Introduction
Linux from scratch (LFS) is a step-by-step tutorial for building your own Linux distribution. Using the LFS approach, you start with a major Linux distribution that you prefer (e.g. Ubuntu) and bootstrap your own custom distribution. Your final LFS distribution will have nothing from the original distribution you started your bootstrapping from.
LFS is an excellent learning tool even if you have been developing on or administering Linux systems for a long time. There is some kind of magic in the “learning by doing” approach - your brain will pick up a bunch of subtleties after you create a distribution where you, for example, configure every single aspect of the boot process. LFS is also a really good way to learn, in no particular order:
- Kernel hacking - you will have created the operating system around the kernel that you do hacking on, which indirectly helps you reason about custom kernels that you make.
- Custom kernels - for the same reason above, you will get a deep understanding of why and how to customize a kernel
- Building Linux software from source - yes, we all know how to run “make” and “make install” but, trust me, there’s more to it than that. If you want to level-up your knowledge on how to build packages on Linux this is a great way.
- How to build cross-compilers - you will simulate the process of building a distribution targeting an entirely new machine. This will include bootstrapping the entire GNU toolchain (gcc, libc, etc)
Read in full here:
https://philsyme.github.io/lfs-tw/
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