TeX is a typesetting package, able to create documents in a variety of formats. The optional texmfsrc TAR ball contains source code for packages that are contained in the texmf TAR ball, including the docstrip sources.

Before building TeX, the macros and fonts package (texmf tarball) must be installed. Install the macros and fonts using the following commands as the root user:

install -v -d -m755 /usr/share/texmf &&
gzip -dc ../tetex-texmf-2.0.2.tar.gz \
    | (umask 0; cd /usr/share/texmf; tar -xf -)

If the optional texmf source code TAR ball was downloaded, untar it now as the root user:

gzip -dc ../tetex-texmfsrc-2.0.2.tar.gz \
    | (umask 0; cd /usr/share/texmf; tar -xf -)

Install TeX by running the following commands:

patch -Np1 -i ../tetex-src-2.0.2-flex-1.patch &&
patch -Np1 -i ../tetex-src-2.0.2-remove_readlink-1.patch &&
./configure --with-x=no --prefix=/usr \
    --without-texinfo --with-system-ncurses --with-system-zlib \
    --exec-prefix=/usr --bindir=/usr/bin &&
make all

Now, as the root user:

make install &&
texconfig dvips paper letter &&
texconfig font rw

--with-x=no: This switch will avoid any X Window dependencies. TeX can be compiled with X Window support, notably for xdvi. If this is desired, remove this configure option.

--exec-prefix=/usr --bindir=/usr/bin: These switches ensure that TeX binaries are installed in /usr/bin.

--without-texinfo: A default LFS installation already has the Texinfo package installed; this switch will avoid overwriting it with the included Texinfo package.

--with-system-ncurses: This switch specifies using the already installed libncurses library.

--with-system-zlib: LFS systems starting with version 4.0 have Zlib installed as part of the base operating system; this switch avoids building it here.

texconfig dvips paper letter: This command sets the default paper size for TeX.

texconfig font rw: This command specifies writable fonts.