%general-entities; ]> File cross tools One method that file uses for identifying a given file is to run magic tests, where it compares the file's contents to data in magic files, which contain information about a number of standard file formats. When File is compiled, it will run file -C to combine the information from the magic files in its source tree into a single magic.mgc file, which it will use after it is installed. When we build File in , it will be cross-compiled, so it will not be able to run the file program that it just built, which means that we need one that will run on the host system. Prepare File for compilation: ./configure \ --prefix=/cross-tools --prefix=/cross-tools This tells the configure script to prepare to install the package in the /cross-tools directory. Compile the package: make Install the package: make install