View source for Linux from Scratch

{{Short description|Type of Linux installation}}
{{Primary sources|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox OS
| name = Linux From Scratch
| logo = 
| website = [https://linuxfromscratch.org linuxfromscratch.org]
| developer = Gerard Beekmans et al.
| family = [[Unix-like]]
| source_model = [[Open-source software|Open source]]
| released = {{start date and age|1999|12}}
| latest release version = {{wikidata|property|edit|reference|P348}}
| latest release date = {{start date and age|{{wikidata|qualifier|P348|P577}}}}
| kernel type = [[Monolithic kernel|Monolithic]]
| ui = [[Command-line interface|CLI]]
| license = [[Creative Commons licenses]] Mainly CC BY-NC-SA<ref>{{cite web |title=Appendix D. LFS Licenses |url=https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/view/11.1-systemd/appendices/licenses.html |access-date=9 August 2023 |website=www.linuxfromscratch.org}}</ref> and [[MIT License]]
| working state = Current
| supported platforms = [[IA-32]], [[x86-64]], [[PowerPC]], [[ARM architecture family|ARM]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=iii. LFS Target Architectures |url=https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/view/stable/prologue/architecture.html |access-date=17 July 2025 |website=www.linuxfromscratch.org}}</ref>
| updatemodel = Source-based
| package manager = None (source-based)
}}

'''''Linux From Scratch''''' ('''LFS''') is a type of [[Linux]] installation, and the name of a book written by [[Gerard Beekmans]], and as of May 2021, mainly maintained by Bruce Dubbs. The book gives readers instructions on how to build a Linux system from [[Source code|source]]. The book is available freely from the Linux From Scratch site.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Download LFS |url=https://linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/download.html |access-date=11 March 2025 |publisher=www.linuxfromscratch.org}}</ref>

== Projects under LFS ==
''Linux From Scratch'' is a way to install a working Linux system by building all components of it manually. This is, naturally, a longer process than installing a pre-compiled [[Linux distribution]]. According to the ''Linux From Scratch'' site, the advantages to this method are a compact, flexible and secure system and a greater understanding of the internal workings of the Linux-based operating systems.<ref>{{cite web |title=What is Linux From Scratch? |url=http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/ |access-date=11 March 2025 |website=www.linuxfromscratch.org}}</ref>

To keep LFS small and focused, the book ''Beyond Linux From Scratch'' (BLFS) was created, which presents instructions on how to further develop the basic Linux system that was created in LFS. It introduces and guides the reader through additions to the system including the [[X Window System]], [[desktop environment]]s ([[KDE]], [[GNOME]], [[Xfce]], [[LXDE]]), [[productivity software]], [[web browser]]s, [[programming language]]s and tools, [[multimedia]] software, and [[network management]] and [[system administrator|system administration]] tools. Since Release 7.4, the BLFS book version matches the LFS book version.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Who Would Want to Read this Book |url=https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/view/stable/preface/whoread.html |access-date=9 September 2025 |website=www.linuxfromscratch.org}}</ref>

The book ''Cross Linux From Scratch'' (CLFS) focuses on [[cross compiling]], including compiling for [[Headless computer|headless]] or [[embedded system|embedded]] systems that can ''run'' Linux, but lack the resources needed to ''compile'' Linux.<ref name="trac.clfs"> {{cite web |title=CLFS Trac |url=https://trac.clfs.org/ |access-date=9 September 2025 |website=trac.clfs.org}} </ref> CLFS supports a broad range of [[Central processing unit|processors]] and addresses advanced techniques not included in the LFS book such as cross-build [[toolchain]]s, multilibrary support (32 & 64-bit [[Library (computing)|libraries]] side-by-side), and alternative [[instruction set architecture]]s such as [[Itanium]], [[SPARC]], [[MIPS architecture|MIPS]], and [[DEC Alpha|Alpha]]. The project is archived and was last updated in August 2017.<ref name="trac.clfs"/>

The Linux from Scratch project, like [[BitBake]], also supports cross-compiling Linux for [[ARM architecture|ARM]] embedded systems such as the [[Raspberry Pi]] and [[BeagleBone]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Cross-Compiled Linux From Scratch – Embedded |url=https://clfs.org/view/clfs-embedded/ |access-date=11 March 2025 |website=clfs.org}}.</ref><ref>
{{Cite book |last=Horan |first=Brendan |url=https://archive.org/details/practicalraspber00hora |title=Practical Raspberry Pi |publisher=Apress |isbn=978-1-4302-4972-6 |publication-place=Berkeley, CA |publication-date=12 June 2013 |pages=105 |language=English |doi=10.1007/978-1-4302-4972-6 |oclc=848747530 |ol=27082156M}}</ref>

