1.2. The Goal of Pocket Linux

The purpose of Pocket Linux is to support and encourage people who wish to explore Linux by building a GNU/Linux system from nothing but source code. Pocket Linux is not intended to be a full featured system, but rather to give the reader a taste of what is involved in building an operating system from source code. After completing the Pocket Linux system the reader should have enough knowledge to confidently build almost any project using only source code. Given this direction we can put a few constraints on the project.

• The main focus should be learning. The project should not just describe how to do something, it should also describe why it should be done.

• The required time commitment should be minimal and manageable.

• The project should not require any investment in additional hardware or reconfiguration of existing hardware to set up a lab environment.

• Readers should not need to know any programming languages in order to complete the project.

• To remain true to the spirit of GNU/Linux, all software used in the project should be covered under the GNU/GPL or another, similarly liberal, open-source license.