source: BOOK/partitioning/common/creatingpartition.xml@ 898e550

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<sect1 id="ch-partitioning-creatingpartition">
  <?dbhtml filename="creatingpartition.html"?>

  <title>Creating a New Partition</title>

  <para os="a">Like most other operating systems, CLFS is usually installed on
  a dedicated partition. The recommended approach to building a CLFS
  system is to use an available empty partition or, if you have enough
  unpartitioned space, to create one. However, a CLFS system (in fact
  even multiple CLFS systems) may also be installed on a partition already
  occupied by another operating system and the different systems will
  co-exist peacefully. The document <ulink
  url="&hints-root;lfs_next_to_existing_systems.txt"/> explains how to
  implement this, whereas this book discusses the method of using a fresh
  partition for the installation.</para>

  <para os="b">A minimal system requires a partition of around 1.3 gigabytes (GB).
  This is enough to store all the source tarballs and compile the packages.
  However, if the CLFS system is intended to be the primary Linux system,
  additional software will probably be installed which will require
  additional space (2-3 GB). The CLFS system itself will not take up this
  much room. A large portion of this requirement is to provide sufficient
  free temporary storage. Compiling packages can require a lot of disk space
  which will be reclaimed after the package is installed.</para>

  <para os="c">Because there is not always enough Random Access Memory (RAM)
  available for compilation processes, it is a good idea to use a small disk
  partition as swap space. This is used by the kernel to store seldom-used
  data and leave more memory available for active processes. The swap
  partition for an CLFS system can be the same as the one used by the host
  system, in which case it is not necessary to create another one.</para>

  <para os="d">Start a disk partitioning program such as <command>cfdisk</command>
  or <command>fdisk</command> with a command line option naming the hard
  disk on which the new partition will be created&mdash;for example
  <filename class="devicefile">/dev/hda</filename> for the primary
  Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) disk. Create a Linux native partition
  and a swap partition, if needed. Please refer to
  <filename>cfdisk(8)</filename> or <filename>fdisk(8)</filename> if you
  do not yet know how to use the programs.</para>

  <para os="e">Remember the designation of the new partition (e.g.,
  <filename class="devicefile">hda5</filename>). This book will refer to
  this as the CLFS partition. Also remember the designation of the swap
  partition. These names will be needed later for the
  <filename>/etc/fstab</filename> file.</para>

</sect1>