When logged in as user root,
making a single mistake can damage or destroy a system. Therefore,
the packages in the next two chapters are built as an unprivileged user.
You could use your own user name, but to make it easier to set up a clean
working environment, we will create a new user called lfs as a member of a new group (also named
lfs) and run commands as lfs during
the installation process. As root,
issue the following commands to add the new user:
groupadd lfs useradd -s /bin/bash -g lfs -m -k /dev/null lfs
This is what the command line options mean:
-s /bin/bashThis makes bash the default shell for user
lfs.-g lfsThis option adds user
lfsto grouplfs.-mThis creates a home directory for
lfs.-k /dev/nullThis parameter prevents possible copying of files from a skeleton directory (the default is
/etc/skel) by changing the input location to the special null device.lfsThis is the name of the new user.
If you want to log in as lfs or switch to lfs from a
non-root user (as opposed to switching to user lfs
when logged in as root, which does not require the lfs user to
have a password), you need to set a password for lfs. Issue the
following command as the root user to set the password:
passwd lfs
Grant lfs full access to
all the directories under $LFS by making
lfs the owner:
chown -v lfs $LFS/{usr{,/*},var,etc,tools,lib64}![[Note]](../images/note.png)
Note
In some host systems, the following su command does not complete
properly and suspends the login for the lfs user to the background.
If the prompt "lfs:~$" does not appear immediately, entering the
fg command will fix the issue.
Next, start a shell running as user lfs. This can be done by
logging in as lfs on a virtual console, or with the following
substitute/switch user command:
su - lfs
The “-” instructs
su to start a login shell as opposed to a non-login shell.
The difference between these two types of shells is described in detail in
bash(1) and info
bash.