Major refactoring of README

Describe each item in the menu, fix layout, and try to follow
the order of tasks to do to run jhalfs.
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Pierre Labastie 2023-11-23 10:07:45 +01:00
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README
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1. INTRODUCTION:: 1. INTRODUCTION::
The scripts in this directory implement an automation of the building The scripts in this directory implement an automation of the building
of a GNU/LInux system, as described in the Linux From Scratch book series. of a GNU/LInux system, as described in the Linux From Scratch book series.
The name of the project is jhalfs: in that name, "alfs" stands for The name of the project is jhalfs: in that name, "alfs" stands for
"automated linux from scratch", and the initials "jh" have been kept since "automated linux from scratch", and the initials "jh" have been kept since
the original "jhalfs-0.2" code developed by Jeremy Huntwork. the original "jhalfs-0.2" code developed by Jeremy Huntwork.
The list of supported books can be found at The list of supported books can be found at
http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/alfs/wiki/SupportedBooks. http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/alfs/wiki/SupportedBooks (maybe outdated,
current develoment books and latest version are always supported).
The documentation is split among various README.* files. Here is a list The documentation is split among various README.* files. Here is a list
of what is in which: of what is in which:
- README (this file): instructions to use the LFS book. This should be - README (this file): instructions to use the LFS book. This should be
enough if you just want to build a base system as per the LFS book. It is enough if you just want to build a base system as per the LFS book. It
also a required reading for all the other projects. is also a required reading for all the other projects.
- README.BLFS: instructions to install an automated build infrastructure - README.BLFS: instructions to install an automated build infrastructure
for the BLFS book. There are two ways to do so: (i) install the for the BLFS book. There are two ways to do so: (i) install the
tools at the end of an LFS build, or tools at the end of an LFS build, or
(ii) install the tools on an already running system. Both methods are (ii) install the tools on an already running system. Both methods are
described in that file. described in that file.
- README.CUSTOM: instructions to run custom commands either during the xLFS - README.CUSTOM: instructions to run custom commands either during the LFS
build, at the end of a xLFS build. Note that you will not find build, or at the end of a LFS build. Note that you will not find
instructions on how to write those commands, but some examples are instructions on how to write those commands, but some examples are
available. available.
- README.PACKAGE_MANAGEMENT: instructions to use package management during - README.PACKAGE_MANAGEMENT: instructions to use package management during
the build the build (Note: the only package manager that is regularly tested is
porg)
Other sources of information are the context help in the menu interface, Other sources of information are the context help in the menu interface,
and the xLFS books themselves. and the LFS books themselves (both required readings of course!).
2. PREREQUISITES:: 2. PREREQUISITES::
As said elsewhere, it is strongly advised that you first build manually It is strongly advised that you first build manually a complete system
a complete system before attempting to automate the build. before attempting to automate the build.
Of course the "Host System Requirements" should be fulfilled. The needed Of course the "Host System Requirements" should be fulfilled. Some
supplementary packages are detailed at the bottom of the page: supplementary packages are needed for using jhalfs. They are detailed
https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/alfs/download.html. In short, you need at the bottom of the page:
wget, sudo, libxml2, libxslt, docbook-4.5-xml, and docbook-xsl-nons. https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/alfs/download.html. In short, you need
wget, sudo, libxml2, libxslt, docbook-4.5-xml, and docbook-xsl-nons.
3. INSTALLATION:: 3. INSTALLATION::
No installation is required. You may want to move the files in this No installation is required. You may want to move the files in this
directory to a convenient location, and then follow the instructions below. directory to a convenient location, and then follow the instructions below.
4. CONFIGURATION:: 4. CONFIGURATION::
4.1. CONFIGURATION OF THE TOOLS: 4.1. CONFIGURATION OF THE TOOLS:
There is no configuration of the tools themselves. The various There is no configuration of the tools themselves. The various
parameters for the build are set through a menu driven interface. See parameters for the build are set through a menu driven interface. See
the section RUNNING below for details. the section RUNNING below for details.
