New to Gentoo [solved]

rottingdead · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 12 Sep 2011 Posts: 133

Hello, downloading Gentoo as we speak, I"m sure the installation process is as simple as most Distros, but not sure yet.
Anyway, my topic is about post installation, I happened to come across a section in the handbook about all config files being written by the end user, I like that, but have no clue where to go to study about all that stuff, figured, I knew a fair amount of the command line, been running Arch Linux, and decided to step it up some, and learn even more about what Linux has to offer, can anybody direct me in the right direction where to go about all the config files, and stuff you do manually? I'm going to try Gentoo Linux in my Virtualbox in Arch first, before I wipe arch, to avoid losing my currently installed OS, and applications, thanks, =).

barul · Guru Joined: 28 May 2010 Posts: 434

Nope, Gentoo is not as simple as most other distros. And you won't loose your software, because they are all quite identical, in Debian or Arch or whatever. Just think about making backups.

cwr · Veteran Joined: 17 Dec 2005 Posts: 1969

There's no documentation for config files in one place, because they all belong to different applications.
Your current files (everything under /etc) will probably be fine, so if you keep a copy and do any minor
editing needed (and follow the Gentoo handbook) you shouldn't have any problems.

But Gentoo uses a very different approach to installation from other distros, yes.

Will

solamour · Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2011 8:16 am Post subject:

As for the configuration files, Gentoo Wiki (and Gentoo Wiki Archives) has a lot of examples that you might want to take a look.

Gentoo Wiki
http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Main_Page

Gentoo Wiki Archives
http://www.gentoo-wiki.info/
__
sol

rottingdead · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 12 Sep 2011 Posts: 133

Thanks for all the posts, =).

disi · Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2011 9:41 am Post subject:

Just to make sure, you do not have to write every config file yourself!

Actual, Gentoo is one of the few Distributions with config control, which lets you decide what config files should be replaced, merged or kept during upgrade.

rottingdead · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 12 Sep 2011 Posts: 133

Awesome, thanks, =). This forums seems more friendlier than Arch Forums.. Glad to see some Forums aren't all the same, hehe..

krinn · Watchman Joined: 02 May 2003 Posts: 7470

You'll see that most the time devs gave you a config file with lots of comments in it telling you what option could be set and the effect it will produce. So despite the myth, no, you generally won't need to build your config from 0, and the need to check the program website to see what that configfile should hold is something we tell to kids to scared them.

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/?catid=gentoo
that's the heart of gentoo, something you should have a look at, you will see then portage default tool to handle config file update is etc-update, and like disi shown some other tools exist to do that.

hehe, and i prefer how etc-update works

rottingdead · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 12 Sep 2011 Posts: 133

cwr · Veteran Joined: 17 Dec 2005 Posts: 1969

I'm pretty sure that you can boot VirtualBox from an .iso image, and if you can
that's the way ahead. Once you've booted and got a network connection then
it's a standard Gentoo install (see the handbook for details).

Good luck - Will

rottingdead · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 12 Sep 2011 Posts: 133

Yuu · Apprentice Joined: 23 Dec 2008 Posts: 223 Location: France

Hi rottingdead,

the link that you provided is pointing to the LiveDVD, as the name of the iso suggests it.

Even if you can install Gentoo from this LiveDVD, it is recommended to use the minimal install CD : see here at "1. Installation media". Then, download the right installation CD for your CPU architechture.

Note that you can also select a mirror manually using this page : http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/mirrors2.xml, then browse to releases/<your-arch>/current-iso/. The name of the ISO file is something like : install-<arch>-minimal-<date>.iso; example : install-amd64-minimal-20110908.iso

Good luck :]
_________________
Main laptop : T8300 cpu | 200 GB hard drive | 2 GB of ram | 8600M GT | Gentoo x86_64
Server : Celeron 220 cpu | 250 GB hard drive | 2 GB of ram | SiS 662 VGA | Gentoo x86_64

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 6:10 pm Post subject:

rottingdead,

The boot media you use to install Gentoo can be anything that will give you a root shell and provide a few tools.
None of its code goes into the install anyway.

The DVD you have supports 32 bit and 64 bit installs. The only constraint being that you must boot a 64 bit kernel to be able to do a 64 bit install.
Go ahead and boot your VirtualBoox from the DVD *.ISO image.
Help yourself to a root shell and follow the handbook.

The advantage of using a boot system that provides a GUI is that the forums, the handbook and #gentoo on irc.freenode.net are all easy to read.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

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

rottingdead · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 12 Sep 2011 Posts: 133

rottingdead · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 12 Sep 2011 Posts: 133

I'm having an issue here.. It gets as far as compiling the Kernel, it compiles the kernel bzImage fine, but fails on the kernel itself, something about modules_install section, I couldn't save these logs, seeing I rebooted, to get back into GEntoo LIve, I removed my Arch Linux to instal this, hoping, the error was just virtualbox related, it's not, =(. Same errors..

rottingdead · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 12 Sep 2011 Posts: 133

Update: THere is a bug in the genkernel all command, I used manually configuration -> successful, =).