Bootable 64-bit RPi3/Pi4 Gentoo image (OpenRC/Xfce/VC4) Pt 2

[nvertigo]

[Sakaki]

[Biker]

Sakaki,

When I manually run genup, I've noticed that the call to perl-cleaner always re-installs the same 54 (!!) 'binary' packages.

This could probably be seen as a sub-optimal use of scarce system resources, run-time and SD-card usage.

I'm not an expert on the subject, but I'd guess the usage of '--selective=no' might be part of the cause.


Is there anyway the 'genup' could be more 'selective' so as to definitely re-install packages that are required to be, but not just brutally re-install 'everything' by perl-cleaner at each run ?


I'm aware of the '--no-perl-cleaner' flag of genup, but if I understand it correctly this is not what I want.
I believe the call to perl-cleaner is a good thing, but just that it should somehow be made more refined in the choice of what packages to re-install.


Best regards
Biker
_________________
The Internet never forgets.
Where 'never' points in the direction of a moment in the very, very far future.

[Sakaki]

Biker,

thanks, I'll look at modifying genup to address this.
_________________
Regards,

sakaki

[n1ese]

Dumb question, why do we need so many different versions of python installed? Aren't the various versions of 3.x backward compatible with each other?

I can see having 2.7 and a 3.x installed but, as of a clean 1.5.3 install, I see a total of four versions of python.

dev-lang/python-2.7.17::gentoo
dev-lang/python-3.5.9::gentoo
dev-lang/python-3.6.9-r1::genpi64
dev-lang/python-3.7.4-r2::genpi64

Can this be simplified at all?

I first started having problems with python and the gpsd service. I first had to add python to my local USE in order to emerge gpsd. Sadly, both 3,19 and 9999 ebuilds of gpsd are broke on arm64 due to what looks like QT errors. I had to manually compile gpsd v3.20 from source which compiled fine. I still have some python library location issues that I haven't figured out yet but the basic daemon is working 100%. gpsd is a key service for me as 99% of the time I am at my off-grid cabin deep in the woods and rely on gps time sync for some amateur radio apps.

[NeddySeagoon]

n1ese,

[n1ese]

I need to replace by 2GB Pi4B's to 4GB but until I do:

What are sane MAKEOPTS for a 2GB Pi4B? I have set a bit less aggressive options from default but still seeing a lot of memory usage and load averages when doing a genup. I was successful yesterday in doing a genup on a fresh 1.5.3 system but just made some USE changes and now running into much higher load averages and temporary system lockups resulting in some failures.

[NeddySeagoon]

n1ese,

On a 2G system I would use

[n1ese]

How do I prevent manually removed packages from being reinstalled?

I removed libreoffice yesterday and genup today is reinstalling it.

[ian.au]

[n1ese]

[ian.au]

[n1ese]

[mustang01]

Can you add new kodi 18.6 to the binaries repository? Version 18.6 fixes audio problems when opening a .ts container. There is no kodi 18.6 even in the libreelec distribution on rpi 4.

[Sakaki]

[mustang01]

I have a problem with hardware acceleration in kodi.
The "rasberry-pi" flag does not work. When I want to compile kodi the flag is in brackets "(-rasberry-pi)".
I have "genpi64lite.img.xz" v. 1.5.3 and I have installed server-xorg and kodi-18.6 from binaries.
I have drop and skip frames on kodi when I use kodi deinterlacing on 1080p TV recordings.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/zmfnNjyau3TiBgHK9

[Sakaki]

mustang01,

been a little while since I looked at that flag, but last time I did, the kodi MMAL stuff wasn't compatible with the 64-bit MMAL userspace libraries, which may be why it is masked. This situation could have changed though (the current gentoo-on-rpi-64bit image does support appropriately written MMAL apps, so e.g. raspivid works).

In any event, I am given to understand v19 of kodi will support the v4l2-m2m interfaces to the RPi's video codecs, which are also supported on my image, so once this come out accelerated playback should "just work".

In the meantime, perhaps try playing your content with SMPlayer - this can usually handle 1080p even in software on the RPi4 (and can exploit both MMAL and v4l2-m2m endpoints)?
_________________
Regards,

sakaki

[Sakaki]

Hello,

I've just posted a v1.5.4 update release of my bootable 64-bit Gentoo image for the RPi4 B / RPi3 B & B+ on GitHub (here, includes full download instructions).

