Status during the install - How do I know where I am?

[Grig]

I tried looking for this on the web, FAQ, and forums, and because this seems like a simple question, I am sure I am not using the right search terms.

I am compiling Gentoo on several systems to play around, test speed, and so on. The long waiting parts come with emerge system, and one of the things I like about the Gentoo Install is the ability to ssh into a box from the LiveCD (as long as you remember to start it). One of the BEST things I have seen about this, is that the xtrem window is updated with the build status, that is, something like "perl: (27 of 69)" across my terminal window. It gives me an idea of how close I am to the end.

But if you are directly logged into the system, you don't have this. Or do you? Is there some way I can check the status of a long emerge system? Like is the status written to a file, sends to a virtual TTY, etc? Like if I am at a box, can I hit cntl+alt+F2 and check on something?

I notice that the compile output goes to TTY1, and some other (possibly boot-related) output goes to 3 and 4. TTY2 seems to be a bash shell. Is there a way to get my status through TTY2?

[jj11888]

It depends on your version of portage, but there is log files in /var/log/portage and another log file with less information at /var/log/emerge.log

If your still in the bootstrap, running 'ps aux|grep [e]merge' will tell you what it is emerging at that time, and by looking at the emerge itself you can usually deduce what the current program is.

'genlop -c' is supposed to tell you info about whats currently compiling, but it never works with me for some reason

I hope one of these things help

[Grig]

That did it! Thank you so much!

from TTY2 (cntl+alt+F2):