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Linux From Scratch and Beyond

The Linux From Scratch Project has been around for quite a while. So most readers are already aware that this project teaches people about how Linux works and how it can help you build a customized system. But if you haven't looked at it lately, you may not be aware of all that it has to offer these days.

Linux From Scratch (LFS) provides a book of instructions for building a system. The stable version of this book is currently at version 6.1.1 and it covers everything you need to know about building a minimal Linux system, from creating a new partition for your system to making your system bootable. The development version of the book is available through Subversion and the second pre-release has been announced.

Once you have a system, you can use Beyond Linux From Scratch (BLFS) to help you flesh it out. This book covers things like adding software and setting up networking, with a look at servers and several chapters on desktop software.

Suppose that you've built your system before. You know what you want and how to go about it. Then you're ready for Automated Linux From Scratch, (ALFS) a project that creates the generic framework for an extendable system builder and package installer. The current implementation of ALFS is nALFS, a C program that parses an XML profile that contains information concerning the LFS build process into a series of internal commands. It can then execute these at your discretion, automating the compilation of LFS. Recently a new implementation of ALFS called jhalfs has announced its 1.0 release.

Cross Linux From Scratch (CLFS) teaches you how to make a cross-compiler and the necessary tools, to build a basic system on a different architecture. For example you would be able to build a Sparc toolchain on an x86 machine, and utilize that toolchain to build a Linux system from source code. Currently supported architectures include x86, x86_64, sparc, mips, powerpc and alpha.

For the security conscious Hardened Linux From Scratch (HLFS) is a project that provides you with step-by-step instructions for building your own customized and hardened Linux system entirely from source.

Of course there's the Linux From Scratch LiveCD project. The LFS Live CD is geared toward providing a reliable host system for building your LFS system and doubles as a rescue system.

All these projects are represented in the wiki pages as well as from the main LFS site. So if the available Linux distributions aren't providing quite what you want, or you just want to know more about Linux internals, LSF could be just what you are looking for.

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New Releases

Ubuntu "edgy eft" Knot 1 released

During the development cycle of Ubuntu 6.10 (aka Edgy Eft) there will be several milestone CD images released for Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu and Edubuntu. The first of these is Knot-1, available now in all flavors.

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Pie Box Enterprise Linux 3 Update 8 now available

Pie Box Enterprise Linux 3 now has an eighth update available. This update includes new and enhanced kernel features, driver additions, security updates and much more. "Pie Box Enterprise Linux 3 is aimed at people who need a stable OS with a long lifespan but don't want an expensive bundled support contract. It is derived from open source software with only four packages modified in order to replace trademarks and logos with our own. Features of Pie Box Enterprise Linux 3 include the Linux 2.4 kernel, GNOME, Apache 2, Samba 3 and Logical Volume Manager."

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Musix 0.50 released

The Musix project has released Musix 0.50. "Musix 0.50 can be consider the more stable and functional Musix version until now, also, 0.50 can update old Musix versions, as instance Musix 0.40 could be updated without re-install all the system."

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Distribution News

Upcoming Release of Debian GNU/Linux 4.0

The Debian project plans to release Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 (alias 'etch') in December of 2006. "This will be the first official release to include the AMD64 architecture. The distribution will be released synchronously for 11 architectures in total."

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Fedora Legacy end-of-life announcements

The Fedora Legacy project has sent out some end-of-life announcements. For users of Fedora Core 1 and 2, the deadline is close: support will be withdrawn as of July 26. Those using Red Hat Linux 7.3 and 9.0 (and such people do exist) have a little longer: bugs in those distributions will be fixed through the end of this year.

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Fedora Project Board Update

The meeting summary for the July 18, 2006 meeting of the Fedora Board is available. Topics discussed include RPM, which needs continued followup and discussion with the community, Fedora Bugs (bugzilla.redhat.com), Fedora Core, the package set, and the schedule for fc6, File Systems and Fedora, Various legal issues and Logo and Trademark.

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SUSE Linux 9.1 is done

The last update for SUSE Linux 9.1 was released today (quagga). Click below for a small summary of the YOU patches released for SUSE Linux 9.1.

