Extend.conf

Inside the scripts directory, there is a file present which is called extend.conf. This file was introduced in LFScript 4, to seperate BLFS specific instructions from the main executable.

The file is sourced at the start of each package build.

Additional environment variables

BLFS

At the top of the file, additional environment variables are defined and exported. Among these are XORG_PREFIX, XORG_CONFIG, KDE_PREFIX and more. These variables are used throughout BLFS, to make the build more dynamic.

Build flags

If you want to set additional environment variables to be used during the build of all packages, you should specify them here.

For example, by default packages are built using only one processor core. If you want to utilise multiple cores, you should add the following line to the top of extend.conf:

export MAKEFLAGS="-j 8"

Replace the 8 with the number of cores you want to use.

BLFS Bootscripts

extend.conf contains a custom shell function called includeBootscript. This function takes one argument; The name of a BLFS Bootscript which needs to be installed.

This function makes it possible to install a bootscript using a single command in the package script. For example, in alsa-utils the bootscript is installed with:

includeBootscript alsa

Scripts requiring a BLFS Bootscript must have the bootscripts source in their Script layout.

Mate

A more recent addition to extend.conf is the convertToMate function. This function adjusts source code designed for Gnome, so that it can use Mate in stead.

This function is still in development and may not work properly.