Gentoo Archives: gentoo-desktop

From: Lindsay Haisley <fmouse-gentoo@×××.com>
To: gentoo-desktop@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-desktop] System problems
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2011 16:37:14
Message-Id: 1300811747.1766.119.camel@ubuntu
In Reply to: Re: [gentoo-desktop] System problems by eamjr56@gmail.com
1 Thanks, eamjr56!
2
3 On Tue, 2011-03-22 at 07:43 +0000, eamjr56@×××××.com wrote:
4 > Now that you explained more fully the situation and why and what led
5 > to your problems I understand some of your frustrations. Sometimes
6 > wanting to fix one thing leads to other complex issues. Maybe (being
7 > Gentoo-specific) would be first to build your toolchain
8 > (linux-headers, glibc, binutils,and gcc) to today's versions then a
9 > "emerge -e world" so all of your stuff will be new and
10 > compatable-(your original problem).
11
12 The box is scheduled for replacement, as I've noted. The hardware is
13 old, relatively, and has limitations. Additionally, Gentoo has its
14 limitations as a desktop environment, although it's much easier to
15 maintain on servers. As Linux has to some extent penetrated the
16 marketplace, manufacturers are distributing drivers for things like
17 printers as .deb or .rpm files - no joy for Gentoo users :-( My sweetie
18 bought such a printer a while back, and I can't use it for this reason.
19 Pulling packages apart and installing the contents manually is possible,
20 but not simple, and I have other things to do.
21
22 I'm reluctant to "emerge -e world" on the box because X is seriously out
23 of date, and I've been trying to avoid having to deal with the issue.
24 revdep-rebuild takes days! And it bails if _any_ ebuild fails, so I
25 have to go to the office, figure out the problem, and restart the
26 process. When I get the box so it'll boot properly with a more recent
27 kernel I can at least move in that direction.
28
29
30 > All of this can be done in the background while you keep working.
31 > This is only one option. Feel free to use it or not. Sometimes I cuss
32 > the Gentoo devs for things they do that screws up my installs too.
33
34 Gentoo is substantially more complex as a distribution than are others.
35 Subtle screw-ups in ebuilds are more than just an annoyance on my
36 servers, where things break in the background after an emerge and I
37 don't find out until one or more customers calls me and says "**** isn't
38 working!"
39
40 > As to your kernel question as to "default" switches in Gentoo
41 > kernel I really don't think there are. Gen-kernel is one answer, but
42 > it never worked for me, I always had to get dirty with "make
43 > menuconfig".
44
45 I tried genkernel for a while and didn't like it. For one thing, I
46 recall that it installed an initrd, which introduced a level of
47 complexity that I didn't feel was necessary. I use an initrd on our
48 SOHO gateway box since the root filesystem is managed by EVMS, but I had
49 to manually re-write the initrd filesystem at one point pursuant to a
50 glibc upgrade! Too much work.
51
52 I assume that there must some mods to or initial setting of the default
53 kernel switches, somewhere, to avoid things such as enabling CONFIG_IDE
54 in a kernel build where it conflicts with recent releases of udev.
55
56 When I get a few moments to work on it again I'm starting with a new,
57 much more recent kernel and _not_ massaging my .config from a previous
58 kernel for it. I assume the default settings will at very least produce
59 a bootable system and I need only add drivers/modules for my hardware -
60 NIC, sound cards, etc. to get it up and running. I can go in and add
61 stuff later as needed.
62
63 > Hope you figure it out. Cheers
64
65 Thanks, really. I mean it! With a cooler head and a verified back down
66 plan for any changes I may make (plus the few points of light I received
67 on this list in spite of the misunderstandings), I'm 99% sure I can jump
68 in an fix the problem myself. If I post here with it again, I'll have
69 my presentation of the issue MUCH better organized and thought out.
70
71 --
72 Lindsay Haisley |"Windows .....
73 FMP Computer Services | life's too short!"
74 512-259-1190 |
75 http://www.fmp.com | - Brad Johnston

Replies

Subject Author
Re: [gentoo-desktop] System problems Paul Hartman <paul.hartman+gentoo@×××××.com>
Re: [gentoo-desktop] System problems eamjr56@×××××××××.net