It is recommended to build E2fsprogs outside of the source tree: 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="": Certain programs (such as the e2fsck program) are considered essential programs. When, for example, /usr isn't mounted, these essential program have to be available. They 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 make check Begin installing the package: make install Install the shared libraries: make install-libs