Mark,

 > However I note that I cannot run updatedb for slocate without
 > also getting a message about /etc/mtab not existing. Should mtab exist
 > withing the chroot?

For certain things, it seems to be needed --- the amd64 handbook includes a
way to get it among the grub instructions.

By the way, if I recall correctly, you once mentioned you had an ubuntu on
that machine with grub working --- I would just reuse that grub for booting
gentoo. (I have done this before on amd64, but not on any Mac.)


Wolfram