The book ''Hardened Linux From Scratch'' (HLFS) focuses on security enhancements such as [[Hardening (computing)|hardened]] kernel patches, mandatory [[Computer access control|access control]] policies, [[stack-smashing protection]], and [[address space layout randomization]].<ref> {{cite web |title=HLFS Project Homepage |url=https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hlfs/ |access-date=9 September 2025 |website=www.linuxfromscratch.org}} </ref> Besides its main purpose of creating a [[security-focused operating system]], HLFS had the secondary goal of being a security teaching tool.  It has not been updated since 2011. As of 17 February 2025, the HLFS book has disappeared from the LFS web site.

''Automated Linux From Scratch'' (ALFS) is a project designed to automate the process of creating an LFS system.<ref name="lfs"/> It is aimed at users who have gone through the LFS and BLFS books several times and wish to reduce the amount of work involved.<ref> {{cite web |title=ALFS Project Homepage |url=https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/alfs/ |access-date=9 September 2025 |website=www.linuxfromscratch.org}} </ref> A secondary goal is to act as a test of the LFS and BLFS books by directly extracting and running instructions from the XML sources of the LFS and BLFS books.

Other subprojects:

{{updated|9 September 2025|<ref name="lfs">{{Cite web |title=Welcome to Linux From Scratch! |url=https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/ |access-date=9 September 2025 |website=www.linuxfromscratch.org}}</ref>}}

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! scope="col" |Name
! scope="col" |Description
|-
|MLFS
|Multilib-LFS is a variant of LFS that builds a system which is able to execute 32-bit binaries.
|-
|GLFS
|Gaming Linux From Scratch is based on BLFS and helps user install gaming support software like [[Steam (service)|Steam]] or [[Wine (software)|Wine]] on a new LFS or MLFS system.
|-
|Hints
|Collection of documents that explain how to enhance LFS system in ways that are not included in the LFS or BLFS books.
|-
|Patches
|Central repository for all patches useful to an LFS user.
|-
|LFS Editor's Guide
|A document that describes the LFS development process.
|-
|Museum
|Copies of ancient LFS and BLFS versions.
|}

== Requirements and procedure ==
A clean [[Disk partitioning|partition]] and a working Linux system with a compiler and some essential [[Library (computing)|software libraries]] are required to build LFS. Instead of installing from an existing Linux system, one can also use a Live CD to build an LFS system.

The project formerly maintained the Linux From Scratch Live CD.<ref name="linuxfromscratch.org">{{cite web |title=LFS LiveCD Project Homepage |url=http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/livecd/ |access-date=25 May 2018 |website=www.linuxfromscratch.org}}</ref> LFS Live CD contains all the source packages (in the full version of the Live CD only), the LFS book, automated building tools and (except for the minimal Live CD version) an [[Xfce]] GUI environment to work in. The official LFS Live CD is no longer maintained, and cannot be used to build the LFS version 7 or later.<ref name="linuxfromscratch.org" /> There are, however, two unofficial builds that can be used to build a 32-bit or 64-bit kernel and userspace respectively for LFS 7.x.<ref>{{cite web |title=Index of /~kb0iic/livecdupd |url=http://clfs.org/~kb0iic/livecdupd/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106015310/http://clfs.org/~kb0iic/livecdupd/ |archive-date=6 January 2016 |access-date=25 May 2018 |website=clfs.org}}</ref>

First, a [[toolchain]] must be compiled consisting of the tools used to compile LFS, like [[GNU Compiler Collection|GCC]], [[glibc]], [[binutils]], and other necessary utilities. Then, the [[root directory]] must be changed, (using [[chroot]]), to the toolchain's [[Disk partitioning|partition]] to start building the final system. One of the first packages to compile is glibc; after that, the toolchain's [[Linker (computing)|linker]] must be adjusted to [[Library (computing)|link]] against the newly built glibc, so that all other packages that will make up the finished system can be linked against it as well. During the [[chroot]] phase, [[Bash (Unix shell)|bash]]'s hashing feature is turned off and the temporary toolchain's bin directory moved to the end of PATH. This way the newly compiled programs come first in PATH and the new system builds on its own new components.

