Systemd/Installing Gnome3 from scratch

To install a desktop environment such as GNOME3 requires the use of systemd but the present Gentoo Handbook is based on the use of OpenRC. It just indicates that changes have to be made when using systemd but never tells the user where the changes occur.

As for the systemd page, it mainly concentrate on an update starting from an existing system. Thus, it can be a kind of challenge, especially for a new comer to Gentoo, to install a GNOME3 desktop from scratch. The purpose of this page is to indicate where changes have to be made to the current Gentoo Handbook to do so.

The indications given refer mainly to an install.

Base system installation
Hereafter are the modifications to bring to the Gentoo Handbook for an platform.

Part 1 to 5 of the handbook
No changes here.

Choosing the right stage3 tarball
A stage3 tarball already configured for systemd is available for most architectures. You will find it along with the other stage3 tarballs in the autobuilds directory of your preferred mirror. To save time and effort, use this tarball when installing the base system.

Choosing the right profile
Select the profile ending in :

On the platform there is also a profile ending in. Select this option if a desktop environment is not required for the system (servers, etc).

An asterisk indicates the currently selected profile. Verify the correct profile has been selected:

Updating the system
The choice of the profile implies a lot of changes in the packages to be installed, it is advised to perform a full system update before going on:

Configuring the kernel
Do not install when using systemd, use  instead:

When planning to include support for a graphic card that requires proprietary binary blobs be sure to emerge the package. Otherwise kernel will not compile.

May not be necessary at this stage but does not hurt to add the VIDEO_CARDS variable set with an appropriate video card value to.

Use option menuconfig with genkernel and optionally lvm and mdadm when using lvm and RAID. Do not forget to install and  if this is the case. Please see LVM for details about lvm.

Select the systemd init system without disabling Openrc

When using lvm activate the following kernel options:

Include settings for your graphic card referring to the ad hoc page on this wiki, most currently radeon and NVidia/nvidia-drivers.

Create the symlink for (see this for details)

Defining the keyboard
With systemd, setting  into  will be effectless. Instead, you should set this into.

The various keymaps are stored into subdirectories of  and can be listed with the following command

Once you have you keymap listed, select it with the following command, replacing  with your own keymap:

Double check by running:

System logger
syslog-ng conflicts with systemd systemd creates  as datagram socket   so you will need to tell syslog-ng to read from a unix-dgram instead of a unix-stream if you are hitting problems and are using "wrong" stream:

Should be replaced with:

In order to use the syslog-ng service in systemd.

To enable syslog-ng use the following command:

To disable it, use:

Networking tools
dhcpcd will not be started at boot unless you enable dhcpcd.service with systemd.

Refer to the systemd page to know how to do it before rebooting. Otherwise you will be able to do so after boot with:

Configuring the bootloader
If you are using lvm, add the  USE flag before emerging grub.

After emerging, edit the  configuration file and add the following line (if using ext4 for root partition):

Then run:

Finalizing the installation
It may be necessary to enable and start dcpcd.service and to use systemd to define keyboard layout (see the systemd page).

/etc/portage/make.conf
Don't forget to add the following lines to the file:

Then emerge the drivers:

Kernel settings
Follow the page X server to set the kernel paramaters for evdev and the kernel parameters for your graphic card if not already done. Recompile the kernel

Check startx
In order to check the x server install xterm and twm:

Then use the following command:

If everything is correct you should see a graphic page with some terminals inside. Quit by pressing ++ and unmerge xterm and twm:

Gnome3 installation
You are now ready to install GNOME 3:

In order to have the Gnome Display Manager after boot, enable it:

Reboot and enjoy Gnome3 !