[gentoo-dev] Gentoo 1.1a Feedback

[andrew fabbro]

Hi!  I installed Gentoo 1.1a a couple weekends ago.  I thought you might 
appreciate some feedback.  I was very impressed with Gentoo, so don't take 
this as harsh criticism, just feedback towards making it even better:

- I was completely unable to emerge (even emerge rsync) until I changed
the server in make.conf as follows:

#SYNC="rsync://cvs.gentoo.org/gentoo-x86-portage"
SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-x86-portage"

I couldn't find this documented anywhere...I found this solution by
googling.

- It would be nice if bootstrap.sh updated some progress file so you 
could check periodically to see where it was at.  e.g., "done with
gcc stage1, now working on gcc stage2," etc.  That way you could open
another console window and tail the file.

- Some of the dependencies are strange.  Why do I need gpm for vim?  I've
used vim for many years without gpm and this server doesn't even have a 
mouse ;)  Why do I need the blackdown JDK for postgres?  That one I find 
really inexplicable.

- Hooray for setting up su with a wheel group using PAM!  I want to kiss
you.  However, it should be in the docs ;) 

- I disagree with your approach to /etc/shells, /etc/passwd, and /etc/group.
It seems like you pre-create every possible pseudo-user/group and shell
that might ever be needed.  I'm never going to run qmail, and I don't need
a bunch of qmail accounts.  If I did run qmail, I wouldn't need all those
postfix-related accounts ;)  I think an installer should warn the user about
adding a group, or add it automatically (there's a longer debate in there),
but trying to foresee every possible package and adding users really goes
against the "you build it from scratch" philosophy (IMO).

- I will say that I also disagree someone with YASSP - Yet Another Startup
Script Paradigm.  Going SysV instead of Berkeley is definitely the right
way to go for a zillion reasons.  But what was wrong with rc1.d, etc.?  I
don't see the need for the change.  Your system is fine, it's just that I
don't see the need for reinvention.

- The syntax to find which /etc file(s) need to be changed could be rolled
into emerge itself.  i.e., why say "hey there's a file in /etc you need
to change" - why not instead say "hey, there's a file in /etc you need
to change and here let me run the find command for you and here's the 
output..."

- I think the pkglist, etc. commands should be in root's default path.  
/usr/lib is not the most intuitive place to look for them.

- you might want to add a note in the docs that you need to eject the CD
before the final reboot.

- what's with the .keep in all these dirs?  

- I'm not sure all the packages in the base system (when you "emerge system")
are necessary.  Particularly, I have no need of dhcp, sash, or reiserfsprogs.
You might want to add a "it's OK to delete these later if you don't need 
them" section to the doc, otherwise it makes it seem like they are part of
the vital base system.  

- is there a cdrecord package?  I can't find one.

Again, great job overall - I really like gentoo and am enjoying it greatly.

--
Drew Fabbro  | drew@××××××××××××××.com
"It is well to remember that the entire universe, with 
 one trifling exception, is composed of others." 
     -- John Andrew Holmes