What is your favorite Gentoo installation method?

[Dlareh]

cfdisk /dev/hda && mkfs.xfs /dev/hda1 && mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/gentoo/ && chroot /mnt/gentoo/ && env-update && . /etc/profile && emerge sync && cd /usr/portage && scripts/bootstrap.sh && emerge system && emerge vim && vi /etc/fstab && emerge gentoo-dev-sources && cd /usr/src/linux && make menuconfig && make install modules_install && emerge gnome mozilla-firefox openoffice && emerge grub && cp /boot/grub/grub.conf.sample /boot/grub/grub.conf && vi /boot/grub/grub.conf && grub && init 6

That's the first one. There are two more : P

There is also a typo in the command that would cause the install to fail.

A typo on IRC? You have GOT to be KIDDING ME!

But as long as we're overanalyzing a joke, gentoo-dev-sources was moved to gentoo-sources some time ago.

[EzInKy]

Everyone should do a stage 1 using the handbook for their first install because the experience gained by new users in learning how the system comes together when built from the ground up, and how to troubleshoot when it doesn't, far outweighs the benefits of just getting them up and running. I see it as a give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and eats for lifetime type of thing.

[Dlareh]

Everyone should do a stage 1 using the handbook for their first install because the experience gained by new users in learning how the system comes together when built from the ground up, and how to troubleshoot when it doesn't, far outweighs the benefits of just getting them up and running. I see it as a give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and eats for lifetime type of thing.

What part of typing

Code: Select all

/usr/portage/scripts/bootstrap.sh

And emerge -e system (when it wouldn't otherwise be needed) is "learning to fish" ?

The only educational experience here would be dealing with all the errors that are liable to crop up, which is just plain wrong.

[EzInKy]

Everyone should do a stage 1 using the handbook for their first install because the experience gained by new users in learning how the system comes together when built from the ground up, and how to troubleshoot when it doesn't, far outweighs the benefits of just getting them up and running. I see it as a give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and eats for lifetime type of thing.

What part of typing

Code: Select all

/usr/portage/scripts/bootstrap.sh

And emerge -e system (when it wouldn't otherwise be needed) is "learning to fish" ?

The only educational experience here would be dealing with all the errors that are liable to crop up, which is just plain wrong.

Well it would be just plain wrong for errors to be anything but rare when building the toolchain for a source based distro, don't you think? What it teaches is the process, step-by-step, of how all the various pieces that comprise Gentoo fit together to build their OS.

[torchZ06]

bob p's 1 on 3: the best!

[Dlareh]

Well it would be just plain wrong for errors to be anything but rare when building the toolchain for a source based distro, don't you think?

Please sort out the double negatives in your question.

What it teaches is the process, step-by-step, of how all the various pieces that comprise Gentoo fit together to build their OS.

If that was the goal, the Gentoo Handbook could do a far better job in prose and save everyone a lot of trouble. But the goal is to get a working system (whether optimalized or not, stage3 does both much better).

[EzInKy]

If that was the goal, the Gentoo Handbook could do a far better job in prose and save everyone a lot of trouble. But the goal is to get a working system (whether optimalized or not, stage3 does both much better).

What is wrong with the prose? I found it just as easy to follow last week when I helped a friend do their first stage 1 install as it was three years ago when I did mine. My goal was not just to get her system up and running, but also to make sure she understood how it got up and running.

[Sir No]

Ooops, something nasty happened on my last stage1 install. Follow to [topic=385439]this topic[/topic] for in-depth analysis.

/me goes to run in circles and to think if stage1-2005.1 is worth bothering at all.

[Dlareh]

Ooops, something nasty happened on my last stage1 install. Follow to [topic=385439]this topic[/topic] for in-depth analysis.

/me goes to run in circles and to think if stage1-2005.1 is worth bothering at all.

It's not. Bob P's Stage 1/3 guide obsoletes Stage1 in every respect except changing CHOST.

[Dlareh]

If that was the goal, the Gentoo Handbook could do a far better job in prose and save everyone a lot of trouble. But the goal is to get a working system (whether optimalized or not, stage3 does both much better).

What is wrong with the prose? I found it just as easy to follow last week when I helped a friend do their first stage 1 install as it was three years ago when I did mine. My goal was not just to get hersystem up and running, but also to make sure she understood how it got up and running.

I did not state whether there was anything wrong with it. I said it could do a much better job than running scripts/bootstrap.sh and emerge -e world ever could at teaching someone "how to get Gentoo up and running."

