~x86.....?

[pv]

I'm an usual student with a modem internet access. In other words, I cannot upgrade my linux every day, every week, every month.
I want to use Gentoo The Great and I do. When I was installing Gentoo for the first time I used 'x86' because I did not want to have problems with 'untested' packages. But it appeared that the distro is not so stable as it seems. The problem wasn't in my CFLAGS. I read the sources and knew what the problem was. (It was due to simultaneous access to /dev/dsp of tuxracer and libSDL it uses. The problem appears only with oss USE flag so I easy solved it by removing the flag).
But now I read posts of people who use '~x86' and who don't see problems. Moreover, I WANT gcc-3.4 but it's in '~86' and I think it will be there for a very long time.
So I decided to upgrade to the last available portage and use '~86' keyword.

I just want to say that:
1. Maybe x86 isn't so stable as it seems.
2. It seems that ~x86 isn't less stable than x86.

Had somebody of you, reading this post, any problems using ~x86 or you just can read manuals and repeat them?
I'm sorry if I was very rude in the last sentence but I want to know about somebody's experience.
_________________
Nothing but perfection.

[col]

I was running ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~x86" for years in my make conf...it works fine so long as you have the skills to resolve any problems it may cause. I am now running "~amd64" ... would not recommend it for a newb though.

[pv]

[Drysh]

Since I'm using ACCEPT_KEYWORDS=~x86 and a lot of -* in package.keywords (I'm testing e17) I think I'll never get help again... It was good while it last. Bye, bye.

And, guess what, things are working fine... err.. Except for taking days (sometimes) to "emerge -DNuva world" untill everything works, and having my boot cd in the drive all the time for when my system locks and I cannot even access grub. Damn, this is my home computer and if things break here its ok, this is the right place to test new ideas.

BTW, at office I use a stable version of gentoo. I'm not THAT crazy. And there, if the system breaks I'll have a mad boss running after me. I'm even planning to buy a new hd for a stable version here also.

[pv]

[Drysh]

pv:

You may have some problems to install the system with ~x86.. If you want to try that, I suggest you to install using x86 (basic system install, not your packages) and then "emerge --emptytree world" to rebuild it using ~x86. It will update everything. Then you install whatever you want (X, wm, etc). After a few attempts to install a system using ~x86, that's how I managed to do it.

After installing it, and solving the problems for incompatible software, you may expect you system to be stable untill you try to update it. I usualy update on fridays, so I have the weekend to fix it.

I strongly suggest you to think why are you considering a ~x86 system. Is it because you want to test some new programs? If so, you may be better if you only unmask the packages you want to try. In my case, I'm doing this for adventure. I expect problems, but I'm learning everyday from them, so its fine.

In short, a ~x86 system runs fine (if you are coming from windows, you will call it stable), but updating is hell. But if you want your system to be 100% trustable (as in never loosing data, never crashing, everything running fine with everything else) then you should stay away from ~x86.

[pv]

[Drysh]

I took a look at Fiordland Install Guide and it's almost the same thing. The problem about installing a ~x86 is that sometimes you cannot finish the instalation because of broken packages. So it's easier to install using x86 and then move to ~x86. That guide looks better than what I did, unfortunately there wasn't one when I installed.

For what you said, I think you will be better with a x86 install. To try KDE 3.5 (or any other masked package), you could do this:
1. Install a normal x86 system;
2. Unmask kde using package.keywords, so it will use ~x86;
3. Try to emerge it;
4. It will say you cannot emerge because some dependancies are masked (it will give a list);
5. Unmask the dependancies;
6. Try again to emerge untill it doesn't complain about masked dependancies.

I don't know how it will work for KDE (I use enlightenment and fluxbox). A quick search gave me this:
https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-407352-highlight-kde+3+5.html

[pv]

Great thanks for the instructions and the link

x86 is certainly the best for me so I'll wait for about a month and if KDE 3.5 doesn't get stable I'll use your method.
_________________
Nothing but perfection.