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Ubuntu edgy `Breaks' dependency field

Ian Jackson looks at a new kind of dependency relationship called `Breaks'. "This is like `Conflicts' but doesn't cause the deinstallation of the broken packages, merely their deconfiguration (to note that they're broken)."

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New Distributions

Via-specific Linux distro eyes UMPCs (LinuxDevices)

LinuxDevices introduces EpiOS, a Gentoo-based Linux distribution for Via Epia mini-ITX boards. "EpiOS is a hardware-specific Linux distribution for Via Epia boards. It is based on Gentoo and KDE, and aims to support traditionally problematic Via processor features, such as hardware MPEG and cryptography acceleration, "out-of-the-box." For example, the project relies on software from the OpenChrome project, in order to support Via's advanced graphics features."

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Distribution Newsletters

Debian Weekly News

The Debian Weekly News for July 25, 2006 covers the package overview page, the move to Subversion, consolidating SSL certificates, dealing with documentation issues in stable, a constitutional amendment on the handling of assets, etch release status, and much more.

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Fedora Weekly News Issue 56

This edition of the Fedora Weekly News covers FC6 Test2 Freeze Slip End of Life times for FC1, FC2, RHL7.3 and RHL9, Introducing Fedora Women, Fedora at O'Reilly OSCON 2006, Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploit for CVE-2006-3626, and several other topics.

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Gentoo Weekly Newsletter

The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter for July 24, 2006 looks at a donation of hardware from Sun, Ethereal gets a new name, User Representatives election are open, the Deletion of Inactive user accounts, and several other topics.

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DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 161

The DistroWatch Weekly for July 24, 2006 is out. "This week started a bit slow, but fortunately things picked up. Debian announced their updated release goal sheet with version information. The Fedora Core 6 test2 was delayed by a week. Mandriva has also been suffering delays due to extremely warm temperatures. This week we bring you a guest columnist comparing and contrasting the differing apt-get front ends. I took a quick look at some of the new live cds released this week."

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Package updates

Fedora updates

Updates for Fedora Core 5: sendmail (bug fixes), tcsh (bug fix).

Updates for Fedora Core 4: sendmail (bug fix).

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Mandriva update to imlib2

Mandriva has fixed an x86_64 tiff loader bug in imlib2 for Mandriva Linux 2006.0.

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rPath update to conary conary-build conary-repository

rPath has updated conary, conary-build and conary-repository to the Conary 1.0.24 maintenance release.

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Trustix update

Trustix has fixed various bugs in cpio and gawk for TSL 3.0.

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Newsletters and articles of interest

VPSLink Launches Gentoo Linux (WHIR News)

WHIR News reports that web hosting provider VPSLink has added Gentoo Linux to its virtual private server product line. "VPSLink is a wholly owned subsidiary of Spry Hosting. It is designed specifically for Linux power users and provides budget VPS Web hosting solutions from its data center in Seattle, Washington."

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Distribution reviews

Ubuntu Linux 6.06 review (Jem Report)

Here's a review of Ubuntu Dapper on the Jem Report; it shows that we clearly are not all looking for the same thing in a Linux distribution. "I figured I'd do some Java programming exercises while I tested Ubuntu, but I couldn't find a Java Development Kit in either of the package managers. There was a Java 5.0 Runtime Environment, but no JDK -- or at least, searches for 'jdk' and 'java' didn't turn up anything in Synaptic. To top it all off, Ubuntu 6.06 comes with a fake Java installed -- GIJ. I want the real Java, or I want nothing so that I can install the real Java properly; I do not want a half-hearted, half-working Java facsimile that doesn't even have a browser plugin."

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Review: Xandros Server (Linux.com)

Linux.com reviews Xandros Server. "Long known for its desktop distribution, Xandros is now getting into the server act with the release of Xandros Server 1.0. One might wonder, what's the point of yet another server-oriented distro when the server market is already well-served? Xandros Server offers a GUI-oriented approach to system administration that should do well with admins familiar with Windows server products."

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