Shifting chapter contents, and moving preparational sections of chapter 5 to a separate chapter.

git-svn-id: http://svn.linuxfromscratch.org/LFS/trunk/BOOK@3284 4aa44e1e-78dd-0310-a6d2-fbcd4c07a689

1 files changed, 228 insertions, 277 deletions

diff --git a/chapter04/chapter04.xml b/chapter04/chapter04.xml
index 79383efb0..07d13156e 100644
--- a/chapter04/chapter04.xml
+++ b/chapter04/chapter04.xml
@@ -1,333 +1,284 @@
-<chapter id="chapter-getting-materials" xreflabel="Chapter 4">
-<title>The materials: packages and patches</title>
+<chapter id="chapter-preparation" xreflabel="Chapter 4">
+<title>Last preparations</title>
 <?dbhtml filename="chapter04.html" dir="chapter04"?>
 
 
-<sect1 id="materials-introduction">
-<title>Introduction</title>
-<?dbhtml filename="introduction.html" dir="chapter04"?>
-
-<para>Below is a list of packages you need to download for building a basic
-Linux system. The listed version numbers correspond to versions of the
-software that are <emphasis>known</emphasis> to work, and this book is
-based upon them. Unless you are an experienced LFS builder, we highly
-recommend not to try out newer versions, as the build commands for one
-version may not work with a newer version. Also, there is often a good
-reason for not using the latest version due to known problems that haven't
-been worked around yet.</para>
-
-<para>All the URLs, when possible, refer to the project's page at
-<ulink url="http://www.freshmeat.net/"/>. The Freshmeat
-pages will give you easy access to the official download sites as well as
-project websites, mailing lists, FAQs, changelogs and more.</para>
-
-<para>We can't guarantee that these download locations are always available.
-In case a download location has changed since this book was published, please
-try to google for the package. Should you remain unsuccessful with this, you
-can consult the book's errata page at <ulink url="&lfs-root;lfs/print/"/>
-or, better yet, try one of the alternative means of downloading listed on
-<ulink url="&lfs-root;lfs/packages.html"/>.</para>
-
-<para>You'll need to store all the downloaded packages and patches somewhere
-that is conveniently available throughout the entire build. You'll also need a
-working directory in which to unpack the sources and build them. A scheme that
-works well is to use <filename>$LFS/sources</filename> as the place to store
-the tarballs and patches, <emphasis>and</emphasis> as a working directory.
-This way everything you need will be located on the LFS partition and available
-during all stages of the building process.</para>
-
-<para>So you may want to execute, as <emphasis>root</emphasis>, the following
-command before starting your download session:</para>
-
-<screen><userinput>mkdir $LFS/sources</userinput></screen>
-
-<para>And make this directory writable (and sticky) for your normal user -- as
-you won't do the downloading as <emphasis>root</emphasis>, we guess:</para>
-
-<screen><userinput>chmod a+wt $LFS/sources</userinput></screen>
-
-<!--
-<para>For your convenience the top of the list contains a link to a file
-you can use with the <ulink url="http://wget.sunsite.dk">wget</ulink>
-program. Using this file and the <command>wget</command> program will
-make it easy to download all the files at once, rather than downloading each
-and every individual file manually.</para>
--->
+<sect1 id="prepare-aboutlfs">
+<title>About $LFS</title>
+<?dbhtml filename="aboutlfs.html" dir="chapter04"?>
 
