Going Beyond BLFS

#### Beyond Linux® From Scratch (systemd Edition) - Version 9.0

### Chapter 2. Important Information

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# Going Beyond BLFS

The packages that are installed in this book are only the tip of the iceberg. We hope that the experience you gained with the LFS book and the BLFS book will give you the background needed to compile, install and configure packages that are not included in this book.

When you want to install a package to a location other than `/`, or `/usr`, you are installing outside the default environment settings on most machines. The following examples should assist you in determining how to correct this situation. The examples cover the complete range of settings that may need updating, but they are not all needed in every situation.

- Expand the `PATH` to include `$PREFIX/bin`.

- Expand the `PATH` for `root` to include `$PREFIX/sbin`.

- Add `$PREFIX/lib` to `/etc/ld.so.conf` or expand `LD_LIBRARY_PATH` to include it. Before using the latter option, check out http://xahlee.org/UnixResource_dir/_/ldpath.html. If you modify `/etc/ld.so.conf`, remember to update `/etc/ld.so.cache` by executing ldconfig as the `root` user.

- Add `$PREFIX/man` to `/etc/man_db.conf` or expand `MANPATH`.

- Add `$PREFIX/info` to `INFOPATH`.

- Add `$PREFIX/lib/pkgconfig` to `PKG_CONFIG_PATH`. Some packages are now installing `.pc` files in `$PREFIX/share/pkgconfig`, so you may have to include this directory also.

- Add `$PREFIX/include` to `CPPFLAGS` when compiling packages that depend on the package you installed.

- Add `$PREFIX/lib` to `LDFLAGS` when compiling packages that depend on a library installed by the package.

If you are in search of a package that is not in the book, the following are different ways you can search for the desired package.

- If you know the name of the package, then search Freecode for it at http://freecode.com/. Also search Google at http://google.com/. Sometimes a search for the `rpm` at http://rpmfind.net/ or the `deb` at http://www.debian.org/distrib/packages#search_packages can also lead to a link to the package.

- If you know the name of the executable, but not the package that the executable belongs to, first try a Google search with the name of the executable. If the results are overwhelming, try searching for the given executable in the Debian repository at http://www.debian.org/distrib/packages#search_contents.

Some general hints on handling new packages:

- Many of the newer packages follow the ./configure && make && make install process. Help on the options accepted by configure can be obtained via the command ./configure --help.

- Most of the packages contain documentation on compiling and installing the package. Some of the documents are excellent, some not so excellent. Check out the homepage of the package for any additional and updated hints for compiling and configuring the package.

- If you are having a problem compiling the package, try searching the LFS archives at http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/search.html for the error or if that fails, try searching Google. Often, a distribution will have already solved the problem (many of them use development versions of packages, so they see the changes sooner than those of us who normally use stable released versions). But be cautious - all builders tend to carry patches which are no longer necessary, and to have fixes which are only required because of their particular choices in how they build a package. You may have to search deeply to find a fix for the package version you are trying to use, or even to find the package (names are sometimes not what you might expect, e.g. ghostscript often has a prefix or a suffix in its name), but the following notes might help, particularly for those who, like the editors, are trying to build the latest versions and encountering problems:

  - Arch http://www.archlinux.org/packages/ - enter the package name in the 'Keywords' box, select the package name, select the 'Source Files' field, and then select the `PKGBUILD` entry to see how they build this package.

  - Debian ftp://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/pool (use your country's version if there is one) - the source will be in .tar.gz tarballs (either the original upstream `.orig` source, or else a `dfsg` containing those parts which comply with debian's free software guidelines) accompanied by versioned .diff.gz or .tar.gz additions. These additions often show how the package is built, and may contain patches. In the .diff.gz versions, any patches create files in `debian/patches`.

  - Fedora packages are now most-conveniently accessed by downloading an srpm (source rpm) and using rpm2cpio (see the Tip at the bottom of the page. Go to https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/ and then choose which repo you wish to look at - development/rawhide is the latest development, or choose releases for what was shipped in a release, updates for updates to a release, or updates/testing for the latest updates which might work or might have problems.

  - Gentoo - the mirrors for ebuilds and patches seem to be well-hidden, and they change frequently. Also, if you have found a mirror, you need to know which directory the application has been assigned to. The ebuilds themselves can be found at http://packages.gentoo.org/ - use the search field. If there are any patches, a mirror will have them in the `files/` directory. Depending on your browser, or the mirror, you might need to download the ebuild to be able to read it. Treat the ebuild as a sort of pseudo-code / shell combination - look in particular for sed commands and patches, or hazard a guess at the meanings of the functions such as dodoc.

  - openSUSE provide a rolling release, some package versions are in http://download.opensuse.org/source/tumbleweed/repo/oss/src/ but others are in ../update/openSUSE-current/src - the source only seems to be available in source rpms.

  - Slackware - the official package browser is currently broken. The site at http://slackbuilds.org/ has current and previous versions in their unofficial repository with links to homepages, downloads, and some individual files, particularly the `.SlackBuild` files.

  - Ubuntu ftp://ftp.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/ - see the debian notes above.

  If everything else fails, try the blfs-support mailing-list.

### Tip

If you have found a package that is only available in `.deb` or `.rpm` format, there are two small scripts, rpm2targz and deb2targz that are available at http://downloads.linuxfromscratch.org/deb2targz.tar.bz2 and http://downloads.linuxfromscratch.org/rpm2targz.tar.bz2 to convert the archives into a simple `tar.gz` format.

You may also find an rpm2cpio script useful. The Perl version in the linux kernel archives at http://lkml.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0210.2/att-0093/01-rpm2cpio works for most source rpms. The rpm2targz script will use an rpm2cpio script or binary if one is on your path. Note that rpm2cpio will unpack a source rpm in the current directory, giving a tarball, a spec file, and perhaps patches or other files.

Last updated on 2019-07-23 19:08:42 -0700

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