i want to start making lfs with mandrake 10.1 as its host system. Is there anything i should watch out for? also when i am done making lfs, can i make my own cd with it . i mean like an install cd from which i can install it on my friends pc? Also i am gonna make it using mandrake. does this mean my lfs will be rpm based?

I will answer the last one first, no it will not be rpm based. In fact, It will not inherit anything from Mandrake ( no gui admin tools or anything like that, though it could probably be adapted to use that system but with alot of work). If this is your first LFS build and first time installing something like this from scratch, you are going to learn a few ( read: lot) of things about how dependencies work. My recommendation is to use this opportunity to it's fullest to learn how things depend on each other and how to find out both what makes a good development environment and how to resolve dependency issues without the aid of a package manager ( trust me, package managers that resolve dependencies for you are not as big of a deal if you know how to do things right, so do a little investigative research on why things are being done the way they are and how to do them).

As far as things to watch out for, with an rpm based distro as the host system make sure you have the complete development environment installed prior to starting LFS. Also, read the LFS hints before you start for things like package managers ( you'll want something at least to make upgrading/uninstalling software easy) and init scripts choices. There are alot of hints availible at the LFS site, I suggest you at least glance through them to get an idea of what you want.

Install glibc-static-devel http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/...cannot-find-lc

As for copying your system onto another machine, it's possible to boot into you Mandrake host system and tar up the whole lfs partition. It will work on another computer if they have the same CPU and chipset, you may need to recompile the kernel to support different hardware, but if the two systems are very different it won't work, you'll need to build from scratch on the target machine

awwwwww man. thats gonna take up all my time . but anywayz, i intend on using my ipod with my lfs system, should i eatch out for summin before i start? also i got ati 9800rpo card, will i have to install the drivers during or after the install? and will i be able to add KDE to lfs. if yes then when? and what about motherboard drivers and sound card etc etc. sorry for all these questions but i wanna be 100% sure before i start

oh and has any1 installed lfs 6.1. i thought i would install the latest packages but i just want to know if there are serious problems related to it

Yeah, that's the thing. Building an LFS system _does_ take time. Especially if you want to get the most out of it (i.e. reading through package documentation, learning about dependencies, etc.)

I own an iPod too and believe that once I finish LFS and BLFS it shouldn't be a problem (although I'm building a pure 64-bit system so that's another story).

As far as your video card is concerned if you're able to use it with Mandrake than you're able to use it with LFS. You'll most likely install the drivers for this once BLFS is complete or at least once X is installed.

Speaking of X, this is when you can install KDE. If you're in a rush to make a decision just read through the BLFS book and check the section on KDE.

The same goes for your sound card. You'll most likely install these drivers during or after BLFS. I'm assuming you'll be using ALSA.

Lastly, If this is your first time I would suggest reading the 6.0 book for the simple fact that not only do you get recent versions of the software but you also have the convenience of a larger community of 6.0 users to talk to.

I agree with __J. Read through some of the hints and also take time to read through the prerequisites before you start. You'll be glad you did and be _amazed_ at how much you'll learn!

thanks 4 ur reply. well most of my questions are answered. this is my first time so i will have lots of others as i go along. but i know i can rely on you. well now im off to read the lfs book.