4.2. PRELIMINARY TASKS: 4.2. PRELIMINARY TASKS:
This tool has no support at all for creating a partition and a mount This tool has no support at all for creating a partition and a mount
point for the built system. You should follow the book up to the section point for the built system. You should follow the book up to the section
"Mounting the new partition". Note that the default name for the "Mounting the new partition". Note that the default name for the
partition mount point is "/mnt/build_dir", instead of /mnt/{c,}lfs. partition mount point is "/mnt/build_dir", instead of /mnt/lfs.
You can change that default to anything you'd like in the menu, so you You can change that default to anything you'd like in the menu, so you
may name it /mnt/lfs, or whatever you like. We'll use the name may name it /mnt/lfs if you prefer . We'll use the name /mnt/build_dir
/mnt/build_dir in the sequel. in the sequel.
The tool can download the needed packages for you, or you may download For downloading packages, you can use the tool or download them
them yourself. The tool may optionally use a package archive directory yourself. Even if using the tool, it is recommended to set up a source
where the downloaded packages are stored. That directory name may be made repository where you store already downloaded packages. The tool will
available to the tool in two ways: (i) export the SRC_ARCHIVE variable, automatically search a package in this repository before downloading it
for example SRC_ARCHIVE=/usr/src, (ii) enter the name at the "Package if it is not found there. This repository cannot be the same as
Archive Directory" menu prompt. Note that the user should have write /mnt/build_dir/sources. As an example, we'll use /usr/src. You should
permission to that directory. If a needed package is found in that arrange for the user running the tool to have write access to this
directory, it is copied to /mnt/build_dir/sources, if not, it is directory.
downloaded to that directory and copied to /mnt/build_dir/sources,
except if found in /mnt/build_dir/sources, in which case, it is just
copied to $SRC_ARCHIVE. If you want the tool to download packages and you
do not want to archive them, just unset SRC_ARCHIVE, and keep the
default entry for "Package Archive Directory". If you choose to download
the packages by yourself, you should download (or copy) them to
/mnt/build_dir/sources directly.
If you want to build the kernel as part of the automated build, select If you want to build the kernel as part of the automated build,
"Build the kernel" in the menu. Then, a configuration file must be a configuration file must be provided. In order to do so, it is
provided. In order to do so, it is recommended to download the kernel recommended to download the kernel tarball, unpack it, run
tarball, unpack it, run <make menuconfig> (or any other *config), <make menuconfig> (or any other *config), configure the kernel as per
configure the kernel as per the book, and save the resulting .config file to a location where it can
the book, and save the resulting .config file to a location where it can be retrieved later on. It is suggested to put it into the source
be retrieved later on (a convenient location and name is repository, with a versioned name, e.g.
$SRC_ARCHIVE/config-<arch>-<kernel version>-<config details>). /usr/src/config-<arch>-<kernel version>-<config details>.
Another file you may provide is the fstab file. To use it, select Another file you may provide is the fstab file. As for the kernel
"Use a custom fstab file" in the menu interface, and enter the name of configuration, this file has to be prepared before running the menu.
the file where asked. As for the kernel configuration, this file has to You can copy-paste the file from the "Creating the /etc/fstab File"
be prepared before running the menu. A convenient location and name is page, then edit to suit the future lfs system layout, then save the
$SRC_ARCHIVE/fstablfs. file. A convenient location and name is /usr/src/fstablfs.
At a more advanced level, you may want to supply custom commands At a more advanced level, you may want to supply custom commands
to be run at the end of (C)LFS build. Scripts containing those commands to be run at the end of LFS build. Scripts containing those commands
are located in the ./custom/config directory. Examples are given in are located in the ./custom/config directory. Examples are given in
./custom/examples. A template is provided as ./custom/template. See ./custom/examples. A template is provided as ./custom/template. See
README.CUSTOM for more details. README.CUSTOM for more details.
5. RUNNING:: 5. RUNNING::
IMPORTANT:: IMPORTANT::
You must be logged as a normal user with sudo privileges to run You must be logged as a normal user with sudo privileges to run
the Makefile. Furthermore, you are supposed to have enough privilege the Makefile. Furthermore, you are supposed to have enough privilege
to become any user. If you are not bothered about security issues, to become any user. If you are not bothered about security issues,
the entry for the user "jhalfs_user" in /etc/sudoers could be the entry for the user running the tool in /etc/sudoers could be
jhalfs_user ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL <user> ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL
The command <make> will launch a menu based configuration program. The The command <make> will launch a menu based configuration program,
underlying menu code was borrowed from BusyBox and slightly modified for similar to the kernel "menuconfig" configuration tool.
our use.
