Free from scratch software for linux

Linux From Scratch (LFS) is a project that provides you with the steps necessary to build your own custom Linux system.
There are a lot of reasons why somebody would want to install an LFS system. The question most people raise is "why go through all the hassle of manually installing a Linux system from scratch when you can just download an existing distribution?". That is a valid question which I hope to answer for you.
The most important reason for LFSs existence is teaching people how a Linux system works internally. Building an LFS system teaches you about all that makes Linux tick, how things work together, and depend on each other. And most importantly, how to customize it to your own taste and needs.
One of the key benefits of LFS is that you are in control over your system without having to rely on somebody elses Linux implementation. You are in the drivers seat now and are able to dictate every single thing such as the directory layout and boot script setup. You will also know exactly where, why and how programs are installed.
Another benefit of LFS is that you can create a very compact Linux system. When you install a regular distribution, you end up installing a lot of programs you probably would never use. Theyre just sitting there taking up (precious) disk space. Its not hard to get an LFS system installed under 100 MB. Does that still sound like a lot? A few of us have been working on creating a very small embedded LFS system. We installed a system that was just enough to run the Apache web server; total disk space usage was aproximately 8 MB. With further stripping, that can be brought down to 5 MB or less. Try that with a regular distribution.
If we were to compare a Linux distribution with a hamburger you buy at a supermarket or fast-food restaurant, you would end up eating it without knowing precisely what it is you are eating, whereas LFS gives you the ingredients to make a hamburger. This allows you to carefully inspect it, remove unwanted ingredients, and at the same time allow you to add ingredients to enhance the flavour of your hamburger. When you are satisfied with the ingredients, you go on to the next part of putting it together. You now have the chance to make it just the way you like it: broil it, bake it, deep-fry it, barbeque it, or eat it raw.
Another analogy that we can use is that of comparing LFS with a finished house. LFS will give you the skeleton of a house, but its up to you to install plumbing, electrical outlets, kitchen, bathtub, wallpaper, etc.
Another advantage of a custom built Linux system is added security. You will compile the entire system from source, thus allowing you to audit everything, if you wish to do so, and apply all the security patches you want or need to apply. You dont have to wait for somebody else to provide a new binary package that fixes a security hole. Besides, you have no guarantee that the new package actually fixes the problem (adequately). You never truly know whether a security hole is fixed or not unless you do it yourself.
Enhancements:
- The LFS LiveCD Team is proud to announce the release of the x86-6.2-3 version of LFS LiveCD. This version is built using LFS 6.2 and many Beyond Linux From Scratch packages from the Subversion branch. Source packages for LFS 6.2, and the LFS book itself, are included on the live CD. The CD is also suitable as a host for building x86 and x86_64 Cross LFS systems. Other features and bugfixes: the CD supports hibernation; the CD file system can be written to; the CD contains a visually pleasing and easy-to-use window manager, XFce...

Beyond Linux From Scratch or BLFS in short, is a project that continues where the LFS book finishes. It assists users in developing their systems according to their needs by providing a broad range of instructions for installing and configuring various packages on top of a base LFS system.
Why would I want a BLFS system?
If you are wondering why you would want a BLFS system or dont know what LFS is then you dont want to be here just yet - you should head over to the LFS Project Homepage where all will be explained.
What can I do with my BLFS system?
Nearly anything! An LFS system is primed to become a system that fits whatever need you have. BLFS is the book that takes you down your own custom path. You could build an office workstation, a multimedia desktop, a router, a server, or all of the above! And the best part is you only install what you need.
Enhancements:
- Version 6.2.0 of BLFS has been released. Version 6.2.0 is the complement to the LFS 6.2 book. More time has elapsed between the release of the previous version (6.1) and this one than in any other release cycle. Much of this is due to the fact that LFS 6.2 took much longer to be released than was originally anticipated. Many new packages have been introduced in the 6.2.0 version, as well as many updates, refinements and additions to the existing packages.

mach allows you to set up clean build roots from scratch for any distribution or distribution variation supported. In this clean build root you can then easily generate pristine packages. mach is written in python.

