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Frank Peters <frank.peters@×××××××.net> posted |
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20090424090615.26193234.frank.peters@×××××××.net, excerpted below, on |
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Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:06:15 -0400: |
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|
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> I just switched to Gentoo from another distribution and my only regret |
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> is that I did not make the switch much earlier. Gentoo is a fantastic |
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> way of managing Linux and I am grateful to all those who have made it |
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> possible. |
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|
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Hi and welcome! =:^) You seem to have about the same feelings I did |
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when I discovered Gentoo. I had found my distribution home! =:^) |
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|
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> As I mentioned, this warning is merely an annoyance, but it does slow |
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> down the emerge process for several seconds as the program pauses to |
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> give sufficient time for the warning message to be read. If a large |
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> number of packages is being emerged, this can add up to a lot of time. |
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|
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I see others addressed the primary concern of your post and it's now |
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resolved. However, you may find this useful as well. |
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|
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Here's a couple make.conf settings I've found useful, well, one I've |
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found reason to change, and a couple similar ones I've not. |
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|
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# Delay b4 cleaning out old packages |
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# I'm actually not sure this one's used anymore, |
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# but if there's an unwanted delay between merge of an update |
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# and clean of the old one, tweak this. |
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#Default CLEAN_DELAY="5" |
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CLEAN_DELAY="2" |
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|
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# Do we want those user notification pauses and beeps? |
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# EPAUSE_IGNORE="true" |
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# EBEEP_IGNORE="true" |
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|
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And, while we're at it, here's a couple hints that eased my way into |
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Gentoo. |
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|
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First and most important, Gentoo has built a reputation for good user |
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documentation. Don't let it go to waste! In particular, it's a shame |
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how many users read the Gentoo Handbook, Part 1, Installation, and then |
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forget the other parts. There's some VERY useful information in those |
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other parts, Part 2, Working with Gentoo, Part 3, Working with Portage, |
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and Part 4, Gentoo Network Configuration. |
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|
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In addition to that, I'd suggest looking over and bookmarking the Gentoo |
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Documentation list as found here: |
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|
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http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/list.xml |
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|
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As you can see, there's step-by-step instructions for quite a number of |
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setup tasks one may wish to do on Gentoo, plus a number of other useful |
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documents. Any time you're considering a major upgrade like the recent |
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xorg 1.5 stabilization or a printer change, or installation and setup of |
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a new feature like RAID, LVM or Apache, it's worth checking here to see |
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if there's some Gentoo specific documentation in addition to the generic |
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package documentation that may be available. |
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|
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Second, I'll mention what has become my favorite under-appreciated |
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portage feature, FEATURES=buildpkg. This creates binpkgs (in /usr/ |
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portage/package by default, see the make.conf and portage manpages for |
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details on changing this and other settings) of everything you emerge. |
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Total additional space required, 3-4 gigs (you can do it in 2 gigs but |
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it's tight). But after you've accumulated binpkgs of everything on your |
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system, if you upgrade something and it doesn't work, no sweat, just |
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emerge --pkgonly the old working version. Since it's a binpkg it |
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installs real fast without having to recompile it, yet it's the same |
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customized package you built when you first installed it, not some |
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prebuilt compromise package like you'd get on a binary distribution. |
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|
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binpkgs are also quite useful for other things. Since it's a simple |
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tar.bz2 with a bit of extra metadata glued on the end, you can use any |
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standard archiver to open it and examine or extract individual files if |
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necessary. Screw up a config file you were editing? No problem, just |
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extract the original out of the binpkg tarball! Have a problem with a |
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package and wonder what files changed between two different versions? No |
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problem! You have them both tarballed up as binpkgs and can browse the |
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tarballs comparing them! |
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|
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What do you do if you get a broken portage, or python since portage |
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requires it, or gcc so you can't compile anything? Well, if portage |
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itself is still working (so for the gcc problem), you can simply emerge a |
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previous known working version from the binpkg. If portage is NOT |
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working, because the binpkg is basically a tarball, you can copy |
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make.conf somewhere it won't get overwritten, and extract the portage (or |
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python) tarball directly over the root filesystem, replacing the broken |
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version! Then copy back your make.conf that the extraction overwrote and |
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you're back in business! Of course this bypasses portage so now its |
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database is out of sync as it still thinks the other version is |
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installed, but that's easy enough to fix. Once it's working again, just |
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remerge the working version you emergency-untarred to the live filesystem |
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over itself, thus updating the database so it again knows what's actually |
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installed. |
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|
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The handbook does mention FEATURES=buildpkg, but it doesn't really |
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describe how helpful it can be having those binpkgs around. But, this is |
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simply a hint. If you don't want to do it, it's your system, don't. |
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|
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Those two hints should get you well on your way. In particular, reading |
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those oft-ignored parts of the handbook will help you understand a lot |
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more about how Gentoo works and why it's done that way than just doing |
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the install, tremendously helping as you transition from installation to |
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detail configuration and ongoing Gentoo system administration. I know I |
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avoided many of the problems others had as they started with Gentoo, |
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simply because I read the instructions. =:^) |
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|
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Three, don't be afraid of the lists and/or forums, but it seems you've |
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got that one covered! =:^) |
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|
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-- |
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Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs. |
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"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master -- |
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and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman |