Quick Installation Checklist

This article has been created for experienced users who desire a quick, less detailed installation guide. It doubles as a checklist so essential installation steps are not forgotten.

Warning
This article is outdated and will be replaced soon. Until then, the draft can be used temporarily: User:Pietinger/Draft/Quick_Installation_OpenRC_for_an_UEFI_System.

Format drive

Note
If building within a QEMU or using a VirtIO driver, probably have to substitute the drive/partition name sda with vda throughout this article.

BIOS/MBR

Create three partitions. 128MB for /boot, 1024MB for swap, and the rest for /

root #cfdisk /dev/sda

Format the partitions:

root #

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1

root #

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3

root #

mkswap /dev/sda2 && swapon /dev/sda2

BIOS/GPT

Create four partitions. 128MB for /boot, 2MB for BIOS Boot, 1024MB swap and the rest goes to /

root #gdisk /dev/sda

Create GPT partition table:
Command: o ↵
This option deletes all partitions and creates a new protective MBR.
Proceed? (Y/N): y ↵

Create Partition 1 (/boot):
Command: n ↵
Partition Number: 1 ↵
First sector: ↵
Last sector: +128M ↵
Hex Code: ↵

Create Partition 2 (BIOS boot):
Command: n ↵
Partition Number: 2 ↵
First sector: ↵
Last sector: +2M ↵
Hex Code: EF02 ↵

Create Partition 3 (swap):
Command: n ↵
Partition Number: 3 ↵
First sector: ↵
Last sector: +1024MB ↵
Hex Code: 8200 ↵

Create Partition 4 (/):
Command: n ↵
Partition Number: 4 ↵
First sector: ↵
Last sector: ↵ (for rest of disk)
Hex Code: ↵

Write Partition Table To Disk:
Command: w ↵
Do you want to proceed? (Y/N): Y ↵

Format the partitions:

root #

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1

root #

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda4

root #

mkswap /dev/sda3 && swapon /dev/sda3

UEFI/GPT

Create four partitions. 128MB for /boot, 128MB for UEFI ESP, 1024MB swap and the rest goes to /

root #gdisk /dev/sda

Create GPT partition table:
Command: o ↵
This option deletes all partitions and creates a new protective MBR.
Proceed? (Y/N): y ↵

Create Partition 1 (/boot):
Command: n ↵
Partition Number: 1 ↵
First sector: ↵
Last sector: +128M ↵
Hex Code: ↵

Create Partition 2 (UEFI ESP):
Command: n ↵
Partition Number: 2 ↵
First sector: ↵
Last sector: +128M ↵
Hex Code: EF00 ↵

Create Partition 3 (swap):
Command: n ↵
Partition Number: 3 ↵
First sector: ↵
Last sector: +1024MB ↵
Hex Code: 8200 ↵

Create Partition 4 (/):
Command: n ↵
Partition Number: 4 ↵
First sector: ↵
Last sector: ↵ (for rest of disk)
Hex Code: ↵

Write Partition Table To Disk:
Command: w ↵
Do you want to proceed? (Y/N): Y ↵

Format the partitions:

root #

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1

root #

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda4

root #

mkswap /dev/sda3 && swapon /dev/sda3

root #

mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sda2

Mount partitions

BIOS/MBR

root #

mkdir -p /mnt/gentoo

root #

mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/gentoo

root #

mkdir /mnt/gentoo/boot

root #

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/gentoo/boot

BIOS/GPT

root #

mkdir -p /mnt/gentoo

root #

mount /dev/sda4 /mnt/gentoo

root #

mkdir /mnt/gentoo/boot

root #

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/gentoo/boot

UEFI/GPT

root #

mkdir -p /mnt/gentoo

root #

mount /dev/sda4 /mnt/gentoo

root #

mkdir /mnt/gentoo/boot

root #

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/gentoo/boot

root #

mkdir /mnt/gentoo/boot/efi

root #

mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/gentoo/boot/efi

Stage 3

Find nearest mirror from this list.

Navigate to the /mnt/gentoo directory:

root #cd /mnt/gentoo

Download the stage 3. Be sure to replace the keyword (amd64 and date stamp in the example below) with the correct architecture and date:

root #

wget https://distfiles.gentoo.org/releases/amd64/autobuilds/current-stage3-amd64-openrc/stage3-amd64-openrc-20220320T170531Z.tar.xz

Unpack the stage 3 file:

root #tar xpf stage3*

(or with xattrs):

root #tar --xattrs-include='*.*' --numeric-owner -xpf stage3*

Chroot

Chroot into the extracted stage3:

root #

cd /mnt/gentoo

root #mount --types proc /proc /mnt/gentoo/proc

root #mount --rbind /sys /mnt/gentoo/sys

root #mount --make-rslave /mnt/gentoo/sys

root #

mount --rbind /dev /mnt/gentoo/dev

root #

mount --make-rslave /mnt/gentoo/dev

root #

mount --bind /run /mnt/gentoo/run

root #

mount --make-slave /mnt/gentoo/run

root #

cp /etc/resolv.conf etc && chroot . /bin/bash

root #source /etc/profile

or if using Gentoo installation media:

root #cd /mnt/gentoo && cp /etc/resolv.conf etc && arch-chroot .