-</sect1>
-
-
-<sect1 id="materials-packages">
-<title>All the packages</title>
-<?dbhtml filename="packages.html" dir="chapter04"?>
-
-<para>Download or otherwise obtain the following packages:</para>
-
-<literallayout>
-Autoconf (&autoconf-version;) - &autoconf-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/autoconf/"/>
-
-Automake (&automake-version;) - &automake-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/automake/"/>
-
-Bash (&bash-version;) - &bash-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/gnubash/"/>
-
-Binutils (&binutils-version;) - &binutils-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/binutils/"/>
-
-Bison (&bison-version;) - &bison-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/bison/"/>
-
-Bzip2 (&bzip2-version;) - &bzip2-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/bzip2/"/>
-
-Coreutils (&coreutils-version;) - &coreutils-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/coreutils/"/>
-
-DejaGnu (&dejagnu-version;) - &dejagnu-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/dejagnu/"/>
-
-Diffutils (&diffutils-version;) - &diffutils-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/diffutils/"/>
-
-E2fsprogs (&e2fsprogs-version;) - &e2fsprogs-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/e2fsprogs/"/>
-
-Ed (&ed-version;) - &ed-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/ed/"/>
-
-Expect (&expect-version;) - &expect-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/expect/"/>
-
-File (&file-version;) - &file-size;: -- <emphasis>(see Note 1 below)</emphasis>
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/file/"/>
-
-Findutils (&findutils-version;) - &findutils-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/findutils/"/>
-
-Flex (&flex-version;) - &flex-size;:
-<ulink url="ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/non-gnu/flex/"/>
-
-Gawk (&gawk-version;) - &gawk-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/gnuawk/"/>
-
-GCC (&gcc-2953-version;) - &gcc-2953-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/gcc/"/>
-
-GCC-core (&gcc-version;) - &gcc-core-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/gcc/"/>
-
-GCC-g++ (&gcc-version;) - &gcc-gpp-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/gcc/"/>
+<para>Throughout this book the environment variable LFS will be used several
+times. It is paramount that this variable is always defined. It should be set
+to the mount point you chose for your LFS partition. Check that your LFS
+variable is set up properly with:</para>
 
-GCC-testsuite (&gcc-version;) - &gcc-testsuite-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/gcc/"/>
+<screen><userinput>echo $LFS</userinput></screen>
 
-Gettext (&gettext-version;) - &gettext-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/gettext/"/>
+<para>Make sure the output shows the path to your LFS partition's mount
+point, which is <filename class="directory">/mnt/lfs</filename> if you
+followed our example. If the output is wrong, you can always set the variable
+with:</para>
 
-Glibc (&glibc-version;) - &glibc-size;: -- <emphasis>(see Note 2 below)</emphasis>
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/glibc/"/>
+<screen><userinput>export LFS=/mnt/lfs</userinput></screen>
 
-Grep (&grep-version;) - &grep-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/grep/"/>
+<para>Having this variable set means that if you are told to run a command like
+<userinput>mkdir $LFS/tools</userinput>, you can type it literally. Your shell
+will replace "$LFS" with "/mnt/lfs" (or whatever you set the variable to) when
+it processes the command line.</para>
 
-Groff (&groff-version;) - &groff-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/groff/"/>
-
-Grub (&grub-version;) - &grub-size;:
-<ulink url="ftp://alpha.gnu.org/pub/gnu/grub/"/>
-
-Gzip (&gzip-version;) - &gzip-size;:
-<ulink url="ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/gzip/"/>
-
-Inetutils (&inetutils-version;) - &inetutils-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/inetutils/"/>
-
-Kbd (&kbd-version;) - &kbd-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/kbd/"/>
-
-Less (&less-version;) - &less-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/less/"/>
-
-LFS-Bootscripts (&bootscripts-version;) - &bootscripts-size;:
-<ulink url="&http-down;lfs-bootscripts-&bootscripts-version;.tar.bz2"/>
-
-Lfs-Utils (&lfs-utils-version;) - &lfs-utils-size;:
-<ulink url="&lfs-root;~winkie/downloads/lfs-utils/"/>
-
-Libtool (&libtool-version;) - &libtool-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/libtool/"/>
-
-Linux (&kernel-version;) - &kernel-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/linux/"/>
-
-M4 (&m4-version;) - &m4-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/gnum4/"/>
+</sect1>
 
-Make (&make-version;) - &make-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/gnumake/"/>
 
-Make_devices (&makedev-version;) - &makedev-size;:
-<ulink url="&lfs-root;~alex/make_devices-&makedev-version;.bz2"/>
+<sect1 id="prepare-creatingtoolsdir">
+<title>Creating the $LFS/tools directory</title>
+<?dbhtml filename="creatingtoolsdir.html" dir="chapter05"?>
 
-Man (&man-version;) - &man-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/man/"/>
+<para>All programs compiled in this chapter will be installed under <filename
+class="directory">$LFS/tools</filename> to keep them separate from the
+programs compiled in the next chapter. The programs compiled here are only
+temporary tools and won't be a part of the final LFS system and by keeping them
+in a separate directory, we can later easily throw them away.</para>
 
