As magic script author, who completed the book step by step, I want to say, you won't get "intimately familiar with the OS" after completion. What you will learn: * needed packages: purpose, how and in which order to build them * really basics of OS configuration * fault intolerance to mistakes

So, why I've built such script? I think it is needed for the next steps, where you actually might want to modify kernel/tools/configuration to gain the knowledge how things are (not-)working.