Handbook Talk:AMD64/Full/Installation

5.4 Viewing Documentation During Install
The documentation recommends creating a new user account and logging in on a separate virtual tty to load links with the install docs, then switching back and forth between a command tty and the docs tty. This will work but it's clumsy, slow, and aggravating. A better solution is to use "screen" which is already included on the minimal install CD. The docs can be viewed side-by-side with one or more command shells on the same terminal with the following commands:


 * screen links Gentoo.org
 * ^A ^C
 * ^A | (for vertical split) or ^A S (for horizontal split)

Each "screen" can be split further into more windows. I would suggest including these instructions in the install docs in addition to or instead of the virtual terminal switching method.

Choosing the right profile
While not a recommendation, this section suggests using "no-multilib" for a pure 64-bit environment. I think this should be followed by the disclaimer on the AMD64 FAQ:


 * I added a small section noting the caveats of no-multilib. Should be better now. --Maffblaster (talk) 18:20, 13 January 2017 (UTC)

Optional: Selecting mirrors
If you use >=sys-apps/portage-2.2.16, you not have to use As, the SYNC variable in make.conf is deprecated and no longer used by portage. You will should use If you want to be updated from other mirror, you can run select mirror and paste received URI here /mnt/gentoo/etc/portage/repos.conf/gentoo.conf in variable "sync-uri" example: sync-uri = rsync://rsync.ru.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage

More info https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Project:Portage/Sync P.S. Sorry my bad english.


 * The repos.conf method is now explained in the Handbook. --Maffblaster (talk) 18:22, 13 January 2017 (UTC)

Unpacking the stage tarball
Is "--xattrs" required on some versions of tar to keep the extended attributes when extracting the archive or is this a mistake and as the manpage says, is only used to "save the user/root xattrs to the archive" (while when extracting, one would have to specify "--no-xattrs" to bypass them).


 * Where do you see that in the GNU tar man page? Seems like bad information to me. I tested your theory using tar v1.29 and verified the  option must be added both for compression and extraction in order for  handle extended attributes properly. See this link for someone else who tested.  --Maffblaster (talk) 06:27, 24 January 2017 (UTC)

Setting the date and time
Is there a reason Handbook doesn't suggest "ntpdate pool.ntp.org" instead of typing date manually?


 * It is less thinking and more accurate to use ntpd. --Maffblaster (talk) 18:23, 13 January 2017 (UTC)

Typo "there are e a"
There's an apparent typo on a whole series of these wiki pages. I created and validated wiki account for myself, but alas, it doesn't (yet) give me the option to edit the pages - so apparently I can't correct it.

Anyway, the error: "there are e a couple" should apparently be: "there are a couple" on at least these pages:

(Above posted by Michael Paoli, fixed for wikification)


 * Thanks, corrected. --SwifT (talk) 14:41, 27 December 2014 (UTC)

Systemd needed for Banshee Too!

About the optional systemd and Gnome, could you mention that systemd is also required for programs like Banshee that highly depend on Gnome architecture.

404 link on Introduction
The link to the Gentoo AMD64 project site (https://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/base/amd64/), on the Hardware Requirements section of the Introduction, leads to a 404 error.


 * Link has been long since fixed. Thanks! --Maffblaster (talk) 22:28, 13 January 2017 (UTC)

Minor typo & systemd creep
Correct "on a amd64" to "on an amd64" if possible.

I'm here to do a clean openRC installation. Let's keep systemd in check.

The "--make-rslave" operation creeps in without mention of it being optional, if it is, and without yet mention that it is because of systemd.

If these operations are unnecessary without systemd, then please move the "--make-rslave" operations into, and/or under, the note. For example:

Note The --make-rslave operations are needed for systemd support later in the installation. root #mount --make-rslave /mnt/gentoo/sys root #mount --make-rslave /mnt/gentoo/dev


 * It is in intention to support systemd as an optional init system. systemd is probably, at the time of writing, the most popular system in existence, although the majority of Gentoo users probably are not using it. The  option passed to  does not conflict with any options needed for those choosing either init system (OpenRC or systemd), and therefore is fine either way. Typos are corrected by now. --Maffblaster (talk) 01:34, 17 January 2017 (UTC)

Re: Banshee
Banshee is software that is loaded with commercial interests, namely Amazon.com. If it has dependency issues then those should be dealt with at the Banshee development site, not here.


 * Agreed. --Maffblaster (talk) 01:35, 17 January 2017 (UTC)

Configuring the network
The Handbook heavily relies on the assumption that the network interface name is eth0, which is highly unlikely with the new udev naming rules. Recommending the use of from a Gentoo-based installation medium or if coming from a different installation medium would allow users still unfamiliar with Gentoo to avoid errors during setup.