-Man-pages (&man-pages-version;) - &man-pages-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/man-pages/"/>
+<para>Later on you might wish to search through the binaries of your system to
+see what files they make use of or link against. To make this searching easier
+you may want to choose a unique name for the directory in which the temporary
+tools are stored. Instead of the simple "tools" you could use something like
+"tools-for-lfs". However, you'll need to be careful to adjust all references to
+"tools" throughout the book -- including those in any patches, notably the
+GCC Specs Patch.</para>
 
-Modutils (&modutils-version;) - &modutils-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/modutils/"/>
+<para>Create the required directory by running the following:</para>
 
-Ncurses (&ncurses-version;) - &ncurses-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/ncurses/"/>
+<screen><userinput>mkdir $LFS/tools</userinput></screen>
 
-Net-tools (&net-tools-version;) - &net-tools-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/net-tools/"/>
+<para>The next step is to create a <filename>/tools</filename> symlink on
+your host system. It will point to the directory we just created on the LFS
+partition:</para>
 
-Patch (&patch-version;) - &patch-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/patch/"/>
+<screen><userinput>ln -s $LFS/tools /</userinput></screen>
 
-Perl (&perl-version;) - &perl-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/perl/"/>
+<note><para>The above command is correct. The <command>ln</command> command
+has a few syntactic variations, so be sure to check the info page before
+reporting what you may think is an error.</para></note>
 
-Procinfo (&procinfo-version;) - &procinfo-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/procinfo/"/>
+<para>The created symlink enables us to compile our toolchain so that it always
+refers to <filename>/tools</filename>, meaning that the compiler, assembler
+and linker will work both in this chapter (when we are still using some tools
+from the host) <emphasis>and</emphasis> in the next (when we are chrooted to
+the LFS partition).</para>
 
-Procps (&procps-version;) - &procps-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/procps/"/>
+</sect1>
 
-Psmisc (&psmisc-version;) - &psmisc-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/psmisc/"/>
 
-Sed (&sed-version;) - &sed-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/sed/"/>
+<sect1 id="prepar-addinguser">
+<title>Adding the user lfs</title>
+<?dbhtml filename="addinguser.html" dir="chapter05"?>
 
-Shadow (&shadow-version;) - &shadow-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/shadow/"/>
+<para>When logged in as <emphasis>root</emphasis>, making a single mistake
+can damage or even wreck your system. Therefore we recommend that you
+build the packages in this chapter as an unprivileged user. You could
+of course use your own user name, but to make it easier to set up a clean
+work environment we'll create a new user <emphasis>lfs</emphasis> and
+use this one during the installation process. As <emphasis>root</emphasis>,
+issue the following command to add the new user:</para>
 
-Sysklogd (&sysklogd-version;) - &sysklogd-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/sysklogd/"/>
+<screen><userinput>useradd -s /bin/bash -m -k /dev/null lfs</userinput></screen>
 
-Sysvinit (&sysvinit-version;) - &sysvinit-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/sysvinit/"/>
+<para>The meaning of the switches:</para>
 
-Tar (&tar-version;) - &tar-size;:
-<ulink url="ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/tar/"/>
+<itemizedlist>
+<listitem><para><userinput>-s /bin/bash</userinput>: This makes
+<userinput>bash</userinput> the default shell for user
+<emphasis>lfs</emphasis>.</para></listitem>
 
-Tcl (&tcl-version;) - &tcl-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/tcltk/"/>
+<listitem><para><userinput>-m -k /dev/null</userinput>: These create a home
+directory for <emphasis>lfs</emphasis>, while preventing the files from a
+possible <filename>/etc/skel</filename> being copied into it.</para></listitem>
+</itemizedlist>
 
-Texinfo (&texinfo-version;) - &texinfo-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/texinfo/"/>
+<para>If you want to be able to log in as <emphasis>lfs</emphasis>, then give
+this new user a password:</para>
 
-Util-linux (&util-linux-version;) - &util-linux-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/util-linux/"/>
+<screen><userinput>passwd lfs</userinput></screen>
 
-Vim (&vim-version;) - &vim-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/vim/"/>
+<para>Now grant this new user <emphasis>lfs</emphasis> full access to
+<filename class="directory">$LFS/tools</filename> by giving it ownership
+of the directory:</para>
 
