Part 7: Building the Full LFS System

Overview

Inside chroot, you'll now build all ~70 packages that comprise the complete LFS system. This is Chapter 8 of the LFS book.

Prerequisites

Inside chroot environment
Completed Part 6
Working directory: /sources

Build Order

The packages must be built in this specific order due to dependencies:

Core System Libraries (1-20)

Man-pages
Iana-Etc
Glibc
Zlib
Bzip2
Xz
Lz4
Zstd
File
Readline
M4
Bc
Flex
Tcl
Expect
DejaGNU
Pkgconf
Binutils
GMP
MPFR

Compiler and Build Tools (21-30)

MPC
Attr
Acl
Libcap
Libxcrypt
Shadow
GCC
Ncurses
Sed
Psmisc

Core Utilities (31-50)

Gettext
Bison
Grep
Bash
Libtool
GDBM
Gperf
Expat
Inetutils
Less
Perl
XML::Parser
Intltool
Autoconf
Automake
OpenSSL
Kmod
Libelf (from Elfutils)
Libffi
Python

Additional Tools (51-70)

Flit-Core
Wheel
Setuptools
Ninja
Meson
Coreutils
Diffutils
Gawk
Findutils
Groff
GRUB
Gzip
IPRoute2
Kbd
Libpipeline
Make
Patch
Tar
Texinfo
Vim

System Tools (71-80)

MarkupSafe
Jinja2
Systemd/Sysvinit
Man-DB
Procps-ng
Util-linux
E2fsprogs
Sysklogd
Sysvinit (or Systemd)
About Debugging Symbols

Standard Build Pattern

Most packages follow this pattern:

cd /sources
tar -xf <package>.tar.xz
cd <package>

./configure --prefix=/usr <other-options>
make
make check  # Run tests (optional but recommended)
make install

cd /sources
rm -rf <package>

Critical Packages - Detailed Instructions

1. Man-pages-6.15

cd /sources
tar -xf man-pages-6.15.tar.xz
cd man-pages-6.15

rm -v man3/crypt*
make prefix=/usr install

cd /sources
rm -rf man-pages-6.15

2. Iana-Etc-20250807

cd /sources
tar -xf iana-etc-20250807.tar.gz
cd iana-etc-20250807

cp services protocols /etc

cd /sources
rm -rf iana-etc-20250807

3. Glibc-2.42 (Critical!)

Build Time: 14 SBU Disk Space: 3 GB

cd /sources
tar -xf glibc-2.42.tar.xz
cd glibc-2.42

# Apply patch if needed
patch -Np1 -i ../glibc-2.42-fhs-1.patch

# Fix hardcoded path
sed '/MAKEINFO/s/info/makeinfo/' -i Makefile

mkdir -v build
cd build

# Ensure correct library directory
echo "rootsbindir=/usr/sbin" > configparms

../configure --prefix=/usr \
             --disable-werror \
             --enable-kernel=5.4 \
             --enable-stack-protector=strong \
             --disable-nscd \
             libc_cv_slibdir=/usr/lib

make
make check  # Important - check for failures

# Known test failures: nptl/tst-thread-affinity-{pthread,pthread2,sched}
# These can be ignored

touch /etc/ld.so.conf

sed '/test-installation/s@$(PERL)@echo not running@' -i ../Makefile

make install

sed '/RTLDLIST=/s@/usr@@g' -i /usr/bin/ldd

# Install locale data
mkdir -pv /usr/lib/locale
localedef -i C -f UTF-8 C.UTF-8
localedef -i cs_CZ -f UTF-8 cs_CZ.UTF-8
localedef -i de_DE -f ISO-8859-1 de_DE
localedef -i de_DE@euro -f ISO-8859-15 de_DE@euro
localedef -i de_DE -f UTF-8 de_DE.UTF-8
localedef -i el_GR -f ISO-8859-7 el_GR
localedef -i en_GB -f ISO-8859-1 en_GB
localedef -i en_GB -f UTF-8 en_GB.UTF-8
localedef -i en_HK -f ISO-8859-1 en_HK
localedef -i en_PH -f ISO-8859-1 en_PH
localedef -i en_US -f ISO-8859-1 en_US
localedef -i en_US -f UTF-8 en_US.UTF-8
localedef -i es_ES -f ISO-8859-15 es_ES@euro
localedef -i es_MX -f ISO-8859-1 es_MX
localedef -i fa_IR -f UTF-8 fa_IR
localedef -i fr_FR -f ISO-8859-1 fr_FR
localedef -i fr_FR@euro -f ISO-8859-15 fr_FR@euro
localedef -i fr_FR -f UTF-8 fr_FR.UTF-8
localedef -i is_IS -f ISO-8859-1 is_IS
localedef -i is_IS -f UTF-8 is_IS.UTF-8
localedef -i it_IT -f ISO-8859-1 it_IT
localedef -i it_IT -f ISO-8859-15 it_IT@euro
localedef -i it_IT -f UTF-8 it_IT.UTF-8
localedef -i ja_JP -f EUC-JP ja_JP
localedef -i ja_JP -f SHIFT_JIS ja_JP.SJIS
localedef -i ja_JP -f UTF-8 ja_JP.UTF-8
localedef -i nl_NL@euro -f ISO-8859-15 nl_NL@euro
localedef -i ru_RU -f KOI8-R ru_RU.KOI8-R
localedef -i ru_RU -f UTF-8 ru_RU.UTF-8
localedef -i se_NO -f UTF-8 se_NO.UTF-8
localedef -i ta_IN -f UTF-8 ta_IN.UTF-8
localedef -i tr_TR -f UTF-8 tr_TR.UTF-8
localedef -i zh_CN -f GB18030 zh_CN.GB18030
localedef -i zh_HK -f BIG5-HKSCS zh_HK.BIG5-HKSCS
localedef -i zh_TW -f UTF-8 zh_TW.UTF-8

