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 Article description::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.

Please act in the spirit of collaboration and be courteous in the Gentoo fora, and abide by 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.

Pay particular attention to the how to formulate requests section, and try to focus on the root problem when requesting support. Be concise and precise in order to best channel everything towards an efficient solution.

When a solution is validated, it would be really useful to help the community by making an addition to the wiki, explaining how things were solved, for anyone who runs into the same problem! The wiki is very easy to edit by anyone, and it is very quick to get started.

It is essential to let anyone helping with an issue know what worked and what didn't, at the place where the issue was discussed. Not doing so may even be considered impolite.

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 espouse an attitude that promotes cooperation.

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 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.

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!

Gentoo exists because people have come together to build an OS, in the way they think it should be done. Every contribution, made in the spirit of collaboration, will help make Gentoo a bit better. Even a small contribution has value, and everyone will be grateful. All great things start with the first step, and experienced users will be happy to guide anyone making their first additions to the project.

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 by making an addition to the wiki. It really isn't hard to make an edit to a wiki article, the first edit may take a couple of minutes to create an account, but after that, small changes can take seconds and are as simple as editing any text file.

To make a quick correction for the first time, the quick start guide gives a short overview of the very essentials.

These are really useful ways to help out, and quite easy, have a go! Remember that there are other ways to contribute to Gentoo.