Chrooting
Optional: Selecting Mirrors
If you are booted from a Gentoo LiveCD, you are able to use mirrorselect
to update /etc/make.conf so fast mirrors are used for both Portage
as source code:
# mirrorselect -a -s4 -o >> /mnt/gentoo/etc/make.conf
If for some reason mirrorselect fails, don't panic. This step is
completely optional. If mirrorselect fails, the default values suffice.
Copy DNS Info
One thing still remains to be done before we enter the new environment, and that
is copy over the DNS information in /etc/resolv.conf. You need
to do this to ensure that networking still works even after entering the new
environment. /etc/resolv.conf contains the nameservers for your
network.
# cp /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/gentoo/etc/resolv.conf
Entering the new Environment
Now that all partitions are initialised and the base environment
installed, it is time to enter our new installation environment by
chrooting into it. This means that we change from the current
installation environment (LiveCD or other installation medium) to your
installation system (namely the initialised partitions).
This chrooting is done in three steps. First we will change the root
from / (on the installation medium) to /mnt/gentoo
(on your partitions) using chroot. Then we will create a new environment
using env-update, which essentially creates environment variables.
Finally, we load those variables into memory using source.
# chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash
# env-update
Regenerating /etc/ld.so.cache...
# source /etc/profile
Congratulations! You are now inside your own Gentoo Linux environment.
Of course it is far from finished, which is why the installation still
has some sections left :-)
Optional: Updating Portage
If you are not using GRP, you must download a recent Portage snapshot
from the Internet. emerge sync does this for you. GRP-users should skip
this and continue with Optional: Using Distributed
Compiling or Differences between
Stage1, Stage2 and Stage3.
# emerge sync
If you are warned that a new Portage version is available and that you should
update Portage, run emerge --update portage to get your Portage up to
date:
# emerge --update portage
Optional: Using Distributed Compiling
If you are interested in using a collection of systems to help in compiling your
system you might want to take a look at our DistCC Guide. By using distcc you can use
the processing power of several systems to aid you with the installation.
Progressing from Stage1 to Stage2
Introduction to Bootstrapping
So, you want to compile everything from scratch? Okay then :-)
In this step, we will bootstrap your Gentoo system. This takes a
long time, but the result is a system that has been optimized from the
ground up for your specific machine and needs.
Bootstrapping means building the GNU C Library, GNU Compiler
Collection and several other key system programs. The GNU Compiler
Collection even has to be built twice: first with the "generic" compiler
we provide, and a second time with the compiler you then just built.
Before starting the bootstrap, we list a couple of options you might or
might not want. If you do not want to read those, continue with Bootstrapping the System.
Optional: Decreasing Compilation Time
If you want to speed up the bootstrapping, you can temporarily deselect
java-support. This means that the GNU Compiler Collection and the GNU C
Library will be compiled without java-support (which decreases
compilation time considerably). Although this means that you wont have
the GNU Java Compiler (gjc) this does not mean that your
system won't be able to use java applets and other java-related stuff.
To deselect java-support temporarily, define USE="-java" before
firing up the bootstrap script.
# export USE="-java"
Don't forget to unset the variable after bootstrapping:
# unset USE
Optional: Downloading the Sources First
If you haven't copied over all sourcecode before, then the bootstrap
script will download all necessary files. It goes without saying that
this only works if you have a working network connnection :-) If you want to
download the sourcecode first and later bootstrap the system (for instance
because you don't want to have your internet connection open during the
compilation) use the -f option of the bootstrap script, which will
fetch (hence the letter f) all sourcecode for you.
# cd /usr/portage
# scripts/bootstrap.sh -f
Bootstrapping the System
Okay then, take your keyboard and punch in the next commands to start
the bootstrap. Then go amuse yourself with something else (for instance harass
Gentoo developers on #gentoo), because this step takes quite some time to
finish.
# cd /usr/portage
# scripts/bootstrap.sh
If you have altered the CHOST setting in /etc/make.conf
previously, you need to reinitialise some variables in order for gcc to
work fast:
# source /etc/profile
Now continue with the next step, Progressing from Stage2
to Stage3.
Progressing from Stage2 to Stage3
Introduction
If you are reading this section, then you have a bootstrapped system
(either because you bootstrapped it previously, or you are using a
stage2). Then it is now time to build all system packages.
All system packages? No, not really. In this step, you will build
the system packages of which there are no alternatives to use. However,
some system packages have several alternatives (such as system loggers)
and as Gentoo is all about choices, we don't want to force one upon you.
Optional: Viewing what will be done
If you want to know what packages will be installed, execute emerge
--pretend system. This will list all packages that will be built. As this
list is pretty big, you should also use a pager like less or
more to go up and down the list.
# emerge --pretend system | less
Optional: Downloading the Sources
If you want emerge to download the sources before you continue
(for instance because you don't want the internet connection to be left
open while you are building all packages) you can use the -f
option of emerge which will fetch all sources for you.
# emerge --fetchonly system
Building the System
To start building the system, execute emerge system. Then go do
something to keep your mind busy, because this step takes a long time to
complete.
# emerge system
When the building has completed, continue with Configuring the Kernel.