discuss: Glibc Mini-Howto
Subject:
Re: Glibc Mini-Howto
From:
David Horton ####@####.####
Date:
1 Feb 2004 18:17:48 -0000
Message-Id: <401D42C9.4040007@speakeasy.net>
####@####.#### wrote:
>>Nice document. I could have used something like this when I first
>>tried compiling glibc from source. As you said, there are many stones
>>to trip over along the way. I especially like the section on
>>troubleshooting and backing out if things go wrong. Very valuable
>>information!
>
>
> Thanks!
>
>
>>Here are a few suggestions:
>>
>>* You'll need a licence for the document like the GNU Free
>>Documentation License or something similarly open.
>
>
> Is there an URL for a ready-made part which I just need to insert?
>
If you want to use a GNU license then the site:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/ has the info you need. There are also
licenses at: http://creativecommons.org/license/ which may also be
acceptable to TLDP.
>>* You might want to ask around about LaTeX to DocBook conversion as
>>TLDP requires DocBook or LinuxDoc for markup languages. Somebody on
>>this list or the ####@####.#### list might know a good conversion
>>tool.
>
>
> At the moment I am learning to write docBook, on the first glance it
> is quite easy to learn.
>
Excellent!
>>* You might want to mention the INSTALL file in the glibc source that
>>gives details on the required versions of make, gcc and so on that are
>>needed to build. This could help people decide how much hassle it's
>>going to be to upgrade.
>
>
> Ack. I put it on my todo-list
>
>
>>* You might suggest having a boot/rescue diskset handy as an
>>alternative to compiling statically-linked bash, coreutils, etc. This
>>could be a great time-saver.
>
>
> Indeed a good idea, and I have an even better one: There are several
> Try-Out-Versions of Linux, which come on a single CD and have
> everything you need bundled with it, e.g. Knoppix
> (http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html) all you need to do is
> download the image and burn it on CD could not be simpler ....
>
That works too. Maybe you could give the three alternatives, static
linking, boot diskette or single CD distro, and let readers choose which
works best for them. Somebody with a 56k dialup connection may be
unable to download a rescue CD, but might not mind fetching a diskette
image or source code to build statically-linked binaries.
>
>>* There are also some configure options you might mention that can be
>>used to force glibc to install in a directory other than
>>/usr/local/lib.
>> For example './configure --prefix=/usr; make; make
>>install_root=/var/tmp install' will build glibc for use in /lib and
>>/usr/lib, but do the actuall installing into /var/tmp/lib and
>>/var/tmp/usr/lib.
>
>
> I think it is okay to mention it, but I for myselft don't like to
> support those proprietery structures in the file System like e.g.
> with the SuSe-Distribution; I had a lot of hassle with it, and I
> still have because everytime you install something in the normal way,
> you can be certain you will get collisions with the old versions e.g.
> I installed the new gcc and made a test with gcc -v still giving me
> the old version, because of the path environent in which /usr/bin was
> listed in front of /usr/local/bin
> But I will take it into account.
I can understand your frustration with non-standard setups in different
distros. The reason I brought up installing into other directories was
because it may be useful to someone installing a new system from source
(like LFS) rather than upgrading glibc on an existing distro. But, if
your document is strictly concerned with upgrading then don't worry
about including it.
Dave
