It is recommended to build E2fsprogs outside of the source tree: mkdir ../e2fsprogs-build cd ../e2fsprogs-build Prepare E2fsprogs for compilation: ../e2fsprogs-&e2fsprogs-version;/configure --prefix=/usr --with-root-prefix="" \     --enable-elf-shlibs The meaning of the configure options: --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. Compile the package: make This package has a test suite available which can perform a number of checks to ensure it built correctly. Should you choose to run it, the following command will do so: make check Install most of the package: make install And install also the shared libraries: make install-libs