1. Introduction

This guide contains all the commands you should use to complete a stage3 installation of Gentoo. You need a connection to the Internet to download the stage3 and Portage snapshots.

Important: New users should read the Handbook as it gives a better overview about the installation process. The Quick Install guide is designed for experienced users who just need a checklist to follow.

Timing output follows all commands that take more than a couple of seconds to finish. Commands were timed on an AMD 2000 1.66 Ghz PC with 512 MB of RAM and two SATA disks connected to a hardware controller.

Code Listing 1.1: Test box specs

(The following specs and the timing information should help you determine

a rough estimate of the time you need to complete your install)

# grep bogo /proc/cpuinfo

bogomips : 3337.81

# hdparm -tT /dev/sda

/dev/sda:

Timing cached reads: 1100 MB in 2.00 seconds = 549.97 MB/sec

Timing buffered disk reads: 224 MB in 3.01 seconds = 74.36 MB/sec

# grep MemTotal /proc/meminfo

MemTotal: 509248 kB

2. Quick Install Guide

Installation Media

Download a CD from one of our mirrors. You can find the minimal CD ISO in releases/x86/current-iso/. The minimal installation CD is only useful for Internet-based installations. This guide will use the minimal CD.

Burn the CD and boot it.

Booting the CD

Press F2 at the boot screen to find out what boot options exist. You can either start gentoo or gentoo-nofb, the latter disables the framebuffer. If you booted the LiveCD, don't forget to add the nox option to prevent the X graphical environment from starting. Several options allow to enable or disable some features. If all goes well, your hardware will be detected and all modules will be loaded. If the kernel fails to boot properly or if your computer hangs during the boot procedure, you may have to experiment with different configurations. The safest way is probably to use the nodetect option and then load required modules explicitly.

Code Listing 2.1: Boot the minimal CD

Gentoo Linux Installation LiveCD http://www.gentoo.org

Enter to Boot; F1 for kernels F2 for options.

boot: gentoo-nofb

(or in case of problems)

boot: gentoo-nofb nodetect

Optional: loading modules

If you used the nodetect option, once booted, load the required modules. You need to enable networking and have access to your disks. The lspci command can help you identify your hardware.

Code Listing 2.2: Load required modules

livecd root # lspci

(Use lspci's output to identify required modules)

(The following is an example, adapt it to your hardware)

livecd root # modprobe 3w-9xxx

livecd root # modprobe r8169

Network Configuration

If your network does not work already, you can use net-setup to configure your network. You might need to load support for your network card using modprobe prior to the configuration. If you have ADSL, use pppoe-setup and pppoe-start. For PPTP support, first edit /etc/ppp/chap-secrets and /etc/ppp/options.pptp and then use pptp <server ip>.

For wireless access, use iwconfig to set the wireless parameters and then use either net-setup again or run ifconfig, dhcpcd and/or route manually.

If you are behind a proxy, do not forget to initialize your system using export http_proxy, ftp_proxy and RSYNC_PROXY.

Code Listing 2.3: Configure networking the guided way

livecd root # net-setup eth0

Alternatively, you can start networking manually. The following example assigns the IP address 192.168.1.10 to your PC and defines 192.168.1.1 as your router and name server.

Code Listing 2.4: Configure networking the manual way

livecd root # ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.10/24

livecd root # route add default gw 192.168.1.1

livecd root # echo nameserver 192.168.1.1 > /etc/resolv.conf

The installation CD allows you to start an sshd server, add additional users, run irssi (a command-line chat client) and surf the web using links.

Optional: connect to your new box over ssh

The most interesting feature is of course sshd. You can start it and then connect from another machine and cut and paste commands from this guide.

Code Listing 2.5: Start sshd

livecd root # time /etc/init.d/sshd start

* Generating hostkey ...

(sshd generates the key and displays more output)

* starting sshd ... [ok]

real 0m13.688s

user 0m9.420s

sys 0m0.090s

Now, set the root password on the liveCD so that you can connect to it from another PC. Please note that allowing root to connect over ssh is not recommended under normal circumstances. If you can't trust your local network, use a long and complex password, you should use it only once as it will disappear after your first reboot.

Code Listing 2.6: Set the root password

livecd root # passwd

New UNIX password: type_a_password

Retype new UNIX password: type_a_password

passwd: password updated successfully

Now, you can start a terminal on another PC and connect to your new box, follow the rest of this guide in another window, and cut and paste commands.

Code Listing 2.7: Connect to your new box from another PC

(Use the IP address of your new box)

$ ssh root@192.168.1.10

The authenticity of host '192.168.1.10 (192.168.1.10)' can't be established.

RSA key fingerprint is 96:e7:2d:12:ac:9c:b0:94:90:9f:40:89:b0:45:26:8f.

Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes

Warning: Permanently added '192.168.1.10' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.

Password: type_the_password

Preparing the Disks

Use fdisk or cfdisk to create your partition layout. You need at least a swap partition (type 82) and one Linux partition (type 83). The following scenario creates a /boot, a swap and a main partition as used in our handbook. Replace sda with your disk. Most systems ignore the bootable flag, but a few need it. Set this flag on your boot partition with fdisk's a command.