Currently, mach supports rpm-based distributions that can work with apt for rpm - hopefully this will be extended to other types of package manager as well.

mach is used for generating GStreamer packages (about 60 of them for each distribution) and Fedora packages. I also use it personally for the Dave/Dina project.

GIMP cursor brushes project is a set of (50) brushes for use in the GIMP, created from assorted cursors. Cursor brushes continues my contribution to my image editor of choice, the GIMP.

Seems basic things like cursors (most used for help-style pages) are often lacking.
I find lots of fancy, useless stuff -- much of it of real artistic merit -- but, as I said, impractical.

I blew the weekend making these brushes. Granted much consists of "prior art", but there was a good deal of editing involved. I even made the "Cursor Mouse" from scratch.

Use them for anything youd like. If you redistribute them, please include this file.

I post these, and perhaps make updates, at gimphelp.org. All the items will also be included (in png format) at wpclipart.com, the Public Domain clipart site.

Slackintosh is a port of Slackware GNU/Linux to PPC (Macintosh).

Russell Kroll was the first person who ported Slackware to PPC (http://slackintosh.exploits.org), but the project stalled with an unfinished 9.1 ..

I (Adrian) started again from scratch porting 10.1 to PPC, and ive stolen the name Slackintosh...

Please note that this port was not done by Russell, dont send him Bugreports.

I used the the Sources + SlackBuild files from Slackware 10.1. ..but i had to make a few changes:

The new Binutils from 10.x didnt like GCC, i used the 9.1 Version to build everything. The Installer uses BusyBox 1.0 and Linux 2.4 is not included, only 2.6.11.5 (Runs better on PPC .. imho)

Its not finished: Not all packages are ported. Youll get gcc, X, Mozilla, XFCE, Gimp.. but no
monsters like KDE & Co.

The installer maybe somewhat funky.. Missing packages are still listed and the yaboot installation isnt tested very well...

..but you should be able to get it running. It won the WFM (WorksForMe) price. (Tested on a MiniMac & iBook2)

locust project is a full featured Internet search engine specifically designed for knowledge area or corporate search.
It can index 2.5 million documents per 24 hours on a single Dell server. It consists of clean C++/STL code written from scratch.
Enhancements:
- This release adds minor changes needed to compile with GNU c++ version 4.1.2 and modifications to run on the x86-64 architecture.
- lcreatedb has been improved; the MySQL account password is no longer required and the root password is not echoed.
- The documentation has been broadened and partly rewritten.

Iroffer is a software program that acts as a fileserver for IRC. It is similar to a FTP server or WEB server, but users can download files using the DCC protocol of IRC instead of a web browser.
Unlike similar programs, iroffer is not a script, it is a standalone executable written entirely in c from scratch with high transfer speed and effeciency in mind. iroffer has been found to transfer over 50MByte/sec over a gigabit ethernet connection.
Main features:
- extremely fast dcc transfers
- extremely low cpu usage, and reasonable ram usage
- supports dcc resume
- set max amount of transfers per hostnames
- supports virtual hosts
- bandwidth monitoring, shows last 2 minutes bandwidth average
- maximum bandwidth limiting
- auto-ignores flooders
System requirements:
- Windows/Linux

Avisynth is a powerful frameserver for Windows and Linux. It aims at editing and processing videos in a non linear manner.
Aviysnth 3.0 is a complete rewrite of Avisynth 2.5, written from scratch by Bidoche (David Pierre). Its advantages compared to Avisynth 2.5 are the following:
Abstract core layer that allows it to run on Windows and Linux.
- Better cache managing.
- More powerful script langage.
- Some more internal improvements.
On the other hand, the bad news is that the plugins of Avisynth 2.5 are not compatible with the 3.0 version.