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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
<!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../general.ent">
%general-entities;
]>
<sect1 id="pre-why">
<?dbhtml filename="package-choices.html"?>
<title>Rationale for Packages in the Book</title>
<para>As stated earlier, the goal of LFS is to build a complete and usable
foundation-level system. This includes all packages needed to replicate
itself while providing a relatively minimal base from which to customize
a more complete system based on the choices of the user. This does not
mean that LFS is the smallest system possible. Several important packages
are included that are not strictly required. The lists below document the
rationale for each package in the book.</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Acl</para>
<para>This package contains utilities to administer Access
Control Lists, which are used to define more fine-grained
discretionary access rights for files and directories.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Attr</para>
<para>This package contains programs for administering
extended attributes on filesystem objects.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Autoconf</para>
<para>This package contains programs for producing shell scripts that
can automatically configure source code from a developer's
template. It is often needed to rebuild a package after updates
to the build procedures.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Automake</para>
<para>This package contains programs for generating Make files from
a template. It is often needed to rebuild a package after updates
to the build procedures.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Bash</para>
<para>This package satisfies an LSB core requirement to provide
a Bourne Shell interface to the system. It was chosen over
other shell packages because of its common usage and extensive
capabilities beyond basic shell functions.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Bc</para>
<para>This package provides an arbitrary precision numeric processing language.
It satisfies a requirement needed when building the Linux kernel.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Binutils</para>
<para>This package contains a linker, an assembler, and other
tools for handling object files. The programs in this package are
needed to compile most of the packages in an LFS system and beyond.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Bison</para>
<para>This package contains the GNU version of yacc (Yet Another
Compiler Compiler) needed to build several other LFS programs.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Bzip2</para>
<para>This package contains programs for compressing and decompressing
files. It is required to decompress many LFS packages.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Check</para>
<para>This package contains a test harness for other programs.
It is only installed in the temporary toolchain.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Coreutils</para>
<para>This package contains a number of essential programs for viewing
and manipulating files and directories. These programs are needed for
command line file management, and are necessary for the installation
procedures of every package in LFS.</para>
</listitem>
<!--
<listitem>
<para>D-Bus</para>
<para>This package contains programs to implement a message bus system,
which a simple way for applications to talk to one another.
</para>
</listitem>
-->
<listitem>
<para>DejaGNU</para>
<para>This package contains a framework for testing other programs.
It is only installed in the temporary toolchain.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Diffutils</para>
<para>This package contains programs that show the differences
between files or directories. These programs can be used to create
patches, and are also used in many packages' build procedures.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>E2fsprogs</para>
<para>This package contains the utilities for handling the ext2, ext3
and ext4 file systems. These are the most common and thoroughly
tested file systems that Linux supports.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Eudev</para>
<para>This package is a device manager. It dynamically controls the entries
in the /dev directory as devices are added or removed from the system.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Expat</para>
<para>This package contains programs for parsing XML. It is
required for XML-Parser.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Expect</para>
<para>This package contains a program for carrying out scripted
dialogues with other interactive programs. It is commonly used
for testing other packages. It is only installed in the temporary
toolchain.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>File</para>
<para>This package contains a utility for determining the type of a
given file or files. A few packages need it to build.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Findutils</para>
<para>This package contains programs to find files in a file system.
It is used in many packages' build scripts.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Flex</para>
<para>This package contains a utility for generating programs that
recognize patterns in text. It is the GNU version of the lex
(lexical analyzer) program. It is required to build several
LFS packages.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Gawk</para>
<para>This package contains programs for manipulating text files.
It is the GNU version of awk (Aho-Weinberg-Kernighan). It is used in
many other packages' build scripts.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Gcc</para>
<para>This package is the Gnu Compiler Collection. It contains the
C and C++ compilers as well as several others not built by LFS.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>GDBM</para>
<para>This package contains the GNU Database Manager library. It
is used by one other LFS package, Man-DB.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Gettext</para>
<para>This package contains utilities and libraries for
internationalization and localization of numerous packages.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Glibc</para>
<para>This package contains the main C library. Linux programs would
not run without it.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>GMP</para>
<para>This package contains math libraries that provide useful functions
for arbitrary precision arithmetic. It is required to build Gcc.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Gperf</para>
<para>This package a program that generates a perfect hash function
from a key set. It is required for systemd.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Grep</para>
<para>This package contains programs for searching through files. These
programs are used by most packages' build scripts.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Groff</para>
<para>This package contains programs for processing and formatting text.
One important function of these programs is to format man pages.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>GRUB</para>
<para>This package is the Grand Unified Boot Loader. It is one
of several boot loaders available, but is the most flexible.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Gzip</para>
<para>This package contains programs for compressing and
decompressing files. It is needed to decompress many packages in LFS
and beyond.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Iana-etc</para>
<para>This package provides data for network services and protocols.
