Building Linux from scratch Advice

[Jon_boy1984]

Hi All,

I've been a long time wannabe user of linux, and have played with different distro's (Mainly BackTrack and SUSe), even had a multi boot system running for some months on my work laptop, and I would class myself as somewhere between a beginner to intermediate user of linux. I've decide to take the plunge and I've come to the conclusion though that the only way I'll really get to know linux well, is to build it from scratch by following info from: (Linux From Scratch!), there's just to much done for you in most distro's, and I'm not really learning a lot about whats under the hood, so to speak.

Now, before you say it, I know this isn't going to be simple, in fact I've attempted it before, but not wanting to risk ruining my Windows Install, I attempted it in a Virtual PC. It didn't quite work out...

I have my reasons for wanting to build my own version of linux, Mainly because I'm a control freak, but also because I want to create a home network based completely on Linux, and I want to only install what I need. I'm also very security concerned, and would like to make sure my linux OS is highly secured.

What I'd like to know is, 1) have any of you tried it, if so, do you have any pointers? 2) How long does it take complete (do I need to book a week off work, or will a few hours once/twice a week for a month do? I'm in not particular rush, but I don't want to forget what I learn, but I also don't want to neglect my wife ). 3) how do you keep it up-to-date once completed (if using it on more than 1 device, have you setup an area to download updates from automatically?)

Please don't reply telling me about xyz distro, I'm just looking for advice from those that have done this, or something like this, before.

Many Thanks,

Jon

[nathanfriend]

I've had a go at this before and it's quite time consuming, but worth it. You will need a host environment to build from.

Depending on you hardware compiling can take hours. I might be worth opening up SSH on your host machine so you can check on the progress.

Let me know how you get on.