[gentoo-amd64] Re: Fwd: [install] emerge gentoo-sources fails

[Duncan]

"Martin Herrman" <martin@×××××××.nl> posted
40bb8d3b0810191143n628adc43n644e0c4e5686bc3d@××××××××××.com, excerpted
below, on  Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:43:20 +0200:

> I want to install gentoo on my brand new quadcore, following the amd64
> handbook install manual. $emerge gentoo-sources fails:

I don't know why you're getting binary data in your environment, unless 
it perhaps has to do with unicode or the like.

Since I know bash scripting reasonably well (well enough to debug and 
write my own when necessary), I'd probably modify the ebuild and/or 
eclasses as necessary to trace it down, as I have with various other 
problems with ebuilds and initscripts over the years. (FWIW, taking apart 
initscripts back on Mandrake, in the 8.x era, was how I /learned/ bash.)  
However, that's not likely to work so well if you don't know bash and 
aren't inclined to try to learn it at this point.

However, all that said, you're in luck to some extent, as it's the kernel 
you're having problems with, and it really doesn't matter where or how 
you get your kernel.  Here, I already knew how to configure and build my 
own mainline kernel.org vanilla kernel (having learned in those first few 
weeks after switching to Linux, again, back on Mandrake), so I simply 
stuck whatever kernel the system decided it wanted in 
/etc/portage/profile/package.provided so portage didn't try to install 
it, and did my usual kernel.org kernel download, make oldconfig, build 
and install routine, much as I did back on Mandrake, with only a couple 
changes as appropriate for my then new Gentoo install.

So I'd suggest doing similar.  Download, configure, build and install 
whatever kernel you like, say the mainline Linus kernel.org kernel, stick 
a line in package.provided to tell portage not to worry about the kernel, 
and don't worry about the ebuild failure.  Of course, doing it the first 
time while learning how will take some time, and your first kernel or two 
(or three or five or...) may not boot, and the next set may boot but be 
missing functionality if you were conservative in what you configured or 
you'll be building extra if you were liberal in what you configured, but 
there are good instructions for the basics, you can check to see what's 
loaded in your running (livecd or whatever) kernel and use that as a base 
config, and the second time will be easier, the third time easier than 
that, and before you know it, it'll be old hat.  (Still, I sometimes 
wonder what the new config options do when I update and configure a new 
kernel, but it's fairly safe to say configure all new hardware out once 
you get a kernel configured for your system, and on the general 
functionality, configure it the best you can, and if it doesn't boot, or 
does but is missing something you need, boot back to the old kernel if 
necessary, change that bit of the config, rebuild, and retry.)

Yes, all this a challenge and will take some time, but then you'll be 
left with a system better configured to your specific needs and a better 
understanding of how it works and what to do to fix it when it breaks. 
Gentoo was always targeted at the person who wasn't afraid of a bit of 
learning now and then.  If you're more comfortable with the distribution 
making those types of decisions and shipping prebuilt binaries for you, 
lots of other distributions out there will be a much better fit for you 
than Gentoo.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman