gentoo install x86 btrfs

this as a quick start guide to the much longer and more comprehensive gentoo handbook. but please understand what i have done, and not blindly copy. you should definitely read the gentoo install handbook a few times before even attempting an install.

git Gentoo Portage repos on GitHub

git me! The gentoo repos are on github², and I've just discovered them.. mysteriously hidden in the World Wide Web ;)

There is a post on the gentoo forums from 2015, re git/github saying:

Although some developers wrongly still recommend plain rsync-update method, you should never do that, since it is fundamentally insecure (emerge-webrsync is signed by a machine key, but still better). 

You should instead start to sync via git (best do that from github, unless you want to break our infra server).

gentoo second install x86 btrfs debian

Now that my Gentoo Phase 2 has been put on hold for the near future, I have to satisfy this itch to install gentoo on my main laptop. Having it on my primary rig, would allow me to use it more often than pulling out my backup system.

My blind first attempt, at a gentoo install, gave me a lot of confidence in the gentoo community. This second attempt substantially lessens the time/aggro I spent previously installing gentoo.

gentoo portage

ref: http://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/portage

Gentoo is Portage. Portage is Gentoo.

Getting portage settings right is vitally important. It's not the end of the world, if you don't. But you sure will expend a lot of your time staring at the matrix flowing past, as you compile everything yet again one more time..

debian to gentoo

as debian builds more & more complexity/layers obscuring internals from users, i get more & more disillusioned by the current crop of debian decision-makers. jessie, the current debian stable seems no longer stable, and an unstable init at it's core.

wheezy is/was the last stable version gone oldstable now. oldstable is expected to be even more stable than stable. but recent updates have littered wheezy with systemd and ubuntu garbage including upstart. even oldstable has had more than a few days downtime recently, due to buggy updates. sad debian :(

gentoo first attempt

i finally decided to jump in, and created another btrfs partition for gentoo with two subvolumes. with btrfs i don't have anything on the root subvolume.

i really didn't expect an install to drag on for so long. i don't like to give up part-way, unless i feel it is a lost investment.. and i was losing it! i would have, but for some kindly folks on the gentoo forum. the gentoo forum is one of the most responsive and helpful forums i have been in.

gentoo kernel compile

I seem to be doing this so often that I need a ready reference. So here's a post :)

gentoo emerge in tmpfs

One of my gentoo pain points has been the extremely (long and) resource intensive emerge for large packages. However, it is expected and many have come up with their own tricks to make this more efficient.

For me, this has been a gradual step-by-step approach, as I encountered these issues and discovered more about Gentoo.

I stated out with my portage configured as default -- compiling everything on the same disk/filesystem mount on my rotating (not ssd) disk. Any emerge affected everything else, which was too invasive to ignore.

I want emerge to run gently in the background, not affecting any foreground tasks.

Trying to be All Things to All People

You can't please all the people all the time.

If so, what are the implications, particularly in an open-source world? Trying to please everyone might be a noble ambition. But is that realistic enough and practically achievable? If yes, then all is well! If not, then what..?

Cancer in our Communities

Communities can contain cancer cells too!

Just like the cancer cells in human bodies, there can be individuals/cabals cancerous to communities.. online and offline. Some say that cancerous cells are present in all bodies, but remain mutant and repressed in healthy bodies. When the body loses control over cancerous cells, they can take down the entire body, even to it's death. This similarity extends to communities too.

Gentoo Portage emerge TMPDIR extending zram btrfs volumes

You can probably see I was heading this way. This post follows a series, and you should read those posts again if you haven't done so recently. This blog post follows my journey through btrfs to gentoo to portage to tmpfs to zram back to btrfs again to finish a circle.

runit openrc gentoo

I decided to have another go at runit, this time on my gentoo.

I had been thinking about this, since I noticed this on

gentoo phase 2

My first attempt boosted confidence in gentoo (and it's community) beyond expectation. So much that the debian to gentoo transition continues to gather pace.

In all my systems, I have always replaced the full fledged (bloatware?) tools with minimal busybox, wherever I could. Busybox is stable, and fulfils all my requirements rather nicely. This led me to voidlinux which has that same ethos in it's core. It is a great booster that gentoo could satisfy me on this count too.

gentoo low-power binary-package server

I want to setup a low-power device like the Pi perhaps, to compile and distribute gentoo packages to other computers on the local network at home. Almost all devices are mobile/laptop devices, much more powerful than the Pi, but only online occasionally.

Gentoo Chat: noob coming over

Just like life, seemingly unimportant things that we do, later on prove to be make or break incidents.

My first post in Gentoo Forums, while installing for the first time. I didn't expect much when I posted this, but later proved to be a life-saver to my Gentoo life. If not for these initial posts and these lovely folks, I probably might not have continued on with Gentoo.

gentoo intel-ucode microcode

gentoo provides a package for intel microcode updates to safely update cpu firmwares. this is how i adapted the gentoo way.

dash system & login shell

dash is more efficient than bash in all respects, except perhaps for interactive use. and i always replace system default, root, and login shells to dash.

Installing Gentoo: multiple gentoo installs & maintenance

so my question is about the most efficient way to gentoo all these above computers, perhaps from one of my computers, and (sync??) transfer update all the others. i think i will probably use the same profile & flags on all computers, to keep it simpler.

busybox .config in gentoo

busybox can be configured, just like the kernel :)

Installing Gentoo: too much diskspace used

how can i reduce the clutter? my main aim in moving to gentoo was to have and maintain a stable, lean & clean system.