Linux from Scratch system complete

I finally got time to finish going through the Linux From Scratch book (see September 2).  Throughout the week, I would stop by the machine and enter the commands to build a few utilities, and today I finished.  I’m not done building the system, as I still need to add ftp and http servers, but I’ve completed the basic LFS configuration and now have a functional Linux system that I built 100% from the sources.  It’s something of a tedious process, typing all those commands to build the 50 or so packages it takes to get a working system, but it’s an excellent educational experience, and you get a working system out of the deal.  I learned a heck of a lot about what’s going on under the hood, and seeing it all go together gives me something of a road map to the things I need to learn more about.

I highly recommend LFS for anybody who is interested in learning more about the nuts and bolts of Linux.  And, no, you don’t need to be a programmer in order to build an LFS system.  Some prior experience with Linux would certainly be helpful, but is not strictly necessary.  Well worth the effort, but not recommended if all you want is a working system.