Portage

Note
Don't forget to edit the make.conf file and configure ebuild repository.

Sync the Gentoo repository and update the @world set:

root #emerge-webrsync

root #emerge -avuDN @world

User accounts

Change the root password:

root #passwd

Create user(s):

root #

useradd -g users -G wheel,portage,audio,video,usb,cdrom -m username

root #passwd username

Note
Spaces are not allowed between groups.

Configure system

Install vi (optional)

Note
vi installation is optional, you can use nano as it is a default editor in stage3.

root #emerge -vq vim

Editing the fstab file

Configure /etc/fstab to match the actual partitioning performed in the step above:

FILE /etc/fstab

/dev/sda1		/boot		vfat		noauto,noatime	1 2
/dev/sda3		/		ext4		noatime		0 1
/dev/sda2		none		swap		sw		0 0
/dev/cdrom		/mnt/cdrom	auto		noauto,ro	0 0

Locale

Set system locale:

FILE /etc/env.d/02localeExample locale configuration

LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="C"

Add the locale to /etc/locale.gen:

FILE /etc/locale.genExample locale configuration

en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8
C.UTF8 UTF-8

then generate the locale:

root #locale-gen

Hostname

Edit /etc/conf.d/hostname

FILE /etc/conf.d/hostnameExample Hostname configuration

HOSTNAME="pc"

Timezone

Set the appropriate timezone:

root #ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Helsinki /etc/localtime

Kernel

Emerge

The sys-kernel/gentoo-sources package is the vanilla kernel with the Gentoo patchset applied. Choose between kernel sources. The sys-kernel/linux-firmware package contains binary blobs needed for some hardware (WLAN cards).

If sys-kernel/gentoo-sources has been selected:

root #

echo "sys-kernel/linux-firmware @BINARY-REDISTRIBUTABLE" | tee -a /etc/portage/package.license

root #

emerge -av sys-kernel/gentoo-sources sys-kernel/linux-firmware sys-kernel/installkernel

root #

ln -s /usr/src/linux* /usr/src/linux

root #

cd /usr/src/linux

Configure

Manual

Install sys-apps/pciutils

root #emerge -av pciutils

Discover which modules are required for the system's hardware:

root #lspci -nnk

Shorter version:

root #lspci -nnk | grep "Kernel driver in use:"

Configure kernel by enabling each necessary module in the menuconfig interface. Search for specific module names by pressing / in menuconfig. Navigate to the associated feature by pressing the corresponding number listed on the left of the search results.

root #make menuconfig

Once finished build kernel and modules:

root #make -j2

Automatic

If things are working nicely in the current install environment, it is possible to use localyesconfig to select all modules currently loaded by the LiveCD:

root #make localyesconfig

Build the kernel and modules:

root #make -j2

Install

Install the kernel and modules:

root #

make modules_install

root #

make install

Alternative: Using a distribution kernel

If manually installing the kernel looks too hard. try distribution kernels.

Distribution kernels are ebuilds that automate the process of unpacking, configuring, compiling, installing the kernel.

For systemd-boot:

root #emerge --ask sys-kernel/installkernel-systemd

For GRUB, LILO, etc:

root #emerge --ask sys-kernel/installkernel-gentoo

Install

To build the kernel from source:

root #emerge --ask sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel

To install precompiled kernel images rather than compiling the kernel:

root #emerge --ask sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-bin

Bootloader

Specify the correct setting for the system's firmware. BIOS/MBR is pc, 64-bit UEFI is efi-64, 32-bit UEFI is efi-32:

Note
32-bit UEFI is rare to find on PCs. Mostly older Apple hardware use this. It has nothing to do with the Gentoo architecture chosen.

if you decide to use systemd-boot install sys-boot/systemd-boot

Emerge GRUB:

root #echo 'GRUB_PLATFORMS="efi-64"' >> /etc/portage/make.conf

root #emerge --ask sys-boot/grub

Assuming the system has BIOS firmware:

root #grub-install /dev/sda

Supposing the system has UEFI firmware and the EFI partition is mounted in the /boot/efi directory:

root #grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi

Use the grub-mkconfig command to generate the configuration file:

root #grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Found vmlinuz-3.14.4-gentoo

Network

For ethernet install dhcpcd:

root #emerge --ask net-misc/dhcpcd

To start dhcpcd at boot:

root #rc-update add dhcpcd default

root #rc-service dhcpcd start

For wireless networks install wpa_supplicant and iw:

root #emerge --ask sys-apps/iproute2 net-wireless/wpa_supplicant net-wireless/iw net-wireless/wireless-tools

Clean up

Exit chroot, unmount partitions, and reboot:

root #

exit

root #umount -R /mnt/gentoo

root #reboot

Quick Installation Checklist

Contents

Format drive

BIOS/MBR

BIOS/GPT

UEFI/GPT

Mount partitions

BIOS/MBR

BIOS/GPT

UEFI/GPT

Stage 3

Chroot

Portage

User accounts

Configure system

Install vi (optional)

Editing the fstab file

Locale

Hostname

Timezone

Kernel

Emerge

Configure

Manual

Automatic

Install

Alternative: Using a distribution kernel

Install

Bootloader

Network

Clean up

See also