On Mon, 11 Aug 2003 08:44, you wrote: > I just had a quick look at the new Gentoo installation docs and found that > the part I consider was the most difficult (more questions than answers) > part for me, compiling the kernel, has a new automated option - > genkernel.....It bases the settings on the the way the LiveCD kernel is > configured.
Having just gone through the exercise I'd just like to comment. Apart from the automatic kernel compilation, which is certainly a nice feature, the rest of the install process is not changed very much at all. imho the instruction are just as flakey as ever, there are an awful lot of instances where the details are "translated from the original Swahili by 15 year old Japanese students practising their English". Ready for the Brand New User(tm) to install is just a figment of imagination. The signal to noise ratio is ghastly, particularly if you are trying to use the instructions as presented by the links text html reader from the install.html file in the root directory on the CD. It's an unsatisfactory jumble of a lesson about Linux / unix and a set of install instructions with many alternatives incorporated along the way. However once installed I'm absolutely sure that the portage / emerge system is going to be a delight to use. > emerge -k genkernel The problem with this is that it's a bit dumb about detecting what hardware you have, compiles every single module, and then picks the correct ones to use at boot-up time. A good idea because you can change / add to your hardware at any time, but it gave me serious concerns because the kernel compilation phase took very much longer than I expected. Apart from the winking disk activity light there is no indication that anything is happenting. > Code listing 16.3: Running genkernel > If you're using genkernel 1.2 (included in the 1.4-20030803 x86/i686 GRP > set), use the following: > # genkernel gentoo-sources > If you're using genkernel 1.4 or newer, there's no need to specify a > kernel: # genkernel > Gentoo Linux genkernel, version 1.4 > Copyright 2003 Gentoo Technologies, Inc., Bob Johnson, Daniel Robbins > Distributed under the GNU General Public License version 2 > > Settings: > compile optimization: 1 processor(s) > source tree: /usr/src/linux-2.4.20-gaming-r3 > config: gentoo (customized) > config loc: /etc/kernels/config-2.4.20-gaming-r3 > initrd config: (default) /etc/kernels/settings > > * Running "make oldconfig"... > [ ok ] > * Logging to /var/log/genkernel.log... > [ ok ] > * Starting 2.4.20-gaming-r3 build... > [ ok ] > * Running "make dep"... > [ ok ] > * Running "make bzImage"... > [ ok ] > * Running "make modules"... > [ ok ] > * Running "make modules_install"... > [ ok ] > * Moving bzImage to /boot/kernel-2.4.20-gaming-r3... > [ ok ] > * Building busybox... > [ ok ] > * Creating initrd... > [ ok ] > > * Build completed successfully! > > * Please specify /boot/kernel-2.4.20-gaming-r3 and > /boot/initrd-2.4.20-gaming-r3 > * when customizing your boot loader configuration files. -- Sincerely etc., Christopher Sawtell