 * Agreed...I solved this by simply running
 * Likely works for 95% of all users with a single network card that doesn't change slots
 * Likely works for 95% of all users with a single network card that doesn't change slots


 * For the purposes of the Handbook, it shouldn't matter what the network interface is named. It's just a handle created by udev. The Handbook does mention the command now. I'm not sure what the point of using  would get the readers? If you still feel like there's more to this discussion then re-open it. Seems like we covered all the bases. --Maffblaster (talk) 06:36, 24 January 2017 (UTC)

Installing the sources
This command execution recommends to control its status in another terminal by doing: But we have previously chrooted into /mnt/gentoo/. So I suggest to specify that if we log into another terminal we should tail the file inside the mounted folder by doing:


 * Hi, I don't think instructions on how to the  file needs to be mentioned in the Handbook. Hopefully the reader will be able to figure this out on their own by reading the message from the gentoo-sources ebuild. If you'd like to re-open and write up a mock wording for me to copy/paste into the Handbook I will consider it! Kind regards, --Maffblaster (talk) 06:40, 24 January 2017 (UTC)

Kernel config for USB support
This section is out of date:

I believe the relevant options have been moved to:

--Astronome (talk) 19:35, 20 July 2016 (UTC)

Kernel config for efi stub
Please edit configuration of kernel for efi support, else kernel not load a root file system.


 * The Handbook team is trying to move away from supporting the UEFI stub kernel functionality as it is less flexible than using a bootloader to load the kernel into memory. That kind of of stuff can be left out of the Handbook and be included in other kernel related articles around the wiki. --Maffblaster (talk) 21:13, 13 January 2017 (UTC)

Link to "other arches" on download page
In the "Download the media" section which discusses the "minimal installation CDs", the link to "the [//www.gentoo.org/downloads/#other-arches downloads page] (recommended)" is to the "Advanced Choices and other Architectures" section of that page. Shouldn't it be to the top of the page (no section anchor) where links to download the "normal" amd64 Minimal Installation CD, LiveDVD, and Stage 3 files are to be found? - dcljr (talk) 18:32, 13 April 2016 (UTC)


 * The link has been updated. --Maffblaster (talk) 21:14, 13 January 2017 (UTC)

Remove Parted
Remove Parted from handbook! fdisk have support GPT layout, and part of coreutils (default)


 * I need to revise the disk section. I'll add this as a possibility to review. Thanks! --Maffblaster (talk) 18:28, 13 January 2017 (UTC)

EFI partition mount
I see the Handbook mentions that Grub2 can't be used, and efibootmgr should be used instead. However, using grub2 is a suitable option.

The EFI partition should be mounted to /boot/efi:


 * 1) mkdir /mnt/gentoo/boot/efi
 * 2) mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/gentoo/boot/efi

ILMostro (talk)


 * Hi, I saw your message in IRC. We are still very much active in monitoring and updating the wiki, although we're not always able to immediately respond on IRC. I agree, GRUB2 is a suitable option for EFI on Gentoo. I use it myself. With that being said we have to be careful with how much we try to support in the various handbooks. The purpose of it is to help users get Gentoo installed; not to walk them through all the configuration options (Gentoo is far too flexible for that!). :)


 * I don't remember the Handbook ever saying GRUB2 can't be used for EFI on systems, but I will take a look and fix anything that doesn't seem right. Kind regards, --Maffblaster (talk) 02:05, 21 June 2016 (UTC)

GPT or MBR
It's definitely possible to dual-boot with Windows using GPT on a BIOS-based system. I'm able to do so with the following GRUB entry:

--Astronome (talk) 03:17, 21 January 2017 (UTC)


 * Hi Astronome, if you're serious about having your discussions looked after please remember to use the Talk template. We can't really track what work is left for us to do without them.


 * With that being said, to confirm: does the disk have a GPT partition table, or is it an MSDOS table? Also, is your copy of Windows installed in MSDOS mode? Kind regards, --Maffblaster (talk) 06:47, 24 January 2017 (UTC)

Mounting the necessary filesystems
I've always found this part confusing. Should this

be changed to this?

Otherwise, if you're following the instructions exactly, your PWD will be and you'll be mounting  to itself. --Astronome (talk) 19:55, 21 January 2017 (UTC)


 * Yes, it's a good point. We should have the on the second mention of proc. I'll update this. --Maffblaster (talk) 06:47, 24 January 2017 (UTC)


 * This assertion is wrong (but doesn't hurt). man mount:
 * The proc  filesystem  is not associated with a special device, and when mounting it, an arbitrary keyword, such as proc can be used instead of a device specification.  (The customary choice none is less fortunate: the error message `none busy' from umount can be confusing.).


 * It was probably "proc" due to it being suggested to use that in the man page as that arbitrary keyword (but you can use "asdf" or whatever, pretty much anything except for "none'). That argument is the first one - that of the device node to use, -t proc doesn't have one, so it's ignored (unless special "none" is encountered). In "mount -t proc proc /mnt/gentoo/proc" the first "proc" is the type given with -t, "proc" is the device node and /mnt/gentoo/proc is the path - there is no proc path and no way this would have mounted itself (device node != directory). --Leio (talk) 15:26, 26 January 2017 (UTC)


 * That's funny, I was editing this page at the same time as you to say the same thing :) --Astronome (talk) 15:52, 26 January 2017 (UTC)