components for building Linux from Scratch. However, it wasn’t until it came to building Glibc that my old laptop’s issue with overheating became apparent. It just couldn’t handle it. Logically, I took it to work with me the next day and stuck it in the ice cream freezer while it built. That worked.

However, it wasn’t a good long term solution. Customers get a bit flustered seeing a laptop sitting in the ice cream freezer. Not only that, but it is possible for a computer to get too cold and do what can only be called “underheat”. The result is the same as overheating – it shuts down and you have to wait for the temperature to stablise before proceeding.

Frustrating.

Now that I have a USB DVD-ROM and Linux on my main computer, my problems should be over. Tomorrow I’m hoping to set up a new partition for LFS and finally get this Thing back on track.

So, I’m up to chapter 5 of “Linux From Scratch”, which involves installing the toolchain. I’ve already learned quite a bit about many things, so even if I end up with a crappy LFS, it has been well worth the effort.

One of the things I’ve learned is that Ubuntu by default lacks a few things that are required. Oh, don’t get me wrong – that can be fixed. But its a little frustrating when you’re ready to go, fully intending to complete the toolchain in one sitting and then discover you’re missing critical packages required on the host system. Since I was trapped somewhere without a net connection for the duration, I was highly unamused with my completely unproductive LFS day.

Oh well, at least I had my knitting.

Another tip – just because it doesn’t error/warn when it discovers the host system doesn’t have a particular package during configuration, doesn’t mean it won’t stuff up when you make the damn thing. So, if you’re insane enough to do this – carefully check all configuration messages – particularly when installing glibc. If it says something like:

gawk….no

stop what you’re doing. Go get gawk (or whatever its shaking its head about) as soon as possible, if not sooner. You will find with Ubuntu 7.04 that you probably need to go get autoconf, bison, makeinfo and many, many more. So, check those config messages carefully.

Oh and as another tasty treat – Ubuntu just doesn’t do makeinfo. If you’re looking for it in Synaptics, you wont find it. Apt-get won’t help you either, obviously. What you’re looking for is texinfo, instead. That does the trick. Wish I’d known that half an hour ago…

The u, i, o, and p keys suddenly failing to function on the laptop I was using for this experiment really just topped off a perfect LFS day.

Yes, I know. Would I like some cheese to go with that?

Despite all of that I have, in fact, been having fun. I’m that kinda girl. I like learning new things. No matter how much frustration I have to go through to get that knowledge. The book is very thorough, but what I like best about it is that it explains why you have to do things, rather than taking the typical attitude of ‘because I said so’ that so many computer books possess.

Not a big fan of ‘because I said so’.

Unless I’m the one saying it, obviously. That’s entirely different.

...when you spend far too much time on Linux forums. Now I feel the urge to compile my own version of Linux. Masochist, much?

I think I’ll just go for a plain vanilla version that functions for this challenge. However, my ultimate goal would be to create a version of Linux that will just work with any wireless network device you care to throw at it.

Wanna know why?

Actually, I don’t really care if you want to know – I’ll tell you anyhow, so just nod and smile. Most versions of Linux that I’ve used have been a royal pain-in-the-ass to get functioning with the wireless adapter that I have. The worst part is the lack of documentation and the assumption of knowledge that abounds. So, having done my bit and written a coherent, step-by-step HOWTO, I think its time to make the HOWTO obselete by making the damn thing just work! Yay!

Should you also start feeling masochistic, its all downhill from here:

Linux from Scratch