Sever installation

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Xenon2050 · Post by **Xenon2050** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 11:43 pm

I'm installing Gentoo on a computer to act as a server. I've followed the handbook up until the USE variable and now I don't know exactely what to put into it... I would like to run a website on this computer and don't care whether there is a GUI or not.
Thanks

kimchi_sg · Post by **kimchi_sg** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 11:48 pm

Take pen and paper, use nano to open /usr/portage/profiles/use.desc and /usr/portage/profiles/use.local.desc. Read the descriptions of each USE flag, then write down which ones are / seem to be useful.

After that post back here if clarification is needed.

Keep in mind also, that USE flags only strip out 100% optional parts of a package, not its dependancies.

kaidon · Post by **kaidon** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 12:14 am

On a server I like starting with
USE="-*"
And then I read up on available use flags while emerging stuff and add them if wanted. This let's me concentrate on what's relevant atm.

Xenon2050 · Post by **Xenon2050** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 1:34 pm

Does this handbook do the use flags justice or should I read the decscriptions on the actual install? http://www.gentoo.org/dyn/use-index.xml

What would you guys recommend for a web server then? I was thinking Apache or Apache2 but I don't know enough about each and am having a hard time finding documentation on the differance between the two on this site... Could someone help me with that? Thanks

Sorry if I'm asking so many questions or if they are stupid questions. I'm just really new to Linux and want to get it right the first time.

zbindere · Post by **zbindere** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 2:12 pm

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USE="-* apache2 php sasl perl samba ssl mysql libwww maildir imap"

these are my server flags.

it is a http and mail and samba server at home. this gives you an idea.

Xenon2050 · Post by **Xenon2050** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 2:14 pm

Okay... Thanks. Wouldn't you want to specify that you don't want kde and gnome with - such as -kde?
Also I was wondering what -* means?
Thanks

kimchi_sg · Post by **kimchi_sg** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 2:45 pm

Xenon2050 wrote:Wouldn't you want to specify that you don't want kde and gnome with - such as -kde?

Yes, but it is only necessary if these flags are in the default set of USE flags, which make.conf inherits from and adds on to.

Xenon2050 wrote:Also I was wondering what -* means?

-* means to strip off all the default USE flags and use only the USE flags defined in make.conf. But the gentoo developers have defined a reasonable set of default USE flags for starters, so it would behoove you to use

Code: Select all

emerge info

to see a list of both the default USE flags and those you have defined in make.conf, BEFORE including USE="-*" in your make.conf.

Xenon2050 · Post by **Xenon2050** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 3:24 pm

Okay, thanks... I'll be researching it more later on today and if I have any questions I'll just post here.

Xenon2050 · Post by **Xenon2050** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 3:47 am

Okay I looked over the use codes and was wondering how this sounds? Please give me some feedback. Again I'm trying to set up a webserver possibly some file server things added on.

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use="-*X adns apache2 ftp gtk gtk2 imap ipv6 mysql myspli msql mssql motif php samba simplexml spl xml2 perl ssl jpeg gif sasl"

Thanks

oh and forgive me if I put something on there twice, its late and its been a long day.

kimchi_sg · Post by **kimchi_sg** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 4:00 am

Xenon2050 wrote:Okay I looked over the use codes and was wondering how this sounds? Please give me some feedback. Again I'm trying to set up a webserver possibly some file server things added on.
Code: Select all
use="-*X adns apache2 ftp gtk gtk2 imap ipv6 mysql myspli msql mssql motif php samba simplexml spl xml2 perl ssl jpeg gif sasl"

Quite reasonable, only if you chuck away the -* flag.

Xenon2050 · Post by **Xenon2050** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 4:01 pm

I didn't realize bootstraping took this long... I'm at 19 hours and counting... Sheesh...

zbindere · Post by **zbindere** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 1:46 pm

why do you use gtk and gtk2 for a webserver?
why X?

Xenon2050 · Post by **Xenon2050** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 2:14 pm

Actually I think I got rid of the gtk and gtk2... And as far as the X I'm just not really sure what it is... I can't always tell exactely what the USE flag is for... I'll just be happy to get the computer running though as I've been running into Grub problems now. Who knows maybe I'll reinstall Gentoo in a few months to optimize it better using all the stuff I've learned from this first install...

zbindere · Post by **zbindere** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 2:23 pm

after the first installation you learned a lot. I did also repeat the installation after my first installation.
the X use flag is for the X window system. imo it is not necessary to have X support for server systems.

Xenon2050 · Post by **Xenon2050** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 8:22 pm

Hmmm, well I wasn't sure what the X flag was for exactely, I thought it had to do with the interface for a server, maybe that was some other X or something...

What would be the recommended kernel for a server with a scsi raid on it? I started using the 2.4 one but I'm having problems with grub (see http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php? ... highlight=) and i read in a differant thread that the 2.6 kernel is better with SCSI and raids... I don't really want to do the install all over again but if it'll actually start it would be worth it.[/list][/url]