Code Listing 2.8: Create the partitions

livecd ~ # fdisk /dev/sda

(The rest of this guide uses the following partitioning scheme)

livecd ~ # fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 599.9 GB, 599978409984 bytes

255 Heads, 63 sectors/track, 72943 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/dev/sda1 * 1 12 96358+ 83 Linux

/dev/sda2 13 110 787185 82 Linux swap / Solaris

/dev/sda3 111 72943 585031072+ 83 Linux

Use mke2fs, mke2fs -j, mkreiserfs, mkfs.xfs and mkfs.jfs to create file systems on your Linux partitions. Initialize your swap partition using mkswap and swapon.

Code Listing 2.9: Create the file systems and activate swap

(ext2 is all you need on the /boot partition)

livecd ~ # mke2fs /dev/sda1

(Let's use ext3 on the main partition)

livecd ~ # mke2fs -j /dev/sda3

(Create and activate swap)

livecd ~ # mkswap /dev/sda2 && swapon /dev/sda2

Mount the freshly created file systems on /mnt/gentoo. Create directories for the other mount points (like /mnt/gentoo/boot) if you need them and mount them too.

Code Listing 2.10: Mount the file systems

livecd ~ # mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/gentoo

livecd ~ # mkdir /mnt/gentoo/boot

livecd ~ # mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/gentoo/boot

livecd ~ # cd /mnt/gentoo

Setting Up The Stage

First make sure your date and time is set correctly using date MMDDhhmmYYYY. Use UTC time.

Code Listing 2.11: Set the date and UTC time

(Check the clock)

livecd gentoo # date

Mon Mar 6 00:14:13 UTC 2006

(Set the current date and time if required)

livecd gentoo # date 030600162006 (Format is MMDDhhmmYYYY)

Mon Mar 6 00:16:00 UTC 2006

Next, download a stage from one of our mirrors:

Code Listing 2.12: Download a stage3 archive

livecd gentoo # links http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/mirrors.xml

(Pick a mirror, move to the releases/x86/current-stage3/ directory,

highlight the stage3 of your choice, probably the i686 stage3, and press D to

download it)

(Or download it directly with wget without choosing a nearby mirror)

livecd gentoo # wget ftp://distfiles.gentoo.org/pub/gentoo/releases/x86/current-stage3/stage3-i686-*.tar.bz2

Go to /mnt/gentoo and unpack the stage using tar xjpf <stage3 tarball>.

Code Listing 2.13: Unpack the stage3 archive

livecd gentoo # time tar xjpf stage3*

real 1m14.157s

user 1m2.920s

sys 0m7.530s

Install the latest Portage snapshot. Proceed as for the stage3 archive: choose a nearby mirror from our list, download the latest snapshot and unpack it.

Code Listing 2.14: Download the latest Portage snapshot

livecd gentoo # cd /mnt/gentoo/usr

livecd usr # links http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/mirrors.xml

(Pick a mirror, move to the snapshots/ directory,

highlight portage-latest.tar.bz2 and press D to download it)

(Or download it directly with wget without choosing a nearby mirror)

livecd gentoo # cd /mnt/gentoo/usr

livecd usr # wget http://distfiles.gentoo.org/snapshots/portage-latest.tar.bz2

Code Listing 2.15: Unpack the Portage snapshot

livecd usr # time tar xjf portage-lat*

real 0m40.523s

user 0m28.280s

sys 0m8.240s

Chrooting

Mount the /proc & /dev file systems, copy over the /etc/resolv.conf file, then chroot into your Gentoo environment.

Code Listing 2.16: Chroot

livecd usr # cd /

livecd / # mount -t proc proc /mnt/gentoo/proc

livecd / # mount --rbind /dev /mnt/gentoo/dev

livecd / # cp -L /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/gentoo/etc/

livecd / # chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash

livecd / # env-update && source /etc/profile

>>> Regenerating /etc/ld.so.cache...

Set your time zone

Set your time zone information by using the correct listing in /usr/share/zoneinfo.

Code Listing 2.17: Setting your timezone

livecd / # ls /usr/share/zoneinfo

(Using Brussels as an example)

livecd / # cp /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Brussels /etc/localtime

livecd / # date

Wed Mar 8 00:46:05 CET 2006

Set your host name and domain name

Set your host name in /etc/conf.d/hostname and /etc/hosts. In the following example, we use mybox as host name and at.myplace as domain name. You can either edit the config files with nano or use the following commands:

Code Listing 2.18: Set host and domain name

livecd / # cd /etc

livecd etc # echo "127.0.0.1 mybox.at.myplace mybox localhost" > hosts

livecd etc # sed -i -e 's/HOSTNAME.*/HOSTNAME="mybox"/' conf.d/hostname

(Use defined host name and check)

livecd etc # hostname mybox

livecd etc # hostname -f

mybox.at.myplace

Kernel Configuration