Help on parameter function is available from the on-line help. Please Help on parameter function is available from the on-line help (type the
make use of that feature: it may contain additional information not character `?' after highlighting the parameter). Please do use the help:
duplicated in this file. it may contain additional information not duplicated in this file.
You should first choose which book and flavour you want to build. Note MENU "BOOK Settings"
that when you choose the BLFS book, the tool will just install the BLFS
tool to your system. You'll have to run that installed tool to build
packages in BLFS. See README.BLFS to know how. If you choose any other
book, you'll have to configure the settings and the build parameters
from the menu. Note that you may choose to install the blfs tools onto
the newly built system. It is not the same thing as choosing
the BLFS book in the menu, which will install the blfs tools on the
currently running system.
The "General Settings" menu is where the "Build Directory" name is to be Use BOOK: You have three choices: LFS System V, LFS systemd, BLFS.
entered. Other entries in that menu select what the tool should do. The The BLFS part is described in README.BLFS
"Run the Makefile" entry selects whether the tool will start the build
automatically after generating the needed files. The "Rebuild files" selects
whether to clean the build directory before doing anything else. To protect
against removing important files, this can only be done in an empty directory,
or a directory previously populated by the tool.
The "Build Settings" menu is where various options for the build can be Book version: You have two choices: "Branch" or "Working Copy"
selected. Two options, "Use a custom fstab file" and "Build the kernel", Branch will have the tool clone the book's git repository. The
have been described above. "Do not use/display progress_bar", if set, will choice of the branch (actually any git commit) or of the file
prevent a progress bar to be displayed during the build. That may be useful location for the working copy is done in the next menu entry.
on slow machine. The other options should be self explanatory, using either
the online help or book reading.
The "Advanced Features" menu is for various maintenance tasks, like Multilib: Four choices: Normal LFS, Multilib with i686 libraries,
testing the build instructions or reporting build statistics. One useful multilib with x32 libraries, multilib with all libraries.
option is "Optimization and parallelisation". It is not recommended to use It is recommended to use "Normal LFS" unless you know what you
it for setting compiler optimization flags, although it is possible, but are doing
if you select it, you'll be able to select the number of parallel `make'
jobs, which allows much faster builds on modern multicore CPUs. Build method: two choices: chroot (as in book), boot
Presently, the "boot" method is not implemented, so keep the default.
Add blfs-tools support (see README.BLFS)
This will install the blfs tools onto the newly built system. It
is not the same thing as choosing the BLFS book in the menu, which
will install the blfs tools on the currently running system.
Add custom tools support (see README.CUSTOM)
MENU "General Settings"
Build Directory: the name of the root of the LFS system
This is the equivalent of the LFS variable in the book. Set it
to "/mnt/lfs" if you have followed the book for creating the LFS
partition and mount point.
Retrieve source files: Say y to have jhalfs download the packages
If you say no, you must download the packages yourself and put
them into the /mnt/build_dir/sources directory. Follow book's
chapter 3 instructions.
If you say yes, you'll be asked several other questions:
- Package Archive Directory: Repository of downloaded packages
This directory, which is on the host and should be writable
by the user running the tool, is for storing downloaded packages.
If you keep the default "$SRC_ARCHIVE", you can set this variable
to the absolute path of the repository and export it. Or if the
variable is not set, jhalfs downloads the sources directly to
/mnt/build_dir/sources.
Instead of using the SRC_ARCHIVE envar, you can also enter the
path of the repository directory into this field.
- Retry on 'connection refused' failure: self explanatory
- Number of retry attempts on download failures: self explanatory
- Download timeout (in seconds): self explanatory
Run the makefile: start the build immediately after running the tool
This is not the preferred method: it is recommended to rather
run "make -C /mnt/build_dir/jhalfs" after the tool has finished
setting up the build. But this may be handy if you are sure everything
is well, and want to leave the tool and the build run without
supervision.
