Gentoo Quest Debian Host


I did one on W11, just could not leave Debian out. No compiling here!!!
Would like to give a big thanks to @kovacslt for the help in getting VirtualBox installed in Debian!!!

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make.conf
My /etc/portage/make.conf file, just in case someone may be of interest.
For you @nevj

Thanks.
You might explain how important /etc/portage/make.conf is, and in particular how using the default file can lead to difficulties with an install.

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You really think anyone but us two really cares?

Itā€™s not my glory, just noted the ā€œrecipeā€, and recalled it :wink:
Canā€™t even tell where I got it fromā€¦

Well, later someone trying Gentoo on a VM and facing a problem, and doing a google Duckduck-go search results finding a hint hereā€¦ :wink:

Nothing about glory, just helping each other, is that not supposed to be the ā€œlinux wayā€ thanks

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You are most welcome :smiley:

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I think people would like to know what the overall Gentoo install process is like, including how important /etc/portage/make.conf is.
People are frightened of the unknown. A gentoo install takes longer and is more challenging that most other distros, but it is not beyond the reach of experienced linux users. It helps to have an advuser. Thanks to @4dandl4 I am managing it . I am sure there are others who could do it.

I agree with Neville. May I ask why you donā€™t have -cups/-bluetooth/-wireless/-kde/-gnome etc in the make conf? Just curious because I,ve added quite few minus flags.

I also needed to add portage kindness level there because my machine ran out of RAM last @world upgrade. Iā€™ve ordered more RAM nowšŸ˜

Edit: sorry, this was an old topic

The main purpose of use flags seems to be to force omitting or including particular libraries when compiling packages.

If you put a use flag in make.conf, it affects every package
you compileā€¦ for example I use -systemd because I dont want systemd calls in my packages

If you just want to force a flag for one package, put it in
package.use, not in make.conf.

Those flags you suggest seem to be whole packages.
You can achieve omitting those by not emerging the package.

It is best to minimize the number of global flags in make.conf.
Package specific flags in package.use seem to me to make more sense

Thanks! Iā€™m still learning how to use the flags in make.conf or package.use. I have even seen someone is using ā€œ-*ā€ in make.conf and tell portage the flags in package.use only.

Me too. My Gentoo is still a learning curve.
Portage is powerful, it can achieve almost an infinite variety
of configurations.
With portage, every users Gentoo is different, but with Debian apt every users Debian is the same.

@ihasama
Some like to use " per package " use flags and some like " system wide " in the .make .conf fileā€¦One can build Gentoo, to the CLI with only the ā€œbindistā€ use flag. All other use flags can be enabled, by using the --pretend (-p) options when installing packages.
Since you, nevj and myself, are the only ones using Gentoo, on this forum, we need to have a little learning discussion, so we can all learn together.!! Leme know if you have time.

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Hi Daniel, what a great idea!

I would like to learn more about the make.conf / package.use flags thing and also Iā€™m planning to try a binary kernel next and then ā€œtranslateā€ it as genkernel version with a .config file. I saw someone explaining that on Reddit. The point of this is that when booting with bin kernel it loads all needed modules and nothing more and then you can add those modules to the .config file for your own kernel.

I have only used Gentoo for few weeks so Iā€™m noob with it. And the install is on older hardware without too many packages. If I get to know Gentoo well next plan is to install it on laptop.

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Hi @ihasama
I started using Gentoo, several years ago, just to see if I could compile a working Gentoo. I first started with an old hand-me-down desktop PC, that took over a week to compile Gentoo.
I first started building the kernel using gentoo-sources and using the manual approach, sometimes it worked, but most times it did not. I then started using gentoo-sources, and building the kernel with genkernel, which is OK but can be time consuming, especially, on a slow machine. I now mostly use the distribution kernel with gentoo kernel-bin, very fast, and it has everything I need, compared with, any other way of building the kernel.
The /etc/portage/make.conf is the heart and soul of gentoo!!! It sets the tone, of what is compiled and the compilier that is being used. I fail to see why some users will fill the make.conf full of ā€œuseā€ flags, but some do, and I bet they spend more time updating gentoo, than using gentoo.
My best word of advice, is to keep gentoo simple, just do not place use flags where they are not needed.

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Ho Daniel, thanks! Maybe I just put there X -wayland -gnome -kde and emerge -av --changed-use --deep @world and see how it goes. I donā€™t need printing/Bluetooth/CDR/dvd but maybe itā€™s fine to not include them to make.conf.

My update procedure is to timeshift first, update next and try if it boots. This has worked well earlier with rolling release distroes.

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You still seem to be confusing
the presence of a package
with
the way a package is compiled

make.conf is relevant to the latter. It is about what gets included when portage does a compile. It is a fine tuning thing, not a way of choosing whether a resource will be installed.

Dont be confused. It took me ages to grasp this. I am
probably not explaining it well.

I am getting thereā€¦ :grin: I checked the Gentoo wiki user flag list and will remove those ā€œflagsā€ which arenā€™t flags at all from the make.conf. I need X thatā€™s for sure. Then Iā€™d like to add -wayland, -kde, -gnome. I use Cinnamon DE and it works well with -gnome flag.

I know portage/emerge shows which flags you have enabled/disabled if youā€™re going to install/update a software. It also doesnā€™t emerge if thereā€™s some conflict. Maybe itā€™s common error first add too much flags in the make file. Iā€™ll clean the make file and can show it here if you like to check how everything is. Thanks again for the help!

Hi @ihasama
This is useless when trying to update Gentoo!!
The proper commands for updating Gentoo are as follows:
#1 run emerge --sync
#2 run emerge -a --oneshot portage
#3 run emerge --ask --update --newuse --deep --with-bdeps=y @world

Get the - use flags out of make.conf, use the - use flags on a per package basis
After updating Gentoo, it is also wise to use the emerge -a -uD @system and the emerge -a -uD @world, and these two commands will check your Gentoo system.
Also it is very wise to use the emerge --pretend when compiling a package, portage will then notify of a change in use flags, if no change then use the defaults.

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