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6. Installing the GNU C Library

6.1 Preparing the system for the GNU C Library installation

In this section we're going to install Glibc. But before we'll be able to install these libraries, we need to have a bunch of other software installed on the LFS system. Therefore all these programs need to be linked statically. This means quite a bit of extra work, because after Glibc and the GNU CC compilers are installed, we're going to re-install all these programs so they'll be linked dynamically. If somebody knows of a better way to accomplish this, without first building all the software statically and then rebuild them dynamically, please let me know.

I know of one other way and that's by installing Glibc using pre-compiled binaries. But that would be directly against what we're doing here. So that's not an option.

All software that is being installed in this section will be compiled on our normal working Linux system and then copied to the LFS system.

You'll notice that the installation of this software is very straightforward is most cases. I also won't explain what this software does, since it's all trivial software and if you don't know what some program does, you can always read the README file and other documentation.

Installing Make

Installing Sed

Installing Shell Utils

Installing File Utils

Installing Util Linux

Installing Text Utils

Installing Tar

After compiling the programs in the src directory you will have two programs: tar and rmt. Tar is obvious. Rmt stands for ReMote Tapeserver. If you don't need this program (ie; you don't have a tapestreamer in your network or on your machine) then you don't need to copy this program.

Installing Gzip

I'm using version 1.2.4 and during the compilation process I'm getting this error: conflicting types for basename. If you're also being troubled by this error, here's how to fix it:

Recompile the package now (by running make LDFLAGS=-static again) and the error should be fixed.

What was wrong here? On my system there was a function called 'basename' in one of the standard system header files (I think it was string.h but I'm not sure anymore). The Gzip program has a function of it's own, also called basename and those two caused a collision if you will. By rename the Gzip specific basename function to basename2, the problem was solved.

Installing Binutils

Installing Grep

Installing Bison

Installing Mawk

Installing Find Utils

I'm using version 4.1 and during the compilation I'm getting this error. Although it is a fatal error, the compilation process doesn't stop when the errors occurs, so you need to watch your compilation output closely to find out if you also get the following error: defs.h:304: conflicting types for `basename'

If you're also troubled by that error, here's how to fix it:

This line is separated over two lines ("char *" is on the first line and "basename (fname)" on the second line).

You don't need to keep it separated on two lines, but if you want that's perfectly OK. Do whatever you think looks best.

Recompile the package (by running make LDFLAGS=-static again) and it should compile correctly this time.

Installing Diff Utils

Installing Ld.so

Installing Perl

You can stick to all the default questions, except to the following.

When asked What is the file extension used for shared libraries? [so]

Answer with: none

When asked Any additional ld flags (NOT including libraries)? [-L/usr/local/lib]

Answer with: -L/usr/local/lib -static

When asked Do you wish to use dynamic loading? [y]

Answer with: n

Installing M4

Installing Texinfo

Installing Automake

Installing Autoconf

6.2 Installing the GNU C Library

We're not going to installed the latest Glibc version, 2.1.2, but version 2.0.7pre6. The reason is that glibc 2.1.2 requires at least gcc 2.8 (or egcs 1.1). My system has gcc 2.7.2.3 thus I can't compile the glibc2.1.2 library. And I also don't want to upgrade my working Linux system to gcc 2.95.2 (which is the latest version at the time of writing this document). Upgrading a compiler isn't as easy as it sounds and I don't want to break things on this working system.

So therefore I have to install glibc 2.0.7pre6. However, we are going to install the gcc 2.95.2 compiler. We also need to install the gcc 2.7.2.3 compiler because certain software can't be compiled with gcc 2.95.2 (due to bugs in the programs that aren't really bugs but the gcc 2.95.2 compiler defines them as bugs. This is not a bug in the compiler, but changes in the C standard (if I understood it correctly)).

A note on the glibc-crypt package. The following is quoted from the glibc-crypt-README file on ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/glibc: 

-*-*-*-*-*-
The add-on is not included in the main distribution of the GNU 
C library because some governments, mostly notable those of 
France, Russia and the US, have very restrictive rules 
governing the distribution and use of encryption software. 
Please read the node "Legal Problems" in the manual for more 
details.
 
In particular, the US does not allow export of this software 
without a license, including via the Internet. So please do not 
download it from the main FSF FTP site at ftp.gnu.org if you 
are outside of the US. This software was completely developed 
outside the US.
-*-*-*-*-*-

"This software" refers to the glibc-crypt package at ftp://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/glibc/2.0.7pre6/. This law only affects people who don't live in the US. It's not prohibited to import DES software, so if you live in the US you can import it from that German site. 

# Begin configparms
prefix=/usr
slibdir=/lib
sysconfdir=/etc
# End configparms

You can check if the GNU C Library seems to be working by running a dynamically linked program that uses this library (like virtual every single program). A simple test is running the ls program that resides in the bin directory on your normal Linux partition. If you can run this program without getting any errors, than the GNU C Library seems to be installed correctly.

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