== List of packages in LFS ==
{{updated|9 September 2025|<ref>{{cite web |title=Rationale for Packages in the Book |url=https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/view/stable/prologue/package-choices.html |access-date=9 September 2025 |website=www.linuxfromscratch.org}}</ref> }}
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"
|-
! Component
! Description
! License
|-
| [[Access control list|Acl]]
| An access control list (ACL), with respect to a computer file system, is a list of permissions attached to an object.
| rowspan="8" | [[GNU GPL]]
|-
| Attr
| Commands for Manipulating Filesystem Extended Attributes.
|-
| [[Autoconf]]
| Tool for producing [[configure script (computing)|configure scripts]] for [[C (programming language)|C]], [[C++]], [[Fortran]], Fortran 77, [[Erlang (programming language)|Erlang]], [[Objective-C]] software on [[Unix-like]] computer systems.
|-
| [[Automake]]
|  A [[programming tool]] that produces portable [[makefile]]s for use by the [[make (software)|make]] program, used in compiling software.
|-
| [[Bash (Unix shell)|Bash]]
| A [[free software]] [[Unix shell]] written for the [[GNU Project]]
|-
| [[bc (programming language)|bc]]
| <code>bc</code> is a basic calculator (often referred to as bench calculator), is "an arbitrary precision calculator language" with syntax similar to the [[C (programming language)|C programming language]].
|-
| [[Binutils]]
| A collection of [[programming tool]]s for the manipulation of [[object code]] in various object file formats.
|-
| [[GNU Bison|Bison]]
| A [[parser generator]] that is part of the [[GNU Project]]. Bison converts a [[Formal grammar|grammar]] description for a [[context-free grammar]] into source code for a [[C (programming language)|C]], [[C++]] or [[Java (programming language)|Java]] parser.
|-
| [[Bzip2]]
| A [[free software|free]] and [[open-source software|open source]] [[lossless data compression]] [[algorithm]] and program developed by [[Julian Seward]].
| [[BSD License|BSD-like License]]
|-
| [[Check (unit testing framework)|Check]]
| A unit testing framework for [[C (programming language)|C]].
| rowspan="5" | [[GNU GPL]]
|-
| [[Coreutils]]
| A [[Software package (installation)|package]] of [[GNU]] [[software]] containing many of the basic tools, such as [[cat (Unix)|cat]], [[ls]], and [[rm (Unix)|rm]], needed for [[Unix-like]] [[operating system]]s.
|-
| [[DejaGnu]]
| A framework for testing other programs. It has a main script called runtest that goes through a directory looking at configuration files and then runs some tests with given criteria.
|-
| [[diff utility|Diffutils]]
| A [[data comparison]] utility that outputs the differences between two files.
|-
|[[E2fsprogs]]
| e2fsprogs (sometimes called the e2fs programs) is a set of utilities for maintaining the [[ext2]], [[ext3]] and [[ext4]] [[file system]]s.
|-
| [[GNU Binutils#elfutils|Elfutils]]
| A collection of utilities and libraries to read, create and modify ELF binary files.
| [[GNU GPL]] and [[GNU LGPL]]
|-
|[[Systemd#Forks and alternative implementations|Eudev]]
| A fork of [[udev]] to avoid dependency on the systemd architecture. The resulting fork is called eudev and it makes udev functionality available without [[systemd]].
| [[GNU GPL]]
|-
| [[Expat (library)|Expat]]
| A [[Stream (computing)|stream]]-oriented [[XML]] 1.0 parser [[library (computer science)|library]], written in [[C (programming language)|C]].
| [[MIT License]]
|-
| [[Expect]]
| Expect is a [[Unix]] automation and testing tool as an extension to the [[Tcl]] scripting language, for interactive [[application software|applications]] such as [[telnet]], [[ftp]], [[Passwd (command)|passwd]], [[fsck]], [[rlogin]], [[tip (unix utility)|tip]], [[Secure Shell|ssh]], and others.
| [[Public domain]]
|-
| [[file (command)|File]]
| file command is a standard Unix program for recognizing the type of data contained in a computer file.
| [[BSD License|BSD-like License]]
|-
| [[Find (Unix)|Findutils]]
| The [[find (Unix)|GNU Find]] Utilities are the basic directory searching utilities of the GNU operating system.
| [[GNU GPL]]
|-
| [[Flex lexical analyser|Flex]]
| flex (fast [[lexical analyzer]] generator) is a [[free software]] alternative to [[lex programming tool|lex]].
| [[BSD license]]
|-
| [[Gawk (GNU package)|Gawk]]
| Gawk is a [[programming language]] that is designed for processing text-based data, either in files or data streams
| rowspan="11" | [[GNU GPL]]
|-
| [[GNU Compiler Collection|GCC]]
| The GNU Compiler Collection (usually shortened to GCC) is a [[compiler]] system produced by the [[GNU Project]] supporting various [[programming language]]s
|-
| [[DBM (computing)|GDBM]]
| GDBM simple [[database engine]]s
|-
| [[Gettext]]
| Gettext is the [[GNU]] [[internationalization and localization]] (i18n) library.
|-
| [[Glibc]]
| The GNU [[C (programming language)|C]] Library, commonly known as glibc, is the [[C standard library]] released by the [[GNU Project]].
|-
| [[GNU Multi-Precision Library|GMP]]
| The GNU Multiple-Precision Library, also known as GMP, is a [[free software|free]] library for [[arbitrary-precision arithmetic]], operating on signed [[integer]]s, [[rational numbers]], and [[floating point]] numbers.
|-
| Gperf