# Configure dynamic linker
cat > /etc/ld.so.conf << "EOF"
# Begin /etc/ld.so.conf
/usr/local/lib
/opt/lib

EOF

cd /sources
rm -rf glibc-2.42

4-17. Core Libraries (Quick Build)

# Zlib
tar -xf zlib-1.3.1.tar.gz
cd zlib-1.3.1
./configure --prefix=/usr
make && make check && make install
rm -fv /usr/lib/libz.a
cd /sources && rm -rf zlib-1.3.1

# Bzip2
tar -xf bzip2-1.0.8.tar.gz
cd bzip2-1.0.8
patch -Np1 -i ../bzip2-1.0.8-install_docs-1.patch
sed -i 's@\(ln -s -f \)$(PREFIX)/bin/@\1@' Makefile
sed -i "s@(PREFIX)/man@(PREFIX)/share/man@g" Makefile
make -f Makefile-libbz2_so
make clean
make && make PREFIX=/usr install
cp -av libbz2.so.* /usr/lib
ln -sv libbz2.so.1.0.8 /usr/lib/libbz2.so
cp -v bzip2-shared /usr/bin/bzip2
for i in /usr/bin/{bzcat,bunzip2}; do
  ln -sfv bzip2 $i
done
rm -fv /usr/lib/libbz2.a
cd /sources && rm -rf bzip2-1.0.8

# Xz
tar -xf xz-5.8.1.tar.xz
cd xz-5.8.1
./configure --prefix=/usr \
            --disable-static \
            --docdir=/usr/share/doc/xz-5.8.1
make && make check && make install
cd /sources && rm -rf xz-5.8.1

# Continue for remaining libraries...

18. Binutils-2.45

Build Time: 2.2 SBU

cd /sources
tar -xf binutils-2.45.tar.xz
cd binutils-2.45

mkdir -v build
cd build

../configure --prefix=/usr \
             --sysconfdir=/etc \
             --enable-gold \
             --enable-ld=default \
             --enable-plugins \
             --enable-shared \
             --disable-werror \
             --enable-64-bit-bfd \
             --enable-new-dtags \
             --with-system-zlib \
             --enable-default-hash-style=gnu

make tooldir=/usr

make -k check  # Some failures expected

make tooldir=/usr install

# Remove useless static libraries
rm -fv /usr/lib/lib{bfd,ctf,ctf-nobfd,gprofng,opcodes,sframe}.a

cd /sources
rm -rf binutils-2.45

27. GCC-15.2.0 (Critical!)

Build Time: 42 SBU Disk Space: 5.6 GB

cd /sources
tar -xf gcc-15.2.0.tar.xz
cd gcc-15.2.0

# Extract prerequisites
tar -xf ../mpfr-4.2.2.tar.xz
mv -v mpfr-4.2.2 mpfr
tar -xf ../gmp-6.3.0.tar.xz
mv -v gmp-6.3.0 gmp
tar -xf ../mpc-1.3.1.tar.gz
mv -v mpc-1.3.1 mpc

# For x86_64
case $(uname -m) in
  x86_64)
    sed -e '/m64=/s/lib64/lib/' \
        -i.orig gcc/config/i386/t-linux64
  ;;
esac

mkdir -v build
cd build

../configure --prefix=/usr \
             LD=ld \
             --enable-languages=c,c++ \
             --enable-default-pie \
             --enable-default-ssp \
             --enable-host-pie \
             --disable-multilib \
             --disable-bootstrap \
             --disable-fixincludes \
             --with-system-zlib

make

# Run tests (takes ~3 hours)
ulimit -s -H unlimited
sed -e '/cpython/d' -i ../gcc/testsuite/gcc.dg/plugin/plugin.exp
sed -e 's/no-pic /&-no-pie /' -i ../gcc/testsuite/gcc.target/i386/pr113689-1.c
sed -e 's/300000/(1|300000)/' -i ../libgomp/testsuite/libgomp.c-c++-common/pr96390.c
sed -e 's/{ target nonpic } //' \
    -e '/GOTPCREL/d' -i ../gcc/testsuite/gcc.target/i386/fentryname3.c

chown -R tester .
su tester -c "PATH=$PATH make -k check"

# View summary
../contrib/test_summary

make install

chown -v -R root:root \
    /usr/lib/gcc/$(gcc -dumpmachine)/15.2.0/include{,-fixed}

ln -svr /usr/bin/cpp /usr/lib
ln -sv gcc.1 /usr/share/man/man1/cc.1

ln -sfv ../../libexec/gcc/$(gcc -dumpmachine)/15.2.0/liblto_plugin.so \
        /usr/lib/bfd-plugins/

# Verify installation
echo 'int main(){}' > dummy.c
cc dummy.c -v -Wl,--verbose &> dummy.log
readelf -l a.out | grep ': /lib'
# Should show: [Requesting program interpreter: /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2]

# Check search paths
grep -E -o '/usr/lib.*/S?crt[1in].*succeeded' dummy.log
# Should show:
# /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/15.2.0/../../../../lib/Scrt1.o succeeded
# /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/15.2.0/../../../../lib/crti.o succeeded
# /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/15.2.0/../../../../lib/crtn.o succeeded

grep 'SEARCH.*/usr/lib' dummy.log |sed 's|; |\n|g'
# Should include /usr/lib

grep "/lib.*/libc.so.6 " dummy.log
# Should show: attempt to open /usr/lib/libc.so.6 succeeded

grep found dummy.log
# Should show: found ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 at /usr/lib/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2

rm -v dummy.c a.out dummy.log

mkdir -pv /usr/share/gdb/auto-load/usr/lib
mv -v /usr/lib/*gdb.py /usr/share/gdb/auto-load/usr/lib

cd /sources
rm -rf gcc-15.2.0

Continuing the Build

For the remaining 40+ packages, follow the LFS 12.4 book Chapter 8 instructions. Each package has specific build instructions that should be followed carefully.

Key packages to pay special attention to:

Glibc - Already built above
GCC - Already built above
Binutils - Already built above
Shadow - Sets up user/password system
Systemd/Sysvinit - Init system choice
Util-linux - Essential system utilities
E2fsprogs - Filesystem utilities

Quick Build Script Template

For simpler packages:

#!/bin/bash
# build-package.sh

PKG_NAME=$1
PKG_VERSION=$2

cd /sources
tar -xf ${PKG_NAME}-${PKG_VERSION}.tar.*
cd ${PKG_NAME}-${PKG_VERSION}

./configure --prefix=/usr
make
make check
make install

cd /sources
rm -rf ${PKG_NAME}-${PKG_VERSION}

Stripping Debug Symbols

After all packages are installed:

save_usrlib="$(cd /usr/lib; ls ld-linux*[^g])
             libc.so.6
             libthread_db.so.1
             libquadmath.so.0.0.0
             libstdc++.so.6.0.33
             libitm.so.1.0.0
             libatomic.so.1.2.0"

cd /usr/lib

for LIB in $save_usrlib; do
    objcopy --only-keep-debug --compress-debug-sections=zlib $LIB $LIB.dbg
    cp $LIB /tmp/$LIB
    strip --strip-unneeded /tmp/$LIB
    objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=$LIB.dbg /tmp/$LIB
    install -vm755 /tmp/$LIB /usr/lib
    rm /tmp/$LIB
done

online_usrbin="bash find strip"
online_usrlib="libbfd-2.45.so
               libsframe.so.1.0.0
               libhistory.so.8.2
               libncursesw.so.6.5
               libm.so.6
               libreadline.so.8.2
               libz.so.1.3.1
               libzstd.so.1.5.7
               $(cd /usr/lib; find libnss*.so* -type f)"

for BIN in $online_usrbin; do
    cp /usr/bin/$BIN /tmp/$BIN
    strip --strip-unneeded /tmp/$BIN
    install -vm755 /tmp/$BIN /usr/bin
    rm /tmp/$BIN
done

for LIB in $online_usrlib; do
    cp /usr/lib/$LIB /tmp/$LIB
    strip --strip-unneeded /tmp/$LIB
    install -vm755 /tmp/$LIB /usr/lib
    rm /tmp/$LIB
done

for i in $(find /usr/lib -type f -name \*.so* ! -name \*dbg) \
         $(find /usr/lib -type f -name \*.a) \
         $(find /usr/{bin,sbin,libexec} -type f); do
    case "$online_usrbin $online_usrlib $save_usrlib" in
        *$(basename $i)* )
            ;;
        * ) strip --strip-unneeded $i 2>/dev/null
            ;;
    esac
done

unset BIN LIB save_usrlib online_usrbin online_usrlib

Clean Up

rm -rf /tmp/*
find /usr/lib /usr/libexec -name \*.la -delete
find /usr -depth -name $(uname -m)-lfs-linux-gnu\* | xargs rm -rf
userdel -r tester

Next Steps

Full system built! Proceed to:

Part 8: System configuration
Part 9: Kernel and bootloader
Part 10: Final testing

Important Notes

This is the most time-consuming part (~20-40 hours)
Run test suites when possible
Save logs for important packages
Don't skip GCC and Glibc verification steps
Take regular backups

References

LFS 12.4 Chapter 8

Part 07 Full System Build