As always, you can burn the image (~1,763MiB compressed) to a microSD card (>=16GB), then boot your RPi3 or RPi4 from it directly (the root partition will be automatically resized to fill the card on first boot). Full instructions for download and use are provided on the project's GitHub page. As before, a 'lite' (CLI-only) image is also provided.

A screenshot of the image running on a dual-display RPi4 B may be viewed here.

A changelog from the prior release image (with upgrade instructions) may be viewed here, but in summary:

• Added the media-video/smtube package. This provides a simple web-based front end allowing YouTube videos to be searched and selected, which are then handed off to media-video/smplayer for playback. This, in turn, is configured to use media-video/mpv under the hood, and can play (on an RPi4 with a fast Internet connection) 1080p videos at 30fps without glitching (it can use both v4l2m2m and MMAL endpoints for appropriate video types). (It would be nice if the vanilla firefox or chromium browsers could make use of the v4l2m2m codec endpoints, but they currently cannot, in any straightforward manner, so this tool at least provides an option for those wishing to watch hi-res video in the near term.)
  
• Dropped the suggested use of distcc-pump from /etc/portage/make.conf, following Gentoo bug 702146.
  
• Added a first cut build of bzt's usbimager program (lightweight alternative to Etcher).
  
• Turned on anti-aliasing and full hinting for screen fonts by default.
  
• Made switching keyboard layouts more straightforward, by adding the xfce-extra/xfce4-xkb-plugin into the top panel bar, and pre-populating two initial layouts (gb and us) in the config accessed via Applications->Settings->Keyboard, Layout tab. Also added xfce-extra/xfce4-kbsetup; this package installs a service, activated upon graphical login, which initialises the user's preferred keyboard layouts (if these have been set up), as Xfce does not do that correctly at the moment.
  
• Upgraded the shipped kernels, to bcm{rpi3,2711}-kernel-bis-bin-4.19.106.20200225, and boot firmware, to sys-boot/rpi3-64bit-firmware-1.20200212.
  
• Various minor ebuild tidy-ups.
  
• All packages brought up-to-date against the Gentoo tree, as of 4 Mar 2020. So e.g., www-client/chromium bumped to 82.0.4068.4, www-client/firefox to 73.0.1, app-office/libreoffice to 6.3.5.2 etc.

Users already on the prior 1.5.3 or earlier release can upgrade manually by following the instructions given here.

Have fun ^-^

And, as always, any problems or comments, please post either in this thread, or in the project's thread on the Raspberry Pi forums (here).

PS the bootable images are also available for download via PINN, for those who prefer that route, called gentoo64 and gentoo64lite there.
_________________
Regards,

sakaki

[n1ese]

Gentlemen, I performed a fresh install of 1.5.4 a few weeks ago and just getting around to running updates today.

I ran an 'emerge --sync' and it told me a new version of portage was available so I ran an 'emerge --oneshot sys-apps/portage' but there is a conflict I'm not sure how to resolve.

[Sakaki]

n1ese,

the issue is that porthole (in the @world set on the image) depends upon having a version of portage with the python 2.7 target, but as that python variant is now EOL, modern versions of portage have dropped it.

You need to unmerge, or at least deselect, app-portage/porthole if you want to proceed.

I have added a fixup that will do this on the next weekly run of this service (if you have it enabled), otherwise:

[n1ese]

[n1ese]

Sakaki or NeddySeagoon, would one of you be able/willing to compile a binary package for fpc & lazarus? It can't be natively built on arm64 and I don't have the ability to cross compile? I have something I really need to compile that needs it. I'd greatly appreciate it.

-- Mod Edit --

This has become its own topic See fpc & lazarus

--
NeddySeagoon

[Haraldpeter]

Hi,
@sakaki
Yesterday i downloaded your Rhasp Version for my new PI 4 and flashed it and wow - it runs faster as the Offical Debian Rhasp Version. Many Thanks for that.

But i have had difficulties to set other locales then UK english via Gentoo Handbook. XFCE shows only english not german and the keyboard layout is english after a restart ,too

what is the right way to to that please?

I use my Rhasp PI on a 21Zoll HDMI Touch Display and the touch function works fine. But my Fonts in XFCE and Aurora are quiet ugly . How can i fixed that ?

Is it possible to install screenfetch ?

Best regards
Haraldpeter

[Sakaki]

[Jormungand]

hi, Sakaki! After upgrading python to the latest stable version of portage constantly says that