Project:Prefix/FAQ

This guide covers questions frequently asked by users of Gentoo Prefix

How can I contribute?
Due to the depth of the Gentoo Prefix project, we really like to have users become involved. It helps us immensely. Here are some possibilities:
 * Report bugs! Unreported bugs are very bad for the health of the project, please do report bugs
 * Report working packages that you may have imported
 * Test packages - We cannot make sure that every package on every arch works by ourselves.
 * Bootstrapping must always work, rebootstrapping often and reporting issues would benefit all and you might learn something as well.

I made a fix, what is the best way to report this?
The absolute best way to report fixes is through Gentoo's Bugzilla. Use the "Gentoo/Alt" Product with the "Prefix Support" component, or click here. The second best way is to report them on the gentoo-alt mailing list, however, items may get forgotten or overlooked on the mailing list. Finally, you may report items in irc, but be sure you are speaking to a Gentoo Prefix developer, otherwise it is likely to not be noticed.

XXX ebuild works for me, now what?
Please report it! See above and also see here.

I want to run Gentoo Prefix within my company, am I allowed to do so?
Of course, see above for support ;) Also, you must obey whichever license as applies.

How mature is Gentoo Prefix?
Many of us use Gentoo Prefix everyday and it has been in existance since 2004. Keep in mind that you are riding the tip of the portage code and the latest packages as they exist in the gentoo-x86 tree. Gentoo Prefix is believed to have a reasonable maturity. However, as always, our software comes without warranty.

What is the "gentoo-x86 tree" ?
gentoo-x86 (sometimes simply referred to as gx86) is what Gentoo Linux calls their tree that contains all the ebuilds. See here.

On which platforms does Gentoo Prefix run on?
Many platforms, including but not limited to: GNU/Linux, AIX, Solaris, Mac OS X, Cygwin.

What is the best way to contact a Gentoo Prefix developer?
Please do not send us private mail. We prefer to receive list mail. See above for info on the gentoo-alt mailing list.

I want to import an ebuild, how do I go about that?
You don't import an ebuild any more, you just fix it in gentoo-x86. (Or provide a patch with bug.)

I want to uninstall Gentoo Prefix from my system, how?
Uninstalling Gentoo Prefix is a simple as removing the directory:

A fix was committed, but I don't have it, how come?
Gentoo Prefix users no longer are using a git snapshot as their portage tree. This means a commit made by a developer is not directly accessible to users. Instead, users are using an rsync version of the portage tree that is amongst others enriched with metadata for improved performance. This tree is generated twice an hour, at 01 and 31. The generation usually takes about 5 minutes, but may take up to 25 minutes when lots of changes have been committed. From the moment the generation is done, the rsync slaves have to pick up the updated copy from the main generation server. The slaves will sync with the main server in the last 5 minutes, thus from 25th till 30th minute.

In short this means that you can only safely sync to get the fix 60 minutes after the commit has taken place.

My PATH does not include the Prefix directories after I ran ./startprefix
You probably override PATH in your, , , or (or what else is your shell initialization file).

=== What should I do when the bootstrap script fails?

There are infinite way the bootstrap could fail. But more of them fall into some common senarios. Here are some tips:


 * 1) Inspect, make a case-insensitive search for the first occurence of "Error", search the fine web (STFW) for that message and the file name.
 * 2) Seek help on IRC, mailing list or report a bug with  attached or uploaded to a pastebin.
 * 3) For a specific bug in a package,  and  will contain useful information, too.
 * 4) If  is too big, upload only the last 1000 lines.
 * 5) If a fix is to be tested, modify a ebuild file or mask a package under EPREFIX.

I don't understand something in this FAQ!
Please join #gentoo-prefix on irc.gentoo.org or utilize the gentoo-alt mailing list.