Re: [gentoo-amd64] Please suggest settings and flags in /etc/make.conf?

[Mark Knecht]

On Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 7:05 PM, Lie Ryan <lie.1296@×××××.com> wrote:
> On 01/22/10 11:44, Mark Knecht wrote:
>> I'm just installing Gentoo on my first new machine in years. Can
>> anyone suggest which of the CPU flags below might best be added to
>> make.conf? The machine will be a standard desktop running rt-sources
>> and stable Gentoo.
>>
>> This processor is 2 physical cores with hyperthreading enabled in each core.
>>
>> Currently make.conf has only the standard stuff other than me adding
>> the MAKEOPTS line:
>>
>> # These settings were set by the catalyst build script that automatically
>> # built this stage.
>> # Please consult /usr/share/portage/config/make.conf.example for a more
>> # detailed example.
>>q CFLAGS="-O2 -pipe"
>> CXXFLAGS="-O2 -pipe"
>
> You might want to add "-march=" flag to CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS. See
> http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Safe_Cflags
>
>> # WARNING: Changing your CHOST is not something that should be done lightly.
>> # Please consult http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/change-chost.xml before changing.
>> CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"
>
> As the warning said, there is nearly no good reason to change CHOST.
>
>> # These are the USE flags that were used in addition to what is provided by the
>> # profile used for building.
>> USE="mmx sse sse2"
>
> No one size fits all, only you can decide the best USE flags combination
> for your use. You probably wouldn't know the USE flags to use until you
> emerged some programs. Before emerging, look at the USE flags and decide
> whether you will need the feature activated by the flag, and whether you
> want to activate the USE flags globally (add here) or locally for the
> specific package (in /etc/portage/package.use).
>
> You may want to look at /usr/portage/profiles/use.desc
>
>> MAKEOPTS="-j5"
>
>
>
> You might want to add your SYNC and GENTOO_MIRRORS options. Use the
> mirrorselect program to choose the server to use.
>
> If you're going to use GUI with X, you might want to add VIDEO_CARDS and
> INPUT_DEVICES variable. Add the graphic and input driver you're using there.
>
> Most emerges takes a long time; you most likely want to make portage a
> low priority process so they does not disturb your daily work. Use
> PORTAGE_NICENESS and PORTAGE_IONICE_COMMAND variable.
>
> The FEATURES variable can set some useful optional portage features.
> Look at "man make.conf" for valid options. Some options can speed up
> compiling, others may increase security. Some of the most useful FEATURES:
> - ccache: you'll need to emerge dev-utils/ccache and tune the CCACHE_SIZE
> - parallel-fetch: the name describes best
> - test: runs "make check" for packages that have them and fail the
> install when the test don't pass. Be aware that quite a lot of package
> is shipped with failed tests. You may want to add "--keep-going" when
> emerging a large number of packages.
> - userfetch, usersandbox, usersync: these may add a little bit of security.
>
> See "man make.conf" for more options
>

Thanks Lie - I've run Gentoo for a long time and understand the
process, but I'm not a programmer and always feel that the CPU
oriented use flags are somewhat obscure.

Anyway, right now that's not my problem. This must be my 20th install
following the install guide but this time on this machine I am unable
to boot anything. Once again grub has bit me and it's acting like it's
blown away even windows, but I'm also not getting my grub.conf menu so
I don't know what's going on.

10 years and no one in the group has managed to make a fool proof
install. Necessary for us fools...

I'll try again tomorrow.

cheers,
Mark