Support

We have a talented community that builds, packages, tests, and documents the Gentoo Linux distribution. The Gentoo community volunteers will usually be happy to help with technical issues encountered when installing or using Gentoo Linux, and both Gentoo developers and experienced users provide support in the various Gentoo fora.

Take a look at the Gentoo website page to see the different venues available for getting assistance, for finding answers in the documentation, and for tracking down preexisting solutions. This article gives additional Article description:: tips on asking for help with Gentoo installation and use.

Please act in the spirit of collaboration and be courteous in the Gentoo fora, and respect the code of conduct to help everyone get along in a professional environment. Supply any requested information, follow the guidance in this article, and hopefully a solution can be found!

Before reaching out for assistance, please check if the issue at hand is not already covered in the documentation. The Handbook, the documentation wiki, and the FAQ are the first places to look. Also consider that a solution may have already been discussed on the forums or mailing lists, or may be found elsewhere on the Internet with a search engine.

When a solution that could be of interest to others is validated, it would really help the community to make an addition to the wiki explaining how it was fixed, for anyone who runs into the same problem! Adding to an article is quite easy, and there is a quick start guide, to get going in minutes! There are troubleshooting sections at the end of many articles, for just this sort of information. At the very least it is just polite to let anyone helping with an issue know what worked and what didn't, at the place where the issue was discussed.

Remember that Gentoo support fora are exclusively for Gentoo Linux matters. For software usage concerns on Gentoo, even for packages installed from the Gentoo ebuild repository, any support issues should be directed upstream. Gentoo support covers almost exclusively things maintained as Gentoo projects.

The community around large open source projects is important, and culture and style can vary. The Gentoo community strives to be both professional and open to those seeking to learn. Please be respectful, and interact in the spirit of collaboration.

First, check if a preexisting solution exists
Gentoo has a relatively large user base, so there is a chance that someone has already encountered any given problem, and perhaps published a solution. If such a solution can be found, using that it is usually the most efficient way to solve things.

The people that volunteer support for Gentoo Linux give their time generously to help out, and the first thing a user can do to give a little back is to track down a preexisting solution, if there are any, so as to leave the volunteers more time to diagnose and find solutions to new issues.

There are several important places that can provide such solutions:

Documentation
The Gentoo wiki contains the main documentation for Gentoo Linux, and it strives to be clear, complete, and of high quality. Documenting Gentoo is a huge effort, so there are still things to add, but the wiki remains the best reference for all things Gentoo! The wiki search function can be very useful, and using an external search engine can be a good compliment to this.

The FAQ contains answers to many commonly encountered issues.

Man pages and the Info system are the primary source of information for many Gentoo tools and utilities, and should usually be the first place to look when having trouble using a particular command. Many commands also support the or  switches.

The /usr/share/doc/ directory contains documentation files for many packages.

If a package external to Gentoo is involved, any upstream documentation may be useful. Each project provides documentation in it's own way, but looking up the website and VCS for a package on https://packages.gentoo.org, or on the wiki, is a good place to start.

Bugs
The Gentoo bug tracking system contains information on many issues, and it is always possible that any problem encountered may have already been reported. Even past issues that have been marked as solved can still crop up in some situations.

Search for bugs that may be of interest with the bugs.gentoo.org search form.

Forums
There are many discussions on the Gentoo Forums covering resolving Gentoo Linux related issues. Take a look through the posts, use the integrated search functionality, or an external search engine, to locate any promising information.

Web search
The World Wide Web is a trove of information, and though many things may not always be accurate - to say the least - technical information abounds, and Gentoo in no exception. Open up search engine of choice and employ the tried and tested methods of locating information on the web.

Formulate requests properly
State the issue at hand clearly, include any information that will be useful to understand the situation, and provide necessary context. Supply details when asked, because people often ask specific questions with a clear diagnostic hierarchy in mind.

When requesting help, the same wasteful pattern of asking for advice concerning the wrong issue comes up time and time again - so much so that someone came up with a name for it: the XY problem. This problem arises when people start out on an attempt at a solution, but when this fails, they ask about the issue with that solution, rather than asking about the problem they were having in the first place.

If some solutions have been ruled out, or tried and failed, mentioning this can provide more awareness of the situation.

Fora to ask for assistance if no preexisting solution can be found
Gentoo provides several venues to request assistance, and the one to use will vary depending on the nature of the problem, and preference.

Be prepared that the reply to some questions may be that an issue is not in the purview of Gentoo, or even that the developers have their reasons to decide that something is best not to be "fixed", or that it would take too much effort, which would be better spent elsewhere.

Forums
The Gentoo Forums provide support for the Gentoo user community, amongst other things. Users may post support questions to be answered by developers or other knowledgeable users. See the forum project page for the forum's presence on this wiki.

IRC
Internet Relay Chat is a reliable instant messaging protocol. Gentoo manages several channels for support on Libera Chat, to allow dynamic exchange between all members of the community. See the IRC article for details of how to use IRC to get support for Gentoo, channel lists, and IRC client software.

Mailing lists
The Gentoo mailing lists can be an invaluable venue to ask for support.

Contribute solutions back
Support can be a two way street, to the benefit of everyone!

Once a solution is found, please at least acknowledge that things have worked out, and how. Even mentioning that a solution was not found is better than leaving things hanging.

Though there is no obligation, a great way to move Gentoo forward is to contribute solutions back, either by making an addition to the wiki, or by filing a bug. These are really useful ways to help out, and it really isn't hard, give it a go!