| A perfect hash function generator. For a given list of strings, it produces a hash function and hash table, in form of [[C (programming language)|C]] or [[C++]] code, for looking up a value depending on the input string. The hash function is perfect, which means that the hash table has no collisions, and the hash table lookup needs a single string comparison only.
|-
| [[Grep]]
| <code>grep</code> is a [[command line interface|command line]] text search utility originally written for [[Unix]].
|-
| [[Groff (software)|Groff]]
| Groff is the [[GNU]] replacement for the [[troff]] and [[nroff]] [[text formatter]]s.
|-
| [[GRUB]]
| GNU GRUB (short for GNU GRand Unified Bootloader) is a [[boot loader]] package from the [[GNU Project]].
|-
| [[Gzip]]
| Gzip is a [[software application]] used for [[file compression]].  gzip is short for GNU zip
|-
| iana-etc.
| iana-etc. installs services and protocols using data from the [[Internet Assigned Numbers Authority]]. Included are snapshots of the data from the IANA, scripts to transform that data into the needed formats, and scripts to fetch the latest data.
| [[Open Software License]]
|-
| [[Inetutils]]
| A collection of network tools, including: [[telnet]], [[ftp]], and [[Remote Shell|rsh]].
| rowspan="5" | [[GNU GPL]]
|-
| Intltool
| A set of tools to centralize translation of many different file formats using GNU gettext-compatible PO files.
|-
| [[iproute2]]
|A collection of [[userspace]] utilities for controlling and monitoring various aspects of [[Computer networking|networking]] in the [[Linux kernel]], including [[routing]], network interfaces, tunnels, [[Network traffic control|traffic control]], and network-related [[device driver]]s.
|-
| Kbd
| A package contains tools for managing the Linux console (Linux console, virtual terminals on it, keyboard, etc.). Mainly, what they do is loading console fonts and keyboard maps. Also this package contains a set of various fonts and keyboard maps.
|-
| [[Loadable kernel module|Kmod]]
| A multi-call binary which implements the programs used to control Linux Kernel modules.
|-
| [[Less (Unix)|less]]
| <code>less</code> is a [[terminal pager]] [[Computer program|program]] on [[Unix]], [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] and [[Unix-like]] systems used to view (but not change) the contents of a [[text file]] one screen at a time.
| Dual: either [[GNU General Public License|GPL]] or [[BSD License|BSD-like License]]
|-
| LFS-Bootscripts
| The LFS-Bootscripts package contains a set of scripts to start/stop the LFS system at bootup/shutdown. The configuration files and procedures needed to customize the boot process are described in the following sections.
| [[Creative Commons licenses]] and [[MIT License]]
|-
| Libcap
| An alternative to the superuser model of privilege under Linux.
| [[BSD-3-Clause]] or [[GPL-2.0-only]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=index : libcap/libcap.git |url=https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/libs/libcap/libcap.git/tree/License |access-date=9 September 2025 |website=git.kernel.org}}</ref>
|-
| [[GNU Binutils#elfutils|Libelf]]
| The elfutils project provides libraries and tools for ELF files and DWARF data. Most utilities in this package are available in other packages, but the library is needed to build the Linux kernel using the default (and most efficient) configuration.
| dual [[GPLv2+]]/[[LGPLv3]]+<ref>{{Cite web |title=The elfutils project |url=https://sourceware.org/elfutils/ |access-date=9 September 2025 |website=sourceware.org}}</ref>
|-
| [[Libffi]]
| A Portable Foreign Function Interface Library.
| [[MIT License]]
|-
| Libpipeline
| Libpipeline is a C library for manipulating pipelines of subprocesses in a flexible and convenient way.
| rowspan="2" | [[GNU GPL]]
|-
| [[Libtool]]
| GNU Libtool is a [[GNU]] [[programming tool]] from the [[GNU build system]] used for creating portable compiled [[library (computer science)|libraries]].
|-
| Libxcrypt
| Package that provides the libcrypt library needed by various packages (notably, Shadow) for hashing passwords. It replaces the obsolete libcrypt implementation in Glibc.
| GNU [[LGPLv2.1]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=((besser82)) |title=libxcrypt/licensing at develop · besser82/libxcrypt |url=https://github.com/besser82/libxcrypt/blob/develop/LICENSING |access-date=9 September 2025 |website=GitHub |language=en}}</ref>
|-
| [[Linux kernel]]
| The Linux kernel is an operating system [[kernel (operating system)|kernel]] used by the [[Linux]] family of [[Unix-like]] [[operating system]]s.
| rowspan="4" | [[GNU GPL]]
|-
| [[GNU m4]]
| GNU m4 is the [[GNU]] version of the [[m4 (language)|m4]] macro preprocessor.
|-
| [[make (software)|make]]
| Make is a [[utility software|utility]] for [[Build Automation|automatically building]] executable programs and libraries from [[source code]].
|-
| Man-DB
| Man-DB is an implementation of the standard Unix documentation system accessed using the man command. It uses a Berkeley DB database in place of the traditional flat-text whatis databases.
|-
| [[Man pages|Man-pages]]
| A man page (short for manual page) is a form of online software documentation usually found on a [[Unix]] or [[Unix-like]] operating system.
| Multiple Licenses.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |title=Licenses for manual pages |url=https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/licenses.html |access-date=25 May 2018 |website=www.kernel.org |archive-date=6 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180106142651/https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/licenses.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
