Newbie install: "emerge portage" leaves me dazed.

Galaxy66 · n00b Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 4

Background: RPM-based Linux user of 8 years trying Gentoo for the first time.
Hardware: AMD K6-233, 160MB, Trident TGUI 9440 graphics, 3-Com 3c59x NIC, ens1371 audio. (All PCI adapters)
Installation method: Minimal CD + Handbook
Initial observations:
'll' alias already defined - good.

'vi' works - good

(sorry nano lovers)

Following the Handbook to the letter, (except using vi) I start out very impressed but then I encountered this:

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 5:54 pm Post subject:

Galaxy66,

Welcome to Gentoo.

Your install will be fine, it will still br on your hard drive where you put it.
Get back into it again with [/url=https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-3516331.html#3516331]these steps[/url]

You will quickly learn that gentoo only installs the things you must have and the things you ask for.
Implicit in the things you ask for are any dependencies needed to support packages you have selected.

Your portage update made available some updated configuration files, so its suggesting you run something like etc-update to check them and install them, if you approve, on a file by file basis.

Should you approve them?
That depends on the files and the changes, e.g. if the changes are to config files you have edited you may not want the update
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

NathanZachary · Moderator Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 2605

After you do emerge portage, and it tells you that some files in /etc need to be updated, run this command:

NathanZachary · Moderator Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 2605

@NeddySeagoon,

You beat me to it by about 30 seconds!

_________________
“Truth, like infinity, is to be forever approached but never reached.” --Jean Ayres (1972)
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SiberianSniper · Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 6:02 pm Post subject:

As far as the file-by-file checking in etc-update, I'd recommend you update every file with the recommended new one on your initial install. The changes are generally for the better or to reflect changes in program functionality or the likes. Until you've gotten the hang of things and actually edited your own config files, the updates are usually pretty good changes.

NathanZachary · Moderator Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 2605

You surely can automerge all of the updated config files, but sometimes that will overwrite some custom settings. For instance, there are times where etc-update will report that .bashrc should be overwritten. In that case, if you choose to do so, you will lose your aliases, et cetera.
_________________
“Truth, like infinity, is to be forever approached but never reached.” --Jean Ayres (1972)
---avatar cropped from =AimanStudio---

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 6:13 pm Post subject:

SiberianSniper,

You really don't want to update /etc/fstab, /etc/config.d/hostname and must of /etc/config.d/* without some thought.
Careless use of etc-update can render your system unbootable. baselayout changes are the worst offenders here.

Oh, amd ssh updates normally throw away all the security changes you have made to /etc/ssh/sshd.config. Thats only an issue if you use sshd of course.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

djdunn · l33t Joined: 26 Dec 2004 Posts: 810

i prefer dispatch-conf to etc-update
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― Plato

NathanZachary · Moderator Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 2605

SiberianSniper · Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 9:41 pm Post subject:

Galaxy66 · n00b Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 4

Thanks everyone for your help.

Perhaps it was env-update that transported me to an alternate universe. :oops:

Looks like etc-update is just what I needed. It only offered -3 -5 etc. but I had nothing to lose and -3 worked.

Now another n00b question: The stage3-x86 tarball is for i486 and stage3-i686 is obviously a no-go for this relic.
According to /proc/cpuinfo, it does support mmx so I'd like to take advantage of that for audio decoding.

As long as its early in the game, is it possible the set CHOST="i586-pc-linux-gnu" and covert the i486 stage into i586 before proceeding to install stuff?
(Yeah, it'll be slow but I've got plenty of other things to do while it compiles.)

If so, is there step-by-step ordering of how to do that?

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:27 pm Post subject:

Galaxy66,

Its possible to change your CHOST but not really required. You will have a tool chain that itself uses a i486 compatible instruction set but emits code for your k6 CPU. You get the same compiler output now, as you would with a i586 CHOST. It might take a little longer, thats all.
Its your call if you want to spend CPU time now changing CHOST os accumulate the time over slightly slower compiles.
Follow this guide if you want to go ahead. That guide was written for users with a i386 CHOST, as it limited the glibc version available.

You can use mmx for multimedia by putting mmx into your USE flags in make.conf, and 3dnow if you have it. The CHOST has no effect on that.
Your

SiberianSniper · Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 11:06 pm Post subject:

Galaxy66 · n00b Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 4

I would like to have the entire system "tweaked" for the K6 CPU even though I understand the performance benefits are small.

Per the guide that NeddySeagoon referenced, I did manage to emerge binutils, gcc and glibc. At the end, it built support for hundreds of languages I'll never use apparently because /etc/locale.gen didn't exist yet. Hind-site is 20/20.

After insuring that there were no old CHOST references, attempting to emerge libtool failed quickly. I don't have the machine handy but can post the error messages later if necessary. Before attempting to continue down this path though, I have a question:

I started with the stage3 tarball because the handbook says its the only method supported.

Might it be better to start with stage1 versus unpacking and immediately converting the stage3?
(Again, compilation time doesn't matter. My goal is to learn.)

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 6:46 pm Post subject:

Galaxy66,

I've only ever done stage 1, mostly because I'm an old hand.

You can still do stage 1 and on an old system you want to get the best out of and to learn, its probably the way to go.
Health Warning :- Do not update portage until you boot into your own kernel if you do stage 1.
I recall the latest portage needs later versions of things that you won't have, so you can install the new version of portage but then never user it.
The documents are still on the web.

If you decide to use stage 1, please post questions in unsupported software. Stage 1 is not officially supported any more.
Thats not the same as saying you won't get help.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.