[Bob P]

where's the Linux From Scratch poll option?

regarding the Stage 1 thing: i know that this topic gets beaten to death, but i think that the most experienced Gentoo users would continue to agree that there's really no need to perform a Stage 1 installation unless a suitable Stage 3 tarball does not exist for your architecture. for some reason a vast number of users view the Stage 1/3 install as being some sort of necessary rite of passage or badge of honor. in reality that's all that it is for most people.

unfortunately, the Gentoo culture seems to place some sort of allure on a Stage 1 installation. i think that this is largely because the official gentoo documentation does not clearly spell out precisely when a Stage 1 install is necessary, and it fails to disclose what a total waste of time it is when it is not. as a result, a great many Gentoo users are misled down the path of performing a Stage 1 install when a Stage 3 install would properly suit their needs. if i had to guess, i'd say that 99% of the Stage 1 installs are preformed by people who are sufficiently inexperienced that they don't realize that a Stage 1 install isn't even necessary, but they do it in the false hope that it will make their system "better" or more "customized for their system" than if they had performed a Stage 3. in reality, the "customized for your system" part of the install comes at the point of building your kernel, not building your toolkit.

with that said, if somebody truly needs to perform a Stage 1 install, i prefer the ali3nx Guide over the GIH.

[Sir No]

where's the Linux From Scratch poll option?

Unfortunaley, polls have a maximum of only 10 options...

unfortunately, the Gentoo culture seems to place some sort of allure on a Stage 1 installation. i think that this is largely because the official gentoo documentation does not clearly spell out precisely when a Stage 1 install is necessary, and it fails to disclose what a total waste of time it is when it is not.

Worse, there was once a part in Handbook saying something about "bragging about stage1 installation"...
But I don't seem to find it anymore (which is Good ).

as a result, a great many Gentoo users are misled down the path of performing a Stage 1 install when a Stage 3 install would properly suit their needs.

Both thumbs up! stage3 is MUCH quicker way of installing Gentoo.
If one uses the kernel from, say, livecd, then it's possible to get the working system in just several hours.
(It depends mostly on how fast you can type )

if i had to guess, i'd say that 99% of the Stage 1 installs are preformed by people who are sufficiently inexperienced that they don't realize that a Stage 1 install isn't even necessary, but they do it in the false hope that it will make their system "better" or more "customized for their system" than if they had performed a Stage 3. in reality, the "customized for your system" part of the install comes at the point of building your kernel, not building your toolkit.

Well, but having the newer gcc (>=3.4.4) + the rest of the toolchain, optimized to the machine it runs on, is definitely worth having. Isn't it?

[ToeiRei]

I prefer my remote install stage-1 bash-script over ssh...

Rei

[xenoscr]

Stage 1...

All good things in life are worth waiting for.

XeNoSCR

[Adwin]

I prefer booting from my own livecd and chrooting -> bootstrap --> my own install than any other method.
I also no longer count the number of install I've done for people over high bandwidth / SSH / chroot.

[corn]

dd

[Comfortably_Numb]

My install procedure is thus:

1) Do stage 3 by handbook up until kernel compilation time.
2) Replace /etc/make.conf with one that has more optimisations than default stage 3 provides and that has the USE flags I like (NTPL and so on).
3) Recompile the entire base with: emerge --update --deep --newuse world
4) Continue the stage 3 install as set out in the handbook.

This method avoids some of the tricky pitfalls that can happen during stage 1 install (as the base has already successfully been set up) while allowing me to customise the base system early, in terms of optimisations and such.

[EzInKy]

Well, but having the newer gcc (>=3.4.4) + the rest of the toolchain, optimized to the machine it runs on, is definitely worth having. Isn't it?

It is if testing new software is your "thing". I still believe Gentoo has the potential to be the greatest software development/testing/teaching platform in the open source world despite the constant push for Mandriva like installs and automatic configurations. I don't know, maybe I'm just getting old, but it seems to me that ignorance is the biggest obstacle that new users face when it comes to computers and discouraging them from learning what goes on behind the curtains does nothing to overcome that hurdle.

[Sir No]

I don't know, maybe I'm just getting old, but it seems to me that ignorance is the biggest obstacle that new users face when it comes to computers and discouraging them from learning what goes on behind the curtains does nothing to overcome that hurdle.

I think you are right. I would just add another reasons: lack of time, unwillingness to learn anything, and reluctance to read anything what's on the screen or in the manual. And I don't think you're getting older. Your argument is quite strong to me.

OTOH, maybe I'm getting older too?

[Devrethman]

stage1 with nptl, it may be totally unnessecary, but so far portage hasn't come up with anything I use that my computer can't do overnight.

[vputz]

Knoppix for the tools needed to enumerate hardware and decide what modules I'll need... plus a useful system while it does a lot of its stage1 magic!



-->VPutz

[playahater]

i have installed gentoo only once .. succesfully .. ) .. using Stage 3 method ..
but my next and the last install is gonna using stage 1 ..
i haven`t seen jackass method though ..

[Sadako]

First time was "by the book" stage 1, which was definitely a great learning experience, since then I've done a bunch of installs, usually following the developers' nptl guide fairly closely.

[i92guboj]

Fresh installs from stage1, following the devs nptl guide. But I do it very rarelly, my preferred method is to make a system backup each month. If something goes really wrong I restore the backup and thats it. Anyway, I usually dont have problems, and can keep the system clean w/o any problem, so I very rarelly need to reinstall from backup either.

[Varean]

Stage 3 handbook. I just want something easy.