-Zlib (&zlib-version;) - &zlib-size;:
-<ulink url="http://freshmeat.net/projects/zlib/"/>
+<screen><userinput>chown lfs $LFS/tools</userinput></screen>
 
-Total size of these packages: &all-size-mb;
-</literallayout>
+<para>If you made a separate working directory as suggested, give user
+<emphasis>lfs</emphasis> ownership of this directory too:</para>
 
-<note><para>1) File (&file-version;) may not be available by the time you read
-this. The site admins of the master download location are known to occasionally
-remove old versions when new ones are released. Please refer to the
-<xref linkend="ch-system-file"/> section for an alternate download
-location.</para></note>
+<screen><userinput>chown lfs $LFS/sources</userinput></screen>
 
-<note><para>2) As of this writing, the Glibc maintainers have decided in their
-wisdom not to make available new release tarballs for download. The only way to
-obtain the current Glibc release from pristine upstream sources is to pull it
-from the Glibc CVS repository. The following commands will download the current
-release and make a tarball from it:</para>
+<para>Next, login as user <emphasis>lfs</emphasis>. This can be done via a
+virtual console, through a display manager, or with the following substitute
+user command:</para>
 
-<screen><userinput>cvs -z 9 -d :pserver:anoncvs@sources.redhat.com:/cvs/glibc \
-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;export -d &glibc-dir; -D "2003-12-02 UTC" libc
-tar jcvf &glibc-package; &glibc-dir;</userinput></screen>
+<screen><userinput>su - lfs</userinput></screen>
 
-<para>Alternatively, we've made our own tarball available which you can
-download courtesy of the generous LFS mirror sites. Please refer to the
-<xref linkend="ch-tools-glibc"/> section for the download links.</para></note>
+<para>The "<command>-</command>" instructs <command>su</command> to start a
+<emphasis>login</emphasis> shell.</para>
 
 </sect1>
 
 
-<sect1 id="materials-patches">
-<title>Needed patches</title>
-<?dbhtml filename="patches.html" dir="chapter04"?>
+<sect1 id="prepare-settingenvironment">
+<title>Setting up the environment</title>
+<?dbhtml filename="settingenvironment.html" dir="chapter05"?>
+
+<para>We're going to set up a good working environment by creating two new
+startup files for the <command>bash</command> shell. While logged in as
+user <emphasis>lfs</emphasis>, issue the following command to create a new
+<filename>.bash_profile</filename>:</para>
+
+<screen><userinput>cat &gt; ~/.bash_profile &lt;&lt; "EOF"</userinput>
+exec env -i HOME=$HOME TERM=$TERM PS1='\u:\w\$ ' /bin/bash
+<userinput>EOF</userinput></screen>
+
+<para>Normally, when you log on as user <emphasis>lfs</emphasis>,
+the initial shell is a <emphasis>login</emphasis> shell which reads the
+<filename>/etc/profile</filename> of your host (probably containing some
+settings of environment variables) and then <filename>.bash_profile</filename>.
+The <command>exec env -i ... /bin/bash</command> command in the latter file
+replaces the running shell with a new one with a completely empty environment,
+except for the HOME, TERM and PS1 variables. This ensures that no unwanted and
+potentially hazardous environment variables from the host system leak into our
+build environment. The technique used here is a little strange, but it achieves
+the goal of enforcing a clean environment.</para>
+
+<para>The new instance of the shell is a <emphasis>non-login</emphasis> shell,
+which doesn't read the <filename>/etc/profile</filename> or
+<filename>.bash_profile</filename> files, but reads the
+<filename>.bashrc</filename> file instead. Create this latter file now:</para>
+
+<screen><userinput>cat &gt; ~/.bashrc &lt;&lt; "EOF"</userinput>
+set +h
+umask 022
+LFS=/mnt/lfs
+LC_ALL=POSIX
+PATH=/tools/bin:/bin:/usr/bin
+export LFS LC_ALL PATH
+<userinput>EOF</userinput></screen>
+
+<para>The <command>set +h</command> command turns off
+<command>bash</command>'s hash function. Normally hashing is a useful
+feature: <command>bash</command> uses a hash table to remember the
+full pathnames of executable files to avoid searching the PATH time and time
+again to find the same executable. However, we'd like the new tools to be
+used as soon as they are installed. By switching off the hash function, our
+"interactive" commands (<command>make</command>,
+<command>patch</command>, <command>sed</command>,
+<command>cp</command> and so forth) will always use
+the newest available version during the build process.</para>
+
+<para>Setting the user file-creation mask to 022 ensures that newly created
+files and directories are only writable for their owner, but readable and
+executable for anyone.</para>
+
+<para>The LFS variable should of course be set to the mount point you
+chose.</para>
+
+<para>The LC_ALL variable controls the localization of certain programs,
+making their messages follow the conventions of a specified country. If your
+host system uses a version of Glibc older than 2.2.4,
+having LC_ALL set to something other than "POSIX" or "C" during this chapter
+may cause trouble if you exit the chroot environment and wish to return later.
+By setting LC_ALL to "POSIX" (or "C", the two are equivalent) we ensure that
+everything will work as expected in the chroot environment.</para>
+
+<para>We prepend <filename>/tools/bin</filename> to the standard PATH so
+that, as we move along through this chapter, the tools we build will get used
+during the rest of the building process.</para>
+
+<para>Finally, to have our environment fully prepared for building the
+temporary tools, source the just-created profile:</para>
+
+<screen><userinput>source ~/.bash_profile</userinput></screen>
 
