It is recommended to build E2fsprogs outside of the source tree. Create the build directory: mkdir ../e2fsprogs-build && cd ../e2fsprogs-build Prepare E2fsprogs to be compiled: ../e2fsprogs-&e2fsprogs-version;/configure --prefix=/usr --with-root-prefix="" \     --enable-elf-shlibs The meaning of the configure options are: --with-root-prefix="": This option is used because of the e2fsprogs Makefile. Some programs are essential for system use when, for example, /usr isn't mounted (like the e2fsck program). These programs and libraries, therefore, belong in directories like /lib and /sbin. If this option isn't passed to E2fsprogs's configure, the programs are placed in the /usr directory, which is not what we want. --enable-elf-shlibs: This creates the shared libraries which some programs in this package make use of. Continue with compiling the package: make Begin installing the package: make install Install the shared libraries: make install-libs Update the /usr/share/info/dir file to include E2fsprogs' info pages in the index: install-info /usr/share/info/libext2fs.info /usr/share/info/dir