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What would be nice is if the LFS server cached copies of all of the packages it references.

by i336_ 10y ago

dTal 10y ago
That would be very nice and reliable! For extra reliability we could wrap the installation instructions into scripts (to save people from making typing mistakes) and provide them as part of the package download. Ideally the scripts would be able to handle deinstallation too, in case people want to experiment with newer components. And it would be good to provide some convenient central user interface for atomically managing which packages are installed - a "package manager", if you will...
- i336_ 10y ago
  Hmm. That sounds sort of like https://buildroot.org/ https://buildroot.org/. It's a bit full-on, and definitely provides a superset of what you're describing, but sort of wanders in that general direction. I think that LFS is intended for people who want to really understand how Linux works, so there's no automation, and the user is required to have a hand in every step of the process. I mean to follow up on LFS at some point, but to deal with the intricacy and fiddliness I'd go very slowly, and the process would probably take 3 or 4 months. But the finished system would be better configured than anything else I've ever set up... lol It's useful to know about issues like this though, now I can prepare to expect that. About versioning, that's difficult - since this is entirely manual, the instructions have to match up perfectly with what the software actually requires, or confusion will result. As someone who used Slackware for a couple years, I definitely appreciate the ability to easily install new software. :D:D:D
  - voltagex_ 10y ago
    Buildroot is fantastic - I've used it to build single-purpose VMs before. I suppose it could also be used to build really small Docker rootfs tarballs, too.
- hyperpape 10y ago
  I think there is a difference in kind between "do these steps manually to understand them" and "hunt down these versions of packages on various websites around the net". It's true that you might learn something from doing the latter, but it's different from what you'd learn doing the former. Edit: a generic point that I'd make is that just because something is hard, and there's a reason it's hard, doesn't mean that it has to be hard in every possible way. This is another version of the distinction between accidental and intrinsic complexity.
digi_owl 10y ago
Apparently they do. http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/download.html#ftp http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/download.html#ftp
- i336_ 10y ago
  Oh, that's awesome. I had absolutely no idea. This project certainly has been well thought through. Looking forward to figuring it out :D

What would be nice is if the LFS server cached copies of all of the packages it references.

by i336_ 10y ago

What would be nice is if the LFS server cached copies of all of the packages it references.

dTal 10y ago

That would be very nice and reliable! For extra reliability we could wrap the installation instructions into scripts (to save people from making typing mistakes) and provide them as part of the package download. Ideally the scripts would be able to handle deinstallation too, in case people want to experiment with newer components. And it would be good to provide some convenient central user interface for atomically managing which packages are installed - a "package manager", if you will...

i336_ 10y ago
Hmm. That sounds sort of like https://buildroot.org/ https://buildroot.org/. It's a bit full-on, and definitely provides a superset of what you're describing, but sort of wanders in that general direction. I think that LFS is intended for people who want to really understand how Linux works, so there's no automation, and the user is required to have a hand in every step of the process. I mean to follow up on LFS at some point, but to deal with the intricacy and fiddliness I'd go very slowly, and the process would probably take 3 or 4 months. But the finished system would be better configured than anything else I've ever set up... lol It's useful to know about issues like this though, now I can prepare to expect that. About versioning, that's difficult - since this is entirely manual, the instructions have to match up perfectly with what the software actually requires, or confusion will result. As someone who used Slackware for a couple years, I definitely appreciate the ability to easily install new software. :D:D:D
- voltagex_ 10y ago
  Buildroot is fantastic - I've used it to build single-purpose VMs before. I suppose it could also be used to build really small Docker rootfs tarballs, too.
hyperpape 10y ago
I think there is a difference in kind between "do these steps manually to understand them" and "hunt down these versions of packages on various websites around the net". It's true that you might learn something from doing the latter, but it's different from what you'd learn doing the former. Edit: a generic point that I'd make is that just because something is hard, and there's a reason it's hard, doesn't mean that it has to be hard in every possible way. This is another version of the distinction between accidental and intrinsic complexity.

digi_owl 10y ago

Apparently they do. http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/download.html#ftp http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/download.html#ftp

i336_ 10y ago
Oh, that's awesome. I had absolutely no idea. This project certainly has been well thought through. Looking forward to figuring it out :D