It is needed to enable proper networking capabilities.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Inetutils</para>
<para>This package contains programs for basic network
administration.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Intltool</para>
<para>This package contains tools for extracting translatable
strings from source files.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>IProute2</para>
<para>This package contains programs for basic and advanced IPv4 and
IPv6 networking. It was chosen over the other common network
tools package (net-tools) for its IPv6 capabilities. </para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Kbd</para>
<para>This package contains key-table files, keyboard utilities
for non-US keyboards, and a number of console fonts.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Kmod</para>
<para>This package contains programs needed to administer Linux
kernel modules.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Less</para>
<para>This package contains a very nice text file viewer that
allows scrolling up or down when viewing a file. It is also used by
Man-DB for viewing manpages.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Libcap</para>
<para>This package implements the user-space interfaces to
the POSIX 1003.1e capabilities available in Linux kernels.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Libpipeline</para>
<para>The Libpipeline package contains a library for manipulating
pipelines of subprocesses in a flexible and convenient way. It is
required by the Man-DB package.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Libtool</para>
<para>This package contains the GNU generic library support
script. It wraps the complexity of using shared libraries in a
consistent, portable interface. It is needed by the test
suites in other LFS packages.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Linux Kernel</para>
<para>This package is the Operating System. It is the Linux in
the GNU/Linux environment.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>M4</para>
<para>This package contains a general text macro processor useful
as a build tool for other programs.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Make</para>
<para>This package contains a program for directing the building
of packages. It is required by almost every package in LFS.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Man-DB</para>
<para>This package contains programs for finding and viewing man pages.
It was chosen instead of the <application>man</application> package
due to superior internationalization capabilities. It supplies
the man program.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Man-pages</para>
<para>This package contains the actual contents of the basic
Linux man pages.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>MPC</para>
<para>This package contains functions for the arithmetic of complex
numbers. It is required by Gcc.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>MPFR</para>
<para>This package contains functions for multiple precision
arithmetic. It is required by Gcc.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Ncurses</para>
<para>This package contains libraries for terminal-independent
handling of character screens. It is often used to provide
cursor control for a menuing system. It is needed by a number of
packages in LFS.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Patch</para>
<para>This package contains a program for modifying or creating files by
applying a <emphasis>patch</emphasis> file typically created
by the <application>diff</application> program. It is needed by
the build procedure for several LFS packages.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Perl</para>
<para>This package is an interpreter for the runtime language
PERL. It is needed for the installation and test suites of several LFS
packages.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Pkg-config</para>
<para>This package provides a program to return meta-data about an
installed library or package.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Procps-NG</para>
<para>This package contains programs for monitoring processes. These
programs are useful for system administration, and are also used by
the LFS Bootscripts.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Psmisc</para>
<para>This package contains programs for displaying information
about running processes. These programs are useful for system
administration.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Readline</para>
<para>This package is a set of libraries that offers command-line
editing and history capabilities. It is used by Bash.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Sed</para>
<para>This package allows editing of text without opening it in a
text editor. It is also needed by most LFS packages' configure
scripts.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Shadow</para>
<para>This package contains programs for handling passwords
in a secure way.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Sysklogd</para>
<para>This package contains programs for logging system messages,
such as those given by the kernel or daemon processes when unusual
events occur.</para>
</listitem>
<!--
<listitem>
<para>Systemd</para>
<para>This package provides and <application>init</application> program
and several additional boot and system control capabilites as an
alternative to Sysvinit. It is used by many commercial distributions.
In LFS it is installed side-by-side with Sysvinit to provide the user with
alternative boot systems for comparison.</para>
</listitem>
-->
<listitem>
<para>Sysvinit</para>
<para>This package provides the <application>init</application>
program, which is the parent of all other processes on the Linux
system. </para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Tar</para>
<para>This package provides archiving and extraction capabilities
of virtually all packages used in LFS.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Tcl</para>
<para>This package contains the Tool Command Language used
in many test suites in LFS packages. It is only installed in
the temporary toolchain.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Texinfo</para>
<para>This package contains programs for reading, writing, and
converting info pages. It is used in the installation
procedures of many LFS packages.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Util-linux</para>
<para>This package contains miscellaneous utility programs.
Among them are utilities for handling file systems, consoles,
partitions, and messages.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Vim</para>
<para>This package contains an editor. It was chosen because of its
compatibility with the classic vi editor and its huge number of powerful
capabilities. An editor is a very personal choice for
many users and any other editor could be substituted if desired.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>XML::Parser</para>
<para>This package is a Perl module that interfaces with Expat.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>XZ Utils</para>
<para>This package contains programs for compressing and decompressing
files. It provides the highest compression generally available
and is useful for decompressing packages in XZ or LZMA format.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Zlib</para>
<para>This package contains compression and decompression routines
used by some programs.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect1>
|