|-
| [[Meson (software)|Meson]]
| an open source build system meant to be both extremely fast, and, even more importantly, as user friendly as possible.
| [[Apache License]]
|-
| MPC
| A C library for the arithmetic of complex numbers with [[Arbitrary-precision arithmetic|arbitrarily high precision]]
| [[GNU LGPL]]
|-
| [[GNU MPFR|MPFR]]
| GNU C library for multiple-precision floating-point computations with correct rounding.
| [[GNU LGPL]] and [[GNU GPL]] for special exception part of the source code
|-
| [[ncurses]]
| A programming library for writing text user interfaces in a terminal-independent manner
| [[X11 License]]<ref name=":1">{{cite web |title=ncurses – Licensing |url=http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-license.html |access-date=9 July 2013 |website=invisible-island.net}}</ref>
|-
| [[Ninja (build system)|Ninja]]
| A small build system with a focus on speed.
| [[Apache License]]
|-
| [[OpenSSL]]
| A software [[library (computing)|library]] for applications that provide secure communications over [[computer network]]s against eavesdropping, and identify the party at the other end. It is widely used by [[Internet]] [[server (computing)|servers]], including the majority of [[HTTPS]] [[website]]s.
| [[Apache License]]&nbsp;1.0 and four-clause [[BSD License]]
|-
| [[Patch (Unix)|Patch]]
| A computer tool for [[Unix]] [[computer program|programs]] that updates text files according to instructions contained in a separate file, called a ''patch file''.
| [[GNU GPL]]
|-
| [[Perl]]
|A dynamic interpreted programming language
| [[Artistic License]] 1.0<ref name="artistic-1.0">{{cite web |title=The "Artistic License" – dev.perl.org |url=http://dev.perl.org/licenses/artistic.html |access-date=25 May 2018 |website=dev.perl.org}}</ref><ref name="artistic-1.0-git">{{Cite web |title=perl5.git.perl.org Git |url=https://perl5.git.perl.org/perl.git/blob/HEAD:/Artistic |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250412160441/https://perl5.git.perl.org/perl.git/blob/HEAD:/Artistic |archive-date=12 April 2025 |access-date=8 September 2025 |website=perl5.git.perl.org |language=en-US |url-status=live }}</ref> or [[GNU GPL]]<ref name="licensing">{{cite web |title=Perl Licensing |url=http://dev.perl.org/licenses |access-date=8 January 2011 |publisher=dev.perl.org}}</ref>
|-
| [[Pkg-config|Pkgconf]]
| A computer program that provides a unified interface for querying installed [[library (computer science)|libraries]] for the purpose of [[Compiler|compiling]] software from its [[source code]].
| [[GNU General Public License|GNU GPL]]
|-
| Procps-NG
| A set of command line and full-screen utilities that provide information out of the pseudo-filesystem most commonly located at [[Procfs|/proc]]. This filesystem provides a simple interface to the kernel data structures. The programs of procps generally concentrate on the structures that describe the processes running on the system.
| [[GNU GPL]] and [[GNU LGPL]]
|-
| Psmisc
| A set of some small useful utilities that use the [[Procfs|proc]] filesystem.
| [[GNU GPL]]
|-
| [[Python (programming language)|Python]]
| An open source interpreted high-level programming language for general-purpose programming
| rowspan="2" | [[Python Software Foundation License]]
|-
| Python Documentation
| Package contains the Python development environment.
|-
| [[Readline]]
| GNU readline is a [[software library]] created and maintained by the [[GNU Project]].
| rowspan="2" | [[GNU GPL]]
|-
| [[sed]]
| <code>sed</code>  (''stream editor'') is a [[Unix]] utility that (a) parses text files and (b) implements a [[programming language]] which can apply textual transformations to such files.
|-
| [[Shadow password|Shadow]]
| A tool on most [[Unix]] and [[Unix-like]] operating systems used to change a user's [[password]]. The password entered by the user is run through a [[key derivation function]] to create a [[hash function|hashed version]] of the new password, which is saved. Only the hashed version is stored; the entered password is not saved for security reasons.
| [[Artistic License]] or [[BSD License|BSD-like License]]
|-
| Sysklogd
| A Kernel and system logging [[Daemon (computing)|daemons]] that provides two system utilities which provide support for system logging and kernel message trapping. Support of both internet and unix domain sockets enables this utility package to support both local and remote logging.
| rowspan="3" | [[GNU GPL]]
|-
| [[Sysvinit]]
| System V style init programs that control the booting and shutdown system.
|-
| [[tar (file format)|tar]]
| <code>tar</code> is a program that provides the ability to create tar archives, as well as various other kinds of manipulation.
|-
| [[Tcl]]
| ''Tool Command Language'' is a dynamic [[scripting language]].
| [[BSD licenses|BSD-like License]]<ref name="Tool Command Language License">{{cite web |title=Tcl/Tk Licensing Terms |url=http://www.tcl.tk/software/tcltk/license.html |access-date=8 January 2011 |website=tcl.tk}}</ref>
|-
| [[Texinfo]]
| A typesetting syntax used for generating documentation in both on-line also printed form and the official documentation format of the GNU project.
| [[GNU GPL]]
|-
| [[tz database|tzdata]]