Rebuild files: clean up the /mnt/build_dir directory
Say n if you want to rerun the tool (to update generated scripts
for example) without removing what has already been done. Otherwise,
say y. Note that there are some guards against removing a directory
containing useful things, but double check that the /mnt/build_dir
directory is really what you want to erase.
MENU "Build Settings"
MENU Parallelism settings
- Use all cores:
If you say y, MAKEFLAGS will be set to "-j$(nproc)" at the
beginning of each script. Other envars are supposed to be passed
from the environment, as done in new books. Note that for old books,
this means the scripts using make or ninja will be run with all
cores, but not when this needs to set special envars like
TESTSUITEFLAGS. You can still define the number of cores used
in next field.
If you say n, you'll be asked for a static number of threads
to use.
- set of cpus to use, or 'all' for all cpus (only if using all cores):
You can define here the cores you want to use. See help for
details. This is the preferred way of reducing the number of cores
rather than using a static thread number.
- Number of parallel `make' jobs (only if not using all cores):
Every occurrence of $(nproc) in new books will be replaced with
the number entered here. Also MAKEFLAGS will be set to "-jN" (where
N is the number entered) at the beginning of each scripts. Furthermore
NINJAJOBS will be set to N in the environment. This allows to run all
books with N threads, except for paarts that need other envars to be
set
- Build Binutils pass1 without parallelism (Real SBU)
The standard SBU is defined as the time to run the binutils-pass1
build with only one thread. Saying y here allows to get a value for
it. If you say n, the value is not meaningful for SBU measurements.
Run testsuites: say y to run the test suites
You'll have the choice between running all the test suites, or only
those deemed critical (binutils, gmp, mpfr, mpc, and gcc).
Package management: see README.PACKAGE_MANAGEMENT
Create a log of installed files for each package: self explanatory
Strip Installed Binaries/Libraries: use the book instructions for
stripping
DO NOT use/display progress_bar (self explanatory)
MENU System configuration
Use a custom fstab file:
If you say y, you'll have to provide a file containing the fstab
for the LFS system. See above "preliminary tasks".
Build the kernel:
If you say y, you'll be asked for a file containing the kernel
configuration. See above "preliminary tasks".
Install non-wide-character ncurses (rarely used nowadays):
If you say y, the system will use instructions in the note on the
ncurses page to install those libraries.
TimeZone: set to the result of "tzselect"
Language: set to the result of the instructions on "The Bash Shell
Startup Files" page.
Install the full set of locales: installs all the locales known to
glibc.
Groff page size: choice between "A4" and "Letter".
Hostname: self explanatory
Network configuration: various fields for setting network. Look at
chapter 9 for background.
Console configuration: various fields for setting console, as described
in chapter 9.
MENU Advanced features:
Optimization: Optimization settings are done by editing files in the
"optimize" directory. The menu just allows you to choose between applying
optimizations only to the final chapter or to all the book. Say n for
a normal build
Create SBU and disk usage report: self explanatory
Save temporary system work: self explanatory (see help)
Run comparison analysis on final stage: build the system several times
using the preceding one, to test whether it is able to rebuild itself
identically. Don't use normally...
Internal Settings (WARNING: for jhalfs developers only): says it all
Once you have set the parameters and saved the configuration, the script Once you have set the parameters and saved the configuration, the script
is launched. Its aim is to extract instructions from the selected book is launched. Its aim is to extract instructions from the selected book
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boot build method where the final build may be done on a separate boot build method where the final build may be done on a separate
machine. machine.
Q. "What is the function of "User account" and "Group account" menu
settings?"
A. If you are running jhalfs from a low or non-privileged account you may
not have the priv to create/delete the user needed to build temporary
tools.
These settings allow you to use your own user and group name to do those
build steps.
These variables are adjustable also when invoking make:
cd $BUILDDIR; make LUSER=myaccount LGROUP=mygroup
The only changes to your account will be the creation of a NEW .bashrc
after saving your original to .bashrc.XXX
Q. "How could I stop the build at a predefined chosen point?" Q. "How could I stop the build at a predefined chosen point?"
A. Launch the Makefile manually passing the last numbered target to be build A. Launch the Makefile manually passing the last numbered target to be build
as the break point. For example: as the break point. For example: