There are tons of Linux distributions available. I have used a few of the more popular distributions. In an effort to better understand what comprises a Linux distribution I have decided to build my own from source code at ground zero.
To accomplish building the distribution a host Linux system is required. In this example I have chosen Mint as a host.
There is a certain layer of software required to build the distribution. Two scripts are employed to ensure the proper environment exists on the host. The first script determines the existence of the required development environment.
[codesyntax lang=”bash”]
cat > version-check.sh << "EOF"
#!/bin/bash
# Simple script to list version numbers of critical development tools
export LC_ALL=C
bash --version | head -n1 | cut -d" " -f2-4
MYSH=$(readlink -f /bin/sh)
echo "/bin/sh -> $MYSH"
echo $MYSH | grep -q bash || echo "ERROR: /bin/sh does not point to bash"
unset MYSH
echo -n "Binutils: "; ld --version | head -n1 | cut -d" " -f3-
bison --version | head -n1
if [ -h /usr/bin/yacc ]; then
echo "/usr/bin/yacc -> `readlink -f /usr/bin/yacc`";
elif [ -x /usr/bin/yacc ]; then
echo yacc is `/usr/bin/yacc --version | head -n1`
else
echo "yacc not found"
fi
bzip2 --version 2>&1 < /dev/null | head -n1 | cut -d" " -f1,6-
echo -n "Coreutils: "; chown --version | head -n1 | cut -d")" -f2
diff --version | head -n1
find --version | head -n1
gawk --version | head -n1
if [ -h /usr/bin/awk ]; then
echo "/usr/bin/awk -> `readlink -f /usr/bin/awk`";
elif [ -x /usr/bin/awk ]; then
echo awk is `/usr/bin/awk --version | head -n1`
else
echo "awk not found"
fi
gcc --version | head -n1
g++ --version | head -n1
ldd --version | head -n1 | cut -d" " -f2-
grep --version | head -n1
gzip --version | head -n1
cat /proc/version
m4 --version | head -n1
make --version | head -n1
patch --version | head -n1
echo Perl `perl -V:version`
sed --version | head -n1
tar --version | head -n1
makeinfo --version | head -n1
xz --version | head -n1
echo 'int main(){}' > dummy.c && g++ -o dummy dummy.c
if [ -x dummy ]
then echo "g++ compilation OK";
else echo "g++ compilation failed"; fi
rm -f dummy.c dummy
EOF
bash version-check.sh
[/codesyntax]
The above file should be placed on the host and be made executable. After the file is executed the following script is generated. The resulting script may be found in the file “version-check.sh” (minus double quotes).
[codesyntax lang=”bash”]
#!/bin/bash
# Simple script to list version numbers of critical development tools
export LC_ALL=C
bash --version | head -n1 | cut -d" " -f2-4
MYSH=$(readlink -f /bin/sh)
echo "/bin/sh -> $MYSH"
echo $MYSH | grep -q bash || echo "ERROR: /bin/sh does not point to bash"
unset MYSH
echo -n "Binutils: "; ld --version | head -n1 | cut -d" " -f3-
bison --version | head -n1
if [ -h /usr/bin/yacc ]; then
echo "/usr/bin/yacc -> `readlink -f /usr/bin/yacc`";
elif [ -x /usr/bin/yacc ]; then
echo yacc is `/usr/bin/yacc --version | head -n1`
else
echo "yacc not found"
fi
bzip2 --version 2>&1 < /dev/null | head -n1 | cut -d" " -f1,6-
echo -n "Coreutils: "; chown --version | head -n1 | cut -d")" -f2
diff --version | head -n1
find --version | head -n1
gawk --version | head -n1
if [ -h /usr/bin/awk ]; then
echo "/usr/bin/awk -> `readlink -f /usr/bin/awk`";
elif [ -x /usr/bin/awk ]; then
echo awk is `/usr/bin/awk --version | head -n1`
else
echo "awk not found"
fi
gcc --version | head -n1
g++ --version | head -n1
ldd --version | head -n1 | cut -d" " -f2-
grep --version | head -n1
gzip --version | head -n1
cat /proc/version
m4 --version | head -n1
make --version | head -n1
patch --version | head -n1
echo Perl `perl -V:version`
sed --version | head -n1
tar --version | head -n1
makeinfo --version | head -n1
xz --version | head -n1
echo 'int main(){}' > dummy.c && g++ -o dummy dummy.c
if [ -x dummy ]
then echo "g++ compilation OK";
else echo "g++ compilation failed"; fi
rm -f dummy.c dummy
[/codesyntax]
The second script determines the required libraries exist prior to commencing the build.
[codesyntax lang=”bash”]
cat > library-check.sh << "EOF"
#!/bin/bash
for lib in lib{gmp,mpfr,mpc}.la; do
echo $lib: $(if find /usr/lib* -name $lib|
grep -q $lib;then :;else echo not;fi) found
done
unset lib
EOF
bash library-check.sh
[/codesyntax]
The above file should be placed on the host and be made executable. After the file is executed the following script is generated. The resulting script may be found in the file “library-check.sh” (minus double quotes).
[codesyntax lang=”bash”]
#!/bin/bash
for lib in lib{gmp,mpfr,mpc}.la; do
echo $lib: $(if find /usr/lib* -name $lib|
grep -q $lib;then :;else echo not;fi) found
done
unset lib
[/codesyntax]
The Acrobat Reader will be useful in this endeavor. The latest version supported by Mint can be accessed by clicking here. Once the package is downloaded use GDebi to install to the proper location.
To create the source code repository for the build a scrip and a take (input) file were created.
The script is listed below.
[codesyntax lang=”bash”]
wget --input-file=wget-list --continue --directory-prefix=$LFS/sources
[/codesyntax]
The take or input file is listed below.
[codesyntax lang=”text”]
http://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/acl/acl-2.2.52.src.tar.gz http://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/attr/attr-2.4.47.src.tar.gz http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/autoconf-2.69.tar.xz http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/automake/automake-1.15.tar.xz http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/bash/bash-4.4.tar.gz http://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/bc/bc-1.06.95.tar.bz2 http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/binutils/binutils-2.27.tar.bz2 http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/bison/bison-3.0.4.tar.xz http://www.bzip.org/1.0.6/bzip2-1.0.6.tar.gz https://github.com/libcheck/check/releases/download/0.11.0/check-0.11.0.tar.gz http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/coreutils/coreutils-8.26.tar.xz http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/dejagnu/dejagnu-1.6.tar.gz http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/diffutils/diffutils-3.5.tar.xz http://dev.gentoo.org/~blueness/eudev/eudev-3.2.1.tar.gz http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/e2fsprogs/e2fsprogs/v1.43.4/e2fsprogs-1.43.4.tar.gz http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/expat/expat-2.2.0.tar.bz2 http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/expect/expect5.45.tar.gz ftp://ftp.astron.com/pub/file/file-5.30.tar.gz http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/findutils/findutils-4.6.0.tar.gz https://github.com/westes/flex/releases/download/v2.6.3/flex-2.6.3.tar.gz http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gawk/gawk-4.1.4.tar.xz http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gcc/gcc-6.3.0/gcc-6.3.0.tar.bz2 http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gdbm/gdbm-1.12.tar.gz http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gettext/gettext-0.19.8.1.tar.xz http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/glibc/glibc-2.25.tar.xz http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gmp/gmp-6.1.2.tar.xz http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gperf/gperf-3.0.4.tar.gz http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/grep/grep-3.0.tar.xz http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/groff/groff-1.22.3.tar.gz http://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/grub/grub-2.02~beta3.tar.xz http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gzip/gzip-1.8.tar.xz http://anduin.linuxfromscratch.org/LFS/iana-etc-2.30.tar.bz2 http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/inetutils/inetutils-1.9.4.tar.xz http://launchpad.net/intltool/trunk/0.51.0/+download/intltool-0.51.0.tar.gz https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/net/iproute2/iproute2-4.9.0.tar.xz https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kbd/kbd-2.0.4.tar.xz https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/kmod/kmod-23.tar.xz http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/less-481.tar.gz http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/downloads/8.0/lfs-bootscripts-20150222.tar.bz2 https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/libs/security/linux-privs/libcap2/libcap-2.25.tar.xz http://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/libpipeline/libpipeline-1.4.1.tar.gz http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/libtool/libtool-2.4.6.tar.xz https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/linux-4.9.9.tar.xz http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/m4/m4-1.4.18.tar.xz http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/make/make-4.2.1.tar.bz2 http://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/man-db/man-db-2.7.6.1.tar.xz https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/docs/man-pages/man-pages-4.09.tar.xz http://www.multiprecision.org/mpc/download/mpc-1.0.3.tar.gz http://www.mpfr.org/mpfr-3.1.5/mpfr-3.1.5.tar.xz http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu//ncurses/ncurses-6.0.tar.gz http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/patch/patch-2.7.5.tar.xz http://www.cpan.org/src/5.0/perl-5.24.1.tar.bz2 https://pkg-config.freedesktop.org/releases/pkg-config-0.29.1.tar.gz http://sourceforge.net/projects/procps-ng/files/Production/procps-ng-3.3.12.tar.xz http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/psmisc/psmisc/psmisc-22.21.tar.gz http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/readline/readline-7.0.tar.gz http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/sed/sed-4.4.tar.xz https://github.com/shadow-maint/shadow/releases/download/4.4/shadow-4.4.tar.xz http://www.infodrom.org/projects/sysklogd/download/sysklogd-1.5.1.tar.gz http://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/sysvinit/sysvinit-2.88dsf.tar.bz2 http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/tar/tar-1.29.tar.xz http://sourceforge.net/projects/tcl/files/Tcl/8.6.6/tcl-core8.6.6-src.tar.gz http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/texinfo/texinfo-6.3.tar.xz http://www.iana.org/time-zones/repository/releases/tzdata2016j.tar.gz http://anduin.linuxfromscratch.org/LFS/udev-lfs-20140408.tar.bz2 https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/v2.29/util-linux-2.29.1.tar.xz ftp://ftp.vim.org/pub/vim/unix/vim-8.0.069.tar.bz2 http://cpan.metacpan.org/authors/id/T/TO/TODDR/XML-Parser-2.44.tar.gz http://tukaani.org/xz/xz-5.2.3.tar.xz http://zlib.net/zlib-1.2.11.tar.xz http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/lfs/8.0/bash-4.4-upstream_fixes-1.patch http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/lfs/8.0/bc-1.06.95-memory_leak-1.patch http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/lfs/8.0/bzip2-1.0.6-install_docs-1.patch http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/lfs/8.0/coreutils-8.26-i18n-1.patch http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/lfs/8.0/glibc-2.25-fhs-1.patch http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/lfs/8.0/kbd-2.0.4-backspace-1.patch http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/lfs/8.0/sysvinit-2.88dsf-consolidated-1.patch [/codesyntax]
Mr. Arch Brooks, CEO / Software Engineer, Brooks Computing Systems, LLC. authored this article.