Linux from scratch Anyone ever do this before? If you have, would you think it's too overwhelming for someone who doesn't have much experience with linux. All I've really done is installed a few distributions and figured out how to use ./configure, make, and make install. Anyone, just looking for some opinions on this. Oh, and the reason I was interested in this is because in their "what is linux from scratch" section they said it's a good way to learn how linux works internally.

It may be a fun project, provided that you have nothing, and I mean absolutely NOTHING worthwhile to do with your time. =\

This takes even more time than Gentoo to build, and I've decided a long time ago that I've given up on installing Linux "for the hell of it".

I installed an Anaconda-based (gasp!) distro last week because I needed a Linux box, and didn't have time to install Gentoo.

Quote: Original post by twix
It may be a fun project, provided that you have nothing, and I mean absolutely NOTHING worthwhile to do with your time. =\

seconded.

Package management is for people who have better things to do than compile everything. Although, I don't consider doing it all by hand much worse than using "emerge" BUT that's another matter...

Quote: Original post by twix
It may be a fun project, provided that you have nothing, and I mean absolutely NOTHING worthwhile to do with your time. =\

Like what? I think this idea is quite worthwhile if you are interested.

Being able to set up a fully functional OS+web-server in only 8MB knowing exactly which things your server is running (for example) sounds like a good idea to me. Can you do that with any other OS?

Quote: Original post by owl

Quote: Original post by twix
It may be a fun project, provided that you have nothing, and I mean absolutely NOTHING worthwhile to do with your time. =\

Like what? I think this idea is quite worthwhile if you are interested.

Being able to set up a fully functional OS+web-server in only 8MB knowing exactly which things your server is running (for example) sounds like a good idea to me. Can you do that with any other OS?

The advantage of other OSes is that you don't have to, and have no reason at all to wish to. [smile] To each his own, I suppose, but this seems like a completely unnecessary skill. I prefer to have my OS fully functional so that I can actually get stuff done right from the start.

Quote: Original post by owl

Quote: Original post by twix
It may be a fun project, provided that you have nothing, and I mean absolutely NOTHING worthwhile to do with your time. =\

Like what? I think this idea is quite worthwhile if you are interested.

Being able to set up a fully functional OS+web-server in only 8MB knowing exactly which things your server is running (for example) sounds like a good idea to me. Can you do that with any other OS?

You're right that there's a decent practical application to this, but it's marginalized by the numerous special purpose distros that are already out there.

I've not personally done it, but it's better than using a distro if you really want to tune Linux specifically for your needs (and nobody else's), such as if you're putting together a special server.

If you're just looking to customize Linux for a desktop environment, however, just use a normal distro.

Quote: Original post by twix

Quote: Original post by owl

Quote: Original post by twix
It may be a fun project, provided that you have nothing, and I mean absolutely NOTHING worthwhile to do with your time. =\

Like what? I think this idea is quite worthwhile if you are interested.

Being able to set up a fully functional OS+web-server in only 8MB knowing exactly which things your server is running (for example) sounds like a good idea to me. Can you do that with any other OS?

The advantage of other OSes is that you don't have to, and have no reason at all to wish to. [smile] To each his own, I suppose, but this seems like a completely unnecessary skill. I prefer to have my OS fully functional so that I can actually get stuff done right from the start.

It is easier to mantain and protect a small system than a huge buggy and secretive provider-dependant one. For a clueless user, there are iMacs.

Quote: Original post by owl
It is easier to mantain and protect a small system than a huge buggy and secretive provider-dependant one. For a clueless user, there are iMacs.

Ah, but it's a million times harder, and more importantly, more time consuming to set it up and get it working to your satisfaction. On another note, I have never had any problems maintaining a Windows XP system (rock solid, and perfectly secure without even an antivirus program), and it takes about 20 minutes to set it up from the install disk. Go figure. [grin]

As I said, though, to each his own. You're not convincing anyone here, and neither am I. I just wanted to warn the OP that LFS is a huge commitment of time, and he should be sure that he doesn't have a lot of other important things to do if he wants to get this done.