-<para>Besides all those packages, you'll also need several patches. These
-correct tiny mistakes in the packages that should be fixed by the maintainer,
-or just make some small modifications to bend things our way. You'll need the
-following:</para>
-
-<literallayout>
-Bash Patch - &bash-patch-size;:
-<ulink url="&patches-root;&bash-patch;"/>
-
-Bison Attribute Patch - &bison-patch-size;:
-<ulink url="&patches-root;&bison-patch;"/>
-
-Coreutils Hostname Patch - &coreutils-hostname-patch-size;:
-<ulink url="&patches-root;&coreutils-hostname-patch;"/>
-
-Coreutils Posixver Patch - &coreutils-posixver-patch-size;:
-<ulink url="&patches-root;&coreutils-posixver-patch;"/>
-
-Coreutils Uname Patch - &coreutils-uname-patch-size;:
-<ulink url="&patches-root;&coreutils-uname-patch;"/>
-
-Ed Mkstemp Patch - &ed-patch-size;:
-<ulink url="&patches-root;&ed-patch;"/>
-
-Expect Spawn Patch - &expect-patch-size;:
-<ulink url="&patches-root;&expect-patch;"/>
+</sect1>
 
-GCC No-Fixincludes Patch - &gcc-nofixincludes-patch-size;:
-<ulink url="&patches-root;&gcc-nofixincludes-patch;"/>
 
-GCC Specs Patch - &gcc-specs-patch-size;:
-<ulink url="&patches-root;&gcc-specs-patch;"/>
+<sect1 id="prepare-aboutsbus">
+<title>About SBUs</title>
+<?dbhtml filename="aboutsbus.html" dir="chapter04"?>
 
-GCC-2 Patch - &gcc-2953-patch-size;:
-<ulink url="&patches-root;&gcc-2953-patch;"/>
+<para>Most people would like to know beforehand how long it approximately
+takes to compile and install each package. But "Linux from Scratch" is built
+on so many different systems, it is not possible to give actual times that are
+anywhere near accurate: the biggest package (Glibc) won't take more than
+twenty minutes on the fastest systems, but will take something like three days
+on the slowest -- no kidding. So instead of giving actual times, we've come up
+with the idea of using the <emphasis>Static Binutils Unit</emphasis>
+(abbreviated to <emphasis>SBU</emphasis>).</para>
 
-GCC-2 No-Fixincludes Patch - &gcc-2953-no-fixinc-patch-size;:
-<ulink url="&patches-root;&gcc-2953-no-fixinc-patch;"/>
+<para>It works like this: the first package you compile in this book is the
+statically linked Binutils in <xref linkend="chapter-temporary-tools"/>, and the time it
+takes to compile this package is what we call the "Static Binutils Unit" or
+"SBU". All other compile times will be expressed relative to this time.</para>
 
