Re: [gentoo-user] Gentoo-sources: can't make menuconfig with user? User can't access ncurses?

[Mick]

On Tuesday 03 Jan 2012 01:13:17 Gregory Shearman wrote:
> In linux.gentoo.user, you wrote:
> > On Mon, 2 Jan 2012 20:58:18 -0200
> >
> > Claudio Roberto França Pereira <spideybr@×××××.com> wrote:
> >> I'm not currently at my Gentoo box, sorry for this, but if I don't
> >> post this now I'll probably forget to post it at all.
> >> Anyways, last time I tried upgrading my kernel, I copied my .config
> >> and ran make menuconfig as my main user, but it whined about missing
> >> ncurses libraries or something. After su'ing, everything went better
> >> than expected.
> >> Was that normal behavior? I remember configuring my kernel as user
> >> before. Even compiling it as user.
> >
> > How did you install the kernel sources?
> >
> > If you downloaded them as a normal user you should be able to make
> > menuconfig; make; sudo make install just fine.
> >
> > If portage installed the sources, then you should
> > configure/compile/install as root. The sources are owned by portage
> > (IIRC) and you can't su to that user, leaving only root. Or, try adding
> > yourself to the portage group. Personally I think that's too much
> > effort for zero gain so I always do it as root.
>
> I use a separate output directory that is under control of the user.
> What I do as an ordinary user:
>
> mkdir <kerneloutputdir>
>
> zcat /proc/config.gz > <kerneloutputdir>/.config
>
> # assuming you have this option set in your kernel ie the current kernel
> # config saved in /proc/config.gz
>
> cd /usr/src/linux
>
> # assuming that /usr/src/linux is a soft link to your new kernel
> # directory.
>
> make O=<kerneloutputdir> oldconfig
>
> # The "O=" makes sure that any kernel output goes to the directory under
> # the permissions and control of the kernel builder user rather than in
> # the kernel directory under root permissions.
>
> # If you want to make changes to the new kernel then:
>
> make O=<kerneleoutputdir> menuconfig
>
> You can then proceed with building kernel and modules. Yes, I know that
> "make" without a command will automatically build both kernel image and
> modules but I prefer to do things explicitly.
>
> make O=<kerneleoutputdir> bzImage
> make O=<kerneleoutputdir> modules
>
> You can then install the new kernel and modules as root:
>
> make O=<kerneleoutputdir> modules_install
> make O=<kerneleoutputdir> install
>
> You need to set the following environment variable:
>
> KBUILD_OUTPUT=<kerneloutputdir>
>
> This variable ensures that any emerged app can find the kernel output if
> necessary. I've created a script in /etc/profile.d that automatically
> keeps this environment variable up to date. Oh, remember to unset this
> variable if you do *anything* requiring a busybox build (eg genkernel).
>
> An enjoyable side-effect of this system is that when you remove an
> obselete kernel from your system using "emerge -C <oldkernelversion>",
> everything will be removed because there are no changes, no files added
> to those portage added kernel directory.
>
> The kernel builder user does nothing but build new kernels. This user's
> home directory is a hierarchy containing current kernel builds.
>
> I've been using this system for years now, on all my gentoo systems. It
> is second nature. Of course, the .bash_history of the kernel builder
> user is *very* useful for quickly doing all this from the command line.
>
> I used to have a script to automate all this, but it is just as easy to
> do from the command line.

What is the benefit of this approach vis a vis su to root first as the gentoo 
handbook suggests?
-- 
Regards,
Mick