- WLUG - wlug.mailman3.com

Installing Gentoo

by Carlton C. Stedman II

>I have heard way to much about Gentoo to not try it out, but have also heard the install is not so easy. Well, the install is not easy relative to, say, SuSE or Redhat. Its not all automatic and requires you to actually do some work on the command line (setting up the mirrors for portage, optionally configuring the make.conf file to optimize compilation, partioning via good 'ol fdisk, mkfs-ing filesystems, chroot'ing and such) but a printable Quick Install Guide (http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-x86-quickinstall.xml) really takes out the difficulty. I, at least, had no problem setting it up, a couple of times. The only real issue with Gentoo is that if you do go for the compile-everything-mode it takes a good full day to get up and running, and compiling in X and KDE or GNOME is best left for a second day of work (or just let it run overnight). You *can* use prebuilt binary packages, but then why bother using Gentoo? Additionally, all the preinstall stuff can be done with the Gentoo Live CD or something like Knoppix (which I would have used, but needed 2.6 kernel support, and at the time couldn't get Knoppix to boot a 2.6 kernel, whereas the Gentoo Live CD did have it). > Someone has mentioned it before, but how about an install fest so others can get hands on with different distro installs? An installfest would be a great idea. Could hand out live CD's to linux-hopefuls and install in people's computers. I'd be up for trying to get some people running Gentoo and other distros. -- Carlton C. Stedman II, sageman(a)wpi.edu "To iterate is human, to recurse, divine." -- L. Peter Deutch

Aug. 31, 2004

Re: [WLUG] Another vote for a future meeting topic

by Phil H

Well, you probably couldn't do a Stage 1 install. Seems like you'd have to do like a Stage 3 and use --pkgonly for things like KDE/Gnome/Xorg. That's probably obvious, but thought I'd point it out. And by using --pkgonly, you lose any speed benefits that you could have gained by compiling . . . so it's kind of a catch-22. I guess it depends on the CPU and RAM of the machine, but a Stage 1 install (w/ XF86/KDE) took 4-5 days on my machine. Philip Solo mis dos centavos . . . > Message: 1 > Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 10:02:37 -0700 (PDT) > From: Mike Leo <mleo963(a)yahoo.com> > Subject: [Wlug] another vote for a future meeting topic > To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > Message-ID: <20040830170237.87484.qmail(a)web51310.mail.yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > I have heard way to much about Gentoo to not try it > out, but have also heard the install is not so easy. > > Someone has mentioned it before, but how about an > install fest so others can get hands on with different > distro installs? > > just one man's opinion.... > > __________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Mail - You care about security. So do we. > http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

Aug. 31, 2004

Re: [Wlug] another vote for a future meeting topic

by Ryan Caron

No, the install isn't the easiest thing to someone not familar with it, but the Gentoo documentation is quite good. The basic install (known as a stage 1 install) alone can take a fair amount of time since everything has to be compiled. However, you can save time by using what's called a stage 2 install where some of the basic install is precompiled. A stage 3 install is where the entire basic install is already compiled. We would not be able to complete a stage 1 or stage 2 install during a typical WLUG meeting and it is the kind of thing to let run overnight. If you are a laptop user you can download all the neccessary source files in advance and leave the meeting with the laptop still compiling. Otherwise, a constant, and preferably fast, network connection is required. On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 Mike Leo <mleo963(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > I have heard way to much about Gentoo to not try it > out, but have also heard the install is not so easy. > > Someone has mentioned it before, but how about an > install fest so others can get hands on with different > distro installs? > > just one man's opinion....

Aug. 31, 2004

Re: [Wlug] [Fwd: Cron <root@smoke> root test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons && /usr/sbin/run-crons]

by Mike Frysinger

On Monday 30 August 2004 08:44 pm, Karl Hiramoto wrote: > I'm getting an error message e-mailed to me by cron.. Any idea how to > fix this? i take it you run vixie-cron and Gentoo (in the future you really should include these details ...) ? might want to review this if you are: http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=61961 -mike

Aug. 31, 2004

[Fwd: Cron <root@smoke> root test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons && /usr/sbin/run-crons]

by Karl Hiramoto

same error message, with full headers. Only extra info is the X-Cron-Env variables. and i'm running vixie-cron. -------- Original Message -------- Return-Path: <root(a)smoke.zoop.org> X-Original-To: root Delivered-To: karl(a)smoke.zoop.org Received: by smoke.zoop.org (Postfix) id 361DA10241E2; Mon, 30 Aug 2004 20:40:01 -0400 (EDT) Delivered-To: root(a)smoke.zoop.org Received: by smoke.zoop.org (Postfix, from userid 0) id 131E3102401A; Mon, 30 Aug 2004 20:40:00 -0400 (EDT) From: root(a)smoke.zoop.org (Cron Daemon) To: root(a)smoke.zoop.org Subject: Cron <root@smoke> root test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons && /usr/sbin/run-crons X-Cron-Env: <SHELL=/bin/bash> X-Cron-Env: <PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin> X-Cron-Env: <MAILTO=root> X-Cron-Env: <HOME=/> X-Cron-Env: <LOGNAME=root> Message-Id: <20040831004000.131E3102401A(a)smoke.zoop.org> Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 20:40:00 -0400 (EDT) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.64 (2004-01-11) on smoke.zoop.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-4.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=2.64 /bin/bash: line 1: root: command not found -- ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø Karl Hiramoto <karl(a)hiramoto.org> Work: 978-425-2090 ext 25 Cell: 508-517-4819 http://karl.hiramoto.org/ AOL IM ID = KarlH420 Yahoo_IM = karl_hiramoto ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø printk(KERN_DEBUG "%s: BUG... transmitter died. Kicking it.\n",...) linux-2.6.6/drivers/net/acenic.c

Aug. 31, 2004

[Fwd: Cron <root@smoke> root test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons && /usr/sbin/run-crons]

by Karl Hiramoto

I'm getting an error message e-mailed to me by cron.. Any idea how to fix this? /var/cron.log looks OK. 30-Aug-04 15:00 USER root pid 24063 cmd root rm -f /var/spool/cron/lastrun/cron.hourly 30-Aug-04 15:00 USER root pid 24064 cmd root test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons && /usr/sbin/run-crons -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Cron root test -x /usr/sbin/run-crons && /usr/sbin/run-crons Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 20:40:00 -0400 (EDT) From: root(a)smoke.zoop.org (Cron Daemon) To: root(a)smoke.zoop.org /bin/bash: line 1: root: command not found -- ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø Karl Hiramoto <karl(a)hiramoto.org> Work: 978-425-2090 ext 25 Cell: 508-517-4819 http://karl.hiramoto.org/ AOL IM ID = KarlH420 Yahoo_IM = karl_hiramoto ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø printk(KERN_DEBUG "%s: BUG... transmitter died. Kicking it.\n",...) linux-2.6.6/drivers/net/acenic.c

Aug. 31, 2004

another vote for a future meeting topic

by Mike Leo

I have heard way to much about Gentoo to not try it out, but have also heard the install is not so easy. Someone has mentioned it before, but how about an install fest so others can get hands on with different distro installs? just one man's opinion.... __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - You care about security. So do we. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

Aug. 30, 2004

Re: [Wlug] File Descriptors

by Gary Hanley

On Mon, 30 Aug 2004, Robert L Krawitz wrote: > I once had an odd problem with Acrobat Reader because of something > like this; it was an older version of it with some older version of > Linux. The problem was that if the file descriptor limit was higher > than a certain number the reader would crash on startup. Running > strace on it showed that it went through and tried to close all open > file descriptors up to the limit; presumably (since this is closed > source) there was some kind of hard coded array in there. Our problem is with some Java-based apps. It seems Java can easily have problems with too many open files if not coded properly. I'm not a Java programmer but that's the conclusion I'm drawing. -- Gary

Aug. 30, 2004

Re: [Wlug] File Descriptors

by Robert L Krawitz

Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 08:23:35 -0400 (EDT) From: Gary Hanley <gary(a)hanley.net> Can anyone point me to a good primer on the top of UNIX file descriptors? We had an issue with them recently at work on a SunOS 5.8 host and we upped the limit from 1024 to 4096 via the /etc/system file. There was some debate as to whether or not it was a good idea. My Google searches implied it *might* not be a good idea in some circumstances but I found no obvious conclusions. I know what they are - I just want to understand the pros and cons of changing the default limit...and why there are limits in the first place. I once had an odd problem with Acrobat Reader because of something like this; it was an older version of it with some older version of Linux. The problem was that if the file descriptor limit was higher than a certain number the reader would crash on startup. Running strace on it showed that it went through and tried to close all open file descriptors up to the limit; presumably (since this is closed source) there was some kind of hard coded array in there. -- Robert Krawitz <rlk(a)alum.mit.edu> Tall Clubs International -- http://www.tall.org/ or 1-888-IM-TALL-2 Member of the League for Programming Freedom -- mail lpf(a)uunet.uu.net Project lead for Gimp Print -- http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net "Linux doesn't dictate how I work, I dictate how Linux works." --Eric Crampton

Aug. 30, 2004

File Descriptors

by Gary Hanley

Hello All, Can anyone point me to a good primer on the top of UNIX file descriptors? We had an issue with them recently at work on a SunOS 5.8 host and we upped the limit from 1024 to 4096 via the /etc/system file. There was some debate as to whether or not it was a good idea. My Google searches implied it *might* not be a good idea in some circumstances but I found no obvious conclusions. I know what they are - I just want to understand the pros and cons of changing the default limit...and why there are limits in the first place. Thank you for any help! -- Gary

Aug. 30, 2004