| The public-domain time zone database contains code and data that represent the history of local time for many representative locations around the globe.
| [[Public domain]] and [[BSD licenses|BSD]]
|-
| [[Udev]] Configuration Tarball
| The Udev package contains programs for dynamic creation of device nodes. The development of udev has been merged with systemd, but most of systemd is incompatible with LFS. Here we build and install just the needed udev files.
| [[Creative Commons licenses]] and [[MIT License]]
|-
| [[util-linux]]
| The Util-linux package contains miscellaneous utility programs. Among them are utilities for handling file systems, consoles, partitions, and messages.
| [[GNU GPL]]
|-
| [[Vim (text editor)|Vim]]
| A text editor built to create and change any kind of text.
| [[free software license|Free software]] (Vim License<ref>{{Cite web |title=vim/license at master · vim/vim |url=https://github.com/vim/vim/blob/master/LICENSE |access-date=8 September 2025 |website=GitHub |language=en}}</ref>), [[charityware]]
|-
| Wheel
|This library is the reference implementation of the Python wheel packaging standard, as defined in PEP 427.
|[[MIT License|MIT]]
|-
| XML::Parser
| [[Perl]] module that interfaces with [[Expat (library)|Expat]]
| [[Artistic License 2.0]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=toddr / XML-Parser-2.47 / LICENSE |url=https://metacpan.org/release/TODDR/XML-Parser-2.47/source/LICENSE |access-date=9 September 2025 |website=metacpan.org}}</ref>
|-
| [[XZ Utils]]
| A general-purpose data compression software with a high compression ratio. XZ Utils were written for POSIX-like systems, but also work on some not-so-POSIX systems. XZ Utils are the successor to LZMA Utils.
| [[GNU GPL]] and [[GNU LGPL]]
|-
| [[Zlib]]
| Zlib is a [[library (computer science)|software library]] used for [[data compression]].
| [[zlib license]]
|-
| [[zstd]]
| zstd a fast lossless compression algorithm and data compression tool. Compress or decompress .zst files.
| BSD + GPLv2 dual license.<ref>{{Cite web |last=((Cyan4973)) |title=New license by Cyan4973 · Pull Request #801 · facebook/zstd |url=https://github.com/facebook/zstd/pull/801 |access-date=8 September 2025 |website=GitHub |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=zstd/license at dev · facebook/zstd |url=https://github.com/facebook/zstd/blob/dev/LICENSE |access-date=8 September 2025 |website=GitHub |language=en}}</ref>
|}
This is a list of the packages included in CLFS version 1.1.0. Unless otherwise noted, this list is applicable to all supported architectures.
{{updated|9 September 2025|<ref>{{cite web |title=list: /lfs/downloads/stable/wget-list |url=https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/downloads/stable/wget-list |access-date=9 September 2025 |website=www.linuxfromscratch.org |format=txt}}</ref> }}
<!-- list is sorted based on how they appear on above reference -->
{{Col-begin}}
{{Col-break}}
*[[Access control list|Acl]] 2.3.2
*attr 2.5.2
*[[Autoconf]] 2.72
*[[Automake]] 1.18.1
*[[Bash (Unix shell)|Bash]] 5.2
*[[Bash (Unix shell)|Bash]] Documentation 3.2
*[[bc (programming language)|bc]] 7.0.3
*[[Bin86]] (x86_64 non-multilib only)
*[[Binutils]] 2.45
*[[GNU Bison|Bison]] 3.8.2
*[[Bzip2]] 1.0.8
*CLFS-Bootscripts 1.0pre10
*[[Coreutils]] 9.7
*[[D-Bus]] 1.16.2
*[[DejaGnu]] 1.6.3
*[[Diffutils]] 3.12
*[[E2fsprogs]] 1.47.3
*[[Elftoaout]] 2.3 (Sparc and Sparc64 only)
*[[GNU Binutils#elfutils|Elfutils]] 0.193
*[[Expat (software)|Expat]] 2.7.1
*[[Expect]] 5.45.4
*[[file (command)|File]] 5.46
*[[Find (Unix)|Findutils]] 4.10.0
*[[Flex lexical analyser|Flex]] 2.6.4
*flit-core 3.12.0
*[[Gawk (GNU package)|Gawk]] 5.3.2
*[[GNU Compiler Collection|GCC]] 15.2.0
*[[Gdbm]] 1.26
*[[Gettext]] 0.26
*[[Glibc]] 2.42
*gmp 6.3.0
*gperf 3.3
*[[Grep]] 3.12
*[[Groff (software)|Groff]] 1.23.0
{{Col-break}}
*[[GRUB]] 2.12
*[[Gzip]] 1.14
*[[Hfsutils]] 3.2.6 (PowerPC and PowerPC64 only)
*iana-Etc 20250807
*inetutils 2.6
*intltool 0.51.0
*[[iproute2]] 2.6
*[[Jinja2]] 3.1.6
*kbd 2.8.0
*[[Loadable kernel module|kmod]] 34.2
*[[Less (Unix)|Less]] 679
*lfs-bootscripts 20250827
*libcap 2.76
*libffi 3.5.2
*libpipeline 1.5.8
*[[LILO (boot loader)|LILO]] 22.8 (x86_64 non-multilib only)
*[[Libtool]] 2.5.4
*libxcrypt 4.4.38
*[[Linux kernel|Linux]] 6.16.1
*[[LZ4 (compression algorithm)|lz4]] 1.10.0
*[[GNU m4]] 1.4.20
*[[make (software)|Make]] 4.4.1
*man 1.6e
*man-db 2.13.1
*[[Man pages]] 6.15
*[[Flask (web framework)#MarkupSafe|MarkupSafe]] 3.0.2
*[[Meson (software)|Meson]] 1.8.3
*mktemp 1.5
*Module-Init-Tools 3.4
*mpc 1.3.1
*[[GNU MPFR]] 4.2.2
*[[ncurses]] 6.5.20250809
*[[Ninja (build system)|Ninja]] 1.13.1
*[[OpenSSL]] 3.5.2
{{Col-break}}
*packaging 25.0
*[[Parted]] 1.8.8 (PowerPC and PowerPC64 only)
*[[patch (Unix)|patch]] 2.8
*[[Perl]] 5.42.0
*[[Pkg-config]] 2.5.1
*[[PowerPC Utils]] 1.1.3 (PowerPC and PowerPC64 only)
*procps-ng 4.0.5
*psmisc 23.7
*[[Python (programming language)|Python]] 3.13.7
*[[Readline]] 8.3
*[[Sed]] 4.9
*setuptools 80.9.0
*[[Shadow password|Shadow]] 4.18.0
*silo 1.4.13 (Sparc and Sparc64 only)
*[[Sysklogd]] 2.7.2
*[[systemd]] 257.8
*[[systemd]]-man-pages 257.8
*[[Sysvinit]] 3.14
*[[tar (file format)|tar]] 1.35
*[[Tcl]] 8.6.16
*[[Texinfo]] 7.2
*tree 1.5.1.1
*[[Tzdata]] 2025b
*udev-lfs 20230818
*[[Udev]] 124
*[[Util-linux]] 2.41.1
*[[Vim (text editor)|Vim]] 9.1.1629
*[[Yaboot]] 1.3.13 (PowerPC and PowerPC64 only)
*wheel 0.46
*XML-Parser 2.47
*xz 5.8.1
*[[Zlib]] 1.3.1
*[[zstd]] 1.5.7
{{Col-end}}