-GCC-2 Return-Type Patch - &gcc-2953-returntype-fix-patch-size;:
-<ulink url="&patches-root;&gcc-2953-returntype-fix-patch;"/>
+<para>For example, the time it takes to build the static version of GCC is
+&gcc-time-tools-pass1;s. This means that if on your system it took 10 minutes
+to compile and install the static Binutils, then you know it will take
+approximately 45 minutes to build the static GCC. Fortunately, most build times
+are much shorter than the one of Binutils.</para>
 
-Inetutils No-Server-Man-Pages Patch - &inetutils-no-server-man-pages-patch-size;:
-<ulink url="&patches-root;&inetutils-no-server-man-pages-patch;"/>
+<para>Note that if the system compiler on your host is GCC-2 based, the SBUs
+listed may end up being somewhat understated. This is because the SBU is based
+on the very first package, compiled with the old GCC, while the rest of the
+system is compiled with the newer GCC-&gcc-version; which is known to be
+approximately 30% slower.</para>
 
-Kbd More-Programs Patch - &kbd-patch-size;:
-<ulink url="&patches-root;&kbd-patch;"/>
+<para>Also note that SBUs don't work well for SMP-based machines. But if you're
+so lucky as to have multiple processors, chances are that your system is so fast
+that you won't mind.</para>
 
-Man 80-Columns Patch - &man-80cols-patch-size;:
-<ulink url="&patches-root;&man-80cols-patch;"/>
+<para>If you wish to see actual timings for specific machines, have a look at
+<ulink url="&lfs-root;~bdubbs/"/>.</para>
 
-Net-tools Mii-Tool-Gcc33 Patch - &net-tools-mii-patch-size;:
-<ulink url="&patches-root;&net-tools-mii-patch;"/>
+</sect1>
 
-Perl Libc Patch - &perl-libc-patch-size;:
-<ulink url="&patches-root;&perl-libc-patch;"/>
-</literallayout>
 
-<para>In addition to the above required patches, there exist a number of
-optional ones created by the LFS community. Most of these solve slight
-problems, or enable some functionality that's not enabled by default.
-Feel free to examine the patches database, located at <ulink
-url="&lfs-root;patches/"/>, and pick any additional patches you wish to
-use.</para>
+<sect1 id="prepare-abouttestsuites">
+<title>About the test suites</title>
+<?dbhtml filename="abouttestsuites.html" dir="chapter04"?>
+
+<para>Most packages provide a test suite. Running the test suite for a newly
+built package is generally a good idea, as it can provide a nice sanity check
+that everything compiled correctly. A test suite that passes its set of checks
+usually proves that the package is functioning as the developer intended. It
+does not, however, guarantee that the package is totally bug free.</para>
+
+<para>Some test suites are more important than others. For example, the test
+suites for the core toolchain packages -- GCC, Binutils, and Glibc -- are of
+the utmost importance due to their central role in a properly functioning
+system. But be warned, the test suites for GCC and Glibc can take a very long
+time to complete, especially on slower hardware.</para>
+
+<note><para>Experience has shown us that there is little to be gained from running
+the test suites in <xref linkend="chapter-temporary-tools"/>. There can be no
+escaping the fact that the host system always exerts some influence on the
+tests in that chapter, often causing weird and inexplicable failures. Not only
+that, the tools built in <xref linkend="chapter-temporary-tools"/> are
+temporary and eventually discarded. For the average reader of this book we
+recommend <emphasis>not</emphasis> to run the test suites in <xref
+linkend="chapter-temporary-tools"/>. The instructions for running those test
+suites are still provided for the benefit of testers and developers, but they
+are strictly optional for everyone else.</para></note>
+
+<para>A common problem when running the test suites for Binutils and GCC is
+running out of pseudo terminals (PTYs for short). The symptom is a very high
+number of failing tests. This can happen for several reasons, but the most
+likely cause is that the host system doesn't have the
+<emphasis>devpts</emphasis> file system set up correctly. We'll discuss this in
+more detail later on in <xref linkend="chapter-temporary-tools"/>.</para>
+
+<para>Sometimes package test suites will give false failures. You can
+consult the LFS Wiki at <ulink url="&wiki-root;"/> to verify that these
+failures are normal. This applies to all tests throughout the book.</para>
 
 </sect1>
 
-</chapter>
 
+</chapter>