1 <sect1 id="ch-prepare-aboutlfs">
2 <title>About $LFS</title>
3 <?dbhtml filename="aboutlfs.html" dir="chapter02"?>
5 <para>Please read the following paragraphs carefully. Throughout this book the
6 variable LFS will be used frequently. $LFS must at all times be replaced with
7 the directory where the partition that contains the LFS system is mounted. How
8 to create and where to mount the partition will be explained in full detail in
9 <xref linkend="chapter03"/>. For the moment let's assume that the LFS partition
10 is mounted on <filename>/mnt/lfs</filename>.</para>
12 <para>When you are told to run a command like
13 <userinput>./configure --prefix=$LFS/tools</userinput>, you actually have to
14 execute <userinput>./configure --prefix=/mnt/lfs/tools</userinput>.</para>
16 <para>It's important that this is done no matter where it is read; be it in
17 commands entered in a shell, or in a file edited or created.</para>
19 <para>A possible solution is to set the environment variable LFS.
20 This way $LFS can be entered literally instead of replacing it with
21 /mnt/lfs. This is accomplished by running: </para>
23 <screen><userinput>export LFS=/mnt/lfs</userinput></screen>
25 <para>Now, if you are told to run a command such as
26 <userinput>./configure --prefix=$LFS/tools</userinput>, then you may type it
27 literally. Your shell will replace "$LFS" with "/mnt/lfs" when it processes
28 the command line (that is, when you hit Enter after having typed the