Handbook:Parts/Installation/Tools

System logger
Some tools are missing from the stage3 archive because several packages provide the same functionality. It is now up to the user to choose which ones to install.

The first tool to decide on has to provide logging facilities for the system. Unix and Linux have an excellent history of logging capabilities -- if needed, everything that happens on the system can be logged in logfiles. This happens through the system logger.

Gentoo offers several system loggers to choose from. A few of these are:
 * , which is the traditional set of system logging daemons
 * , an advanced system logger
 * which is a highly-configurable system logger

Others are available through portage as well - the number of available packages increases on a daily basis.

If sysklogd or syslog-ng is going to be used, it is recommended to install afterwards as those system loggers don't provide any rotation mechanism for the log files.

To install the system logger of choice, emerge it and have it added to the default runlevel using. The following example installs

Optional: Cron daemon
Next is the cron daemon. Although it is optional and not required for every system, it is wise to install one.

A cron daemon executes scheduled commands. It is very handy if some command needs to be executed regularly (for instance daily, weekly or monthly).

Gentoo offers several possible cron daemons, including, , and. Installing one of them is similar to installing a system logger. The following example uses :

If dcron or fcron are used, an additional initialization command needs to be executed:

Optional: File indexing
In order to index the file system to provide faster file location capabilities, install.