first failure is on line 2098 of configure file.
configure:2096 $? = 0
configure:2098 gcc -V </dev/null >&5
gcc: '-V' option must have an argument
configure;2101;$? =1
any suggestions?

I am underwhelmed by the response, but I found the problem. Ncurses is where the problem started. I gleaned that Ncurses was the problem from the config.log. I reinstalled Ncurses and found that Ncurse didn't install the include directory in the proper place and psmisc could not find the terminal header files it needed.
I moved the *.h files to /usr/include and it made. Hoo- Hoo, I didn't have to start all the way over again! You may not be excited about this but I am.

I am sure it was all my fault.

I am underwhelmed by the response, but I found the problem. Ncurses is where the problem started. I gleaned that Ncurses was the problem from the config.log. I reinstalled Ncurses and found that Ncurse didn't install the include directory in the proper place and psmisc could not find the terminal header files it needed.
I moved the *.h files to /usr/include and it made. Hoo- Hoo, I didn't have to start all the way over again! You may not be excited about this but I am.

I am sure it was all my fault.

Are you installing LFS? If so, then what book version are you using?

I am installing version X86-6.1-2 from the lfslivecd.

I reformatted the hard drive after I found that 'info' wasn't working in chapter 7.2 and decided that I had not spent enough time in the manuals during the early builds, so I started over. This is a learning experience, I have learned a great deal already, but there is a lot to learn. Also Vi was kind of wacked, It may have had something to do the editor or keymaps. I wasn't sure, so I shot it in the head.
I am reading the book again, this time reading the references. This will be the third time I have started this project, It is too interesting to be boring.

Well I tried a LiveCD for LFS-6.0 didn't work. Then, later I tried using slackware as the host system It worked.

Point is LFS LiveCDs don't work use a distro that runs from the hard drive.

Also, you may be able to use some of the packages from the CD provided they aren't corrupted.

I appreciate the tip. I used Gentoo first, it went okay. It was easier, but I didn't learn as much as I've learned with LFS. I've never used slackware, just Fedora Core, Suse 9.0, Xandros and Black Box Linux. I'll try again with Slackware if it doesn't work this time. As this is an educational endevour, the more trouble I have, the more I'll learn, right?
Thanks.

I think your misunderstanding me. Go ahead and install LFS but, do it with a host-system that runs from your harddrive.
(slackware, Fedora...etc , but not the LFS-LiveCD)

Like I was saying earlier I don't think I followed the directions any different than when I was using the LiveCD.

But if you still want to use the live CD then:

• It's best if you just give one output.
• That output should Include where the errors occurred on down

Thanks,
I don't understand what you mean. If the source code isn't corrupted, it shouldn't matter what type of file system the program is loaded from. I mean the programs are running in memory. /mnt/lfs is on the hard drive after the first chapter. I didn't understand the last statement......

# It's best if you just give one output.
# That output should Include where the errors occurred on down.


What did you mean by that?


I am thinking part of my problem is when I reboot I am losing my env vars and paths and ln -s's, but again if the distro is buggy, which is what I believe you are saying, then while the general instructions and the source code are good, maybe there is a problem with the clib,binutils or whats running on the CD. It is an interesting problem.
I haven't seen anyone else complain about the distro, but it is a newer version.

Has anyone else had problems with the distro that was solved as suggested?

Forget, what I said about using a different distro. According to the site it's a stable release (I don't think mine was, sorry).

• By "output" I mean what the sceen prints out.
• By "one" I meant the output from one command.
• By "where the erros occurred on down" I meant when you post the output, start from where the first error occured, and finnish where the output ended.

What do you do when you reboot?