== Standard build unit ==
A "standard build unit" ("SBU") is a term used during initial bootstrapping of the system, and represents the amount of time required to build the first package in LFS on a given computer. Its creation was prompted by the long time required to build an LFS system, and the desire of many users to know how long a source tarball will take to build ahead of time.

As of Linux From Scratch version 10.1, the first package built by the user is GNU binutils. When building it, users are encouraged to measure the build process using shell constructs and dub that time the system's "standard build unit". Once this number is known, an estimate of the time required to build later packages is expressed relative to the known SBU.

Several packages built during compilation take much longer to build than binutils, including the [[GNU C Library]] (rated at 4.2 SBUs) and the [[GNU Compiler Collection]] (rated at 11 SBUs). The unit must be interpreted as an approximation; various factors influence the actual time required to build a package.

== Reception ==
[[LWN.net]] reviewed LFS in 2004:<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bodnar |first=Ladislav |date=19 May 2004 |title=Learning with Linux From Scratch |url=https://lwn.net/Articles/85865/ |access-date=28 March 2020 |website=lwn.net}}</ref>
{{blockquote|Linux From Scratch is a wonderful project. It should become a compulsory reading material for all Linux training courses, and something that every Linux enthusiast should complete at least once. This would also create another interesting side effect: people who tend to be quick in expressing dissatisfaction on the distributions' mailing lists and forums would probably show a lot more respect for the developers. Installing a ready-made distribution is a trivial task. Building up a set of 4 CDs containing a stable, secure and reliable operating system, plus thousands of applications, is most definitely not.}}
Tux Machines wrote a review about Linux From Scratch 6.1 in 2005:<ref>{{Cite web |author=srlinuxx |date=11 July 2005 |title=Linux From Scratch 6.1 (part 1?) {{!}} Tux Machines |url=http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/1715 |access-date=28 March 2020 |website=www.tuxmachines.org}}</ref>
{{blockquote|Now on to BLFS. Unfortunately Beyond Linux From Scratch is always a book behind it seems. To me it's not a real install until one can log into a window manager.}}
Tux Machines also has a second<ref>{{Cite web |author=srlinuxx |date=11 July 2005 |title=Linux From Scratch 6.1 – Part 2 – BLFS {{!}} Tux Machines |url=http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/2482 |access-date=28 March 2020 |website=www.tuxmachines.org}}</ref> and a third part<ref>{{Cite web |author=srlinuxx |date=5 September 2005 |title=Beyond Beyond Linux from Scratch (lfs – part3) {{!}} Tux Machines |url=http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/2521 |access-date=28 March 2020 |website=www.tuxmachines.org}}</ref> of the review.

