A more robust installation method

[yairgo]

can i just say this thread is leaving me thoroughly confused

[SAngeli]

Hi guys,

Please be patience with my questions because I am not so experienced but start slowly understanding bits of Gentoo install.

I am writing my own notes on the complete procedure for installing Gentoo on a PC. This will allow me to have a guide and not loose time in reading all the times gentoo handbook. The source of info is gentoo handbook plus other tips (like yours) but only after having checked for validity based on my install path (gentoo handbook).

I always like to start from scratch (when have the opportunity) and bootstrap from Stage 1.
I learned that emerge sync before chrooting and emerge --sync after chrooting, would take the same amount of time, at least for me. Therefore, I decided to just emerge sync once after chrooting and before bootstrap.
I also learned that after bootstrap I must emerge libperl first and then emerge system. At this point, the system is built for the first time. Correct?

Now, I wish to understand clearly what roles emerge -e plays.
This is what man says about emerge -e:

Code: Select all

--emptytree (-e)
              Reinstalls all world packages and their dependencies to the current USE specifications
              while differing from the installed set of packages as little as possible.  You  should
              run with --pretend first to make sure the result is what you expect.

My starting point is: bootstrap (Stage 1) done and emerge system done.
Consequently, throughout my install process I have two paths: either have or will modify my make.conf (USE Flags) or leave it unchanged
Let's say that after bootstrap and emerge system are done and continue with my install process leaving USE flags unchanged do I have to still be concerned with emerge -e system?
If, istead, I make changes to make.conf in this precise stage of install do I have to take into account emerge --depclean and then emerge -e. Is this correct too?
If so, I wish to ask:
Part 1: To update the system to current USE specs, I learned these are the steps:
- emerge --update --deep --newuse world
- emerge --depclean
- revdep-rebuild
(I quite honestly do not understand the 3 steps very well, but I try to say:)
If I did only bootstrap, build the system and made changes to make.conf, what would be among these three commands the correct ones to run in sequence (considering that I do not have a world yet -I guess)?
Part 2: After part 1 di done would it be the case for emerge -e system?

What I aim to with my questions is to gain a feeling for what to do, when USE flags are changes, based on what stage of my install I am. For sure, bootstrap and system status is different than being already with KDE installed. So, this is why I wish to gain confidence with this important part of install.

Thank you for your explanations.
Spiro

[Phk]

can i just say this thread is leaving me thoroughly confused

(lol! It's normal if not used to this! )