The built LFS (and bare bones BLFS) results in a big system - naiively I was hoping for a really small system of 300Mb and such.

There are these possibilities for reducing the size I think:

1. uClib
2. Busybox
3. One of the many small window managers
4. Strip the binaries of debugging symbols.

Is there anything else I've missed?

Thanks
Bert

definitly do #4. Watch out though... I read somewhere (lfs mailinglist I believe) that X doesn't work if you strip it down.

My system takes just about 1 gig, but I have some hefty app's on here (cups, openoffice, and some more I can't think of at the moment)

wait till u setup x and the window manager u want and then do #4

this will be more safe

Well you gotta ask yourself what you really need from the blfs book. From what I've seen it installs a bunch of extra libraries for gnome and kde which would take up the most space.
I didn't follow the blfs book and just installed the libraries as I needed them for various programs. I've got pretty much all the programs I need and a few extras and I'm at about 500 mb. I haven't stripped any debugging symbols though. So if you are aiming for a small system then don't follow the whole blfs book. Just follow the parts you really need to get certain programs running. And always look for a smaller alternative to the program.

Good work on your (b)lfs.

I have put mine on hold for now. I installed X and QT libraries (no flames from Gnomephiles please!) but I am waiting for KDE to release stable 3.1

Anybody had luck with KDE 3.1 RC3?

I just measured my LFS and it clocked in at 1.2G. That is pretty large for a from scratch system isn't it. I've installed quite a few things from blfs though. . .all the libs and apps that I can't live without. I am considering using my LFS as my main system, if it ever gets that complete. Ironically, my LFS is the most up2date distro I have (go figure).