== See also ==
{{Portal|Free and open-source software}}
Other source-based Linux distributions:
* [[Gentoo Linux]]
* [[Source Mage]]
* [[GoboLinux]]
* [[CRUX]]
<!-- * [[ttylinux]] -->
<!-- Do not add to "See Also" sections until the page exists. -->

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website|www.linuxfromscratch.org}}
* {{DistroWatch|lfs|NAME=Linux From Scratch}}
* {{Cite web |title=Interview with Gerard Beekmans |url=http://www.packtpub.com/article/Linux_From_Scratch |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203041113/http://www.packtpub.com/article/Linux_From_Scratch |archive-date=3 December 2013 |access-date=9 September 2025 |publisher=Packt Publishing}}
* {{Cite web |last=Locutus |date=10 December 2007 |title=Its Linux and I did it my way. An interview with Gerard Beekmans |url=http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/locutus/its-linux-and-i-did-it-my-way-an-interview-with-gerard-beekmans-19686 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080727075353/http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/locutus/its-linux-and-i-did-it-my-way-an-interview-with-gerard-beekmans-19686 |archive-date=27 July 2008 |access-date=9 September 2025 |website=it.toolbox.com}}

{{Linux distributions}}

[[Category:Books about Linux]]
[[Category:Software using the MIT license]]
[[Category:Works about free software]]
[[Category:Source-based Linux distributions| ]]
[[Category:Linux distributions without systemd]]