lfs/chapter11/afterlfs.xml

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<sect1 id="afterlfs">
  <?dbhtml filename="afterlfs.html"?>

  <title>Getting Started After LFS</title>

  <sect2>
  <title>Deciding what to do next</title>

     <para>
       Now that LFS is complete and you have a bootable system, what do you do?
       The next step is to decide how to use it. Generally, there are two broad
       categories to consider: workstation or server. Indeed, these categories
       are not mutually exclusive. The applications needed for each category
       can be combined onto a single system, but let's look at them separately
       for now.
     </para>

     <para>
        A server is the simpler category. Generally this consists of a web
        server such as the
        <ulink url="&blfs-book;server/apache.html">Apache HTTP Server</ulink>
        and a database server such as
        <ulink url="&blfs-book;server/mariadb.html">MariaDB</ulink>.
        However other services are possible. The operating system
        embedded in a single use device falls into this category.
     </para>

     <para>
        On the other hand, a workstation is much more complex. It generally
        requires a graphical user environment such as
        <ulink url="&blfs-book;lxde/lxde.html">LXDE</ulink>,
        <ulink url="&blfs-book;xfce/xfce.html">XFCE</ulink>,
        <ulink url="&blfs-book;kde/kde.html">KDE</ulink>, or
        <ulink url="&blfs-book;gnome/gnome.html">Gnome</ulink>
        based on a basic
        <ulink url="&blfs-book;x/installing.html">graphical environment</ulink>
        and several graphical based applications such as the
        <ulink url="&blfs-book;xsoft/firefox.html">Firefox web browser</ulink>,
        <ulink url="&blfs-book;xsoft/thunderbird.html">Thunderbird email client</ulink>,
        or
        <ulink url="&blfs-book;xsoft/libreoffice.html">LibreOffice office suite</ulink>.
        These applications require many (several hundred depending on
        desired capabilities) more packages of support applications and
        libraries.
     </para>

     <para>
        In addition to the above, there is a set of applications for system
        management for all kinds of systems. These applications are all in the
        BLFS book. Not all packages are needed in every environment. For
        example <ulink url="&blfs-book;basicnet/dhcpcd.html">dhcpcd</ulink>, is
        not normally appropriate for a server and <ulink
        url="&blfs-book;basicnet/wireless_tools.html">wireless_tools</ulink>,
        are normally only useful for a laptop system. 
     </para>

  </sect2>

  <sect2>
  <title>Working in a basic LFS environment</title>

    <para>
      When you initially boot into LFS, you have all the internal tools to build
      additional packages. Unfortunately, the user environment is quite sparse.
      There are a couple of ways to improve this:
    </para>

  <sect3>
  <title>Work remotely via ssh</title>

    <para>
       This method also provides a full graphical environment, but first
       requires installing
        <ulink url="&blfs-book;postlfs/openssh.html">sshd</ulink>
       on the LFS system, usually in the LFS command line. It also requires
       a second computer.
    </para>

    <para>
      You may use the <command>scp</command> command to upload the package
      sources to be built onto the LFS system.  If you want to download
      the sources onto the LFS system directly instead, install
      <ulink url="&blfs-book;general/libtasn1.html">libtasn1</ulink>,
      <ulink url="&blfs-book;postlfs/p11-kit.html">p11-kit</ulink>,
      <ulink url="&blfs-book;postlfs/make-ca.html">make-ca</ulink>, and
      <ulink url="&blfs-book;basicnet/wget.html">wget</ulink>
      in chroot (or upload their sources using <command>scp</command>
      after booting the LFS system).
    </para>
  </sect3>

  <sect3>
  <title>Work from the LFS command line</title>

    <para>
       This method requires installing
        <ulink url="&blfs-book;general/libtasn1.html">libtasn1</ulink>,
        <ulink url="&blfs-book;postlfs/p11-kit.html">p11-kit</ulink>,
        <ulink url="&blfs-book;postlfs/make-ca.html">make-ca</ulink>,
        <ulink url="&blfs-book;basicnet/wget.html">wget</ulink>,
        <ulink url="&blfs-book;general/gpm.html">gpm</ulink>, and
        <ulink url="&blfs-book;basicnet/links.html">links</ulink>
        (or <ulink url="&blfs-book;basicnet/lynx.html">lynx</ulink>)
       after rebooting into the new LFS system.  You may need a removable
       stroage device to copy these packages into the target system. At this
       point the default system has six virtual consoles. Switching
       consoles is as easy as using the
       <keycombo>
         <keycap>Alt</keycap>
         <keycap>Fx</keycap>
       </keycombo>
       key combinations where <keycap>Fx</keycap> is
       between <keycap>F1</keycap> and <keycap>F6</keycap>.
       The
       <keycombo>
         <keycap>Alt</keycap>
         <keycap function='left'/>
       </keycombo>
       and
       <keycombo>
         <keycap>Alt</keycap>
         <keycap function='right'/>
       </keycombo>
       combinations also will change the console.
     </para>

     <para>
       At this point you can log into two different virtual consoles and run
       the links or lynx browser in one console and bash in the other. GPM
       then allows copying commands from the browser with the left mouse
       button, switching consoles, and pasting into the other console.
      </para>

      <note>
        <para>
          As a side note, switching of virtual consoles can also be done from
          an X Window instance with the
          <keycombo>
            <keycap>Ctrl</keycap>
            <keycap>Alt</keycap>
            <keycap>Fx</keycap>
          </keycombo>
          key combination, but the mouse copy operation does not work
          between the graphical interface and a virtual console. You can
          return to the X Window display with the
          <keycombo>
            <keycap>Ctrl</keycap>
            <keycap>Alt</keycap>
            <keycap>Fx</keycap>
          </keycombo>
          combination, where <keycap>Fx</keycap> is usually 
          <keycap>F1</keycap> but may be <keycap>F7</keycap>.
        </para>
      </note>

  </sect3>

  </sect2>


</sect1>