Inquiry about Gentoo and recent updates
Inquiry about Gentoo and recent updates
I've been experimenting with Gentoo in a virtual environment, which was mainly for learning purposes. It turned out to be quite an unusual process—taking two days and four separate VMs to get the system running. This was actually beneficial since it pushed me to quickly grasp use flags and handle circular dependency problems. I chose the OpenRC stage 3 with Desktop/Gnome as my default setup and performed a deep world update, which included around 380 packages. However, I noticed older versions were being pulled, like only 5.10.61 for the kernel and the latest ESR for Firefox. By checking the Gentoo package list, it seemed everything was marked as stable, though newer releases appeared as testing or developer-only items. After the build completed, I compiled the kernel, installed grub, and rebooted. Following the official documentation and wiki, I configured Network Manager, GDM, and display-manager-init. To my surprise, the VM was fully booting. Then I ran another world update from the desktop to confirm everything was up-to-date, pulling an additional 200 packages—including Firefox 90 and kernel version 5.14. This is unexpected. I hadn't enabled any developer or testing flags, yet it was fetching the latest versions. Edit: kernel 5.14 is labeled as testing only? I didn’t take a snapshot before the second update, and now I’m concerned it might install unstable software, potentially ruining my progress.
The process was executed by inserting a tilde before your branch in the ACCEPT_KEYWORDS option.
That makes sense now. I was stuck installing VSCode after searching for a solution, and the fix was to modify my make.conf with ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~amd64". It's good to see the advice paying off. I'll need to create a fresh initramfs and update GRUB afterward since I used genkernel instead of building from scratch.
It’s usually a smart move since the kernel will likely stay in the same spot, so you probably won’t have to refresh grub.
I spent some time outside compiling a fresh kernel, just to check how it would look, but things went wrong. The new 5.14 version won't boot, complaining that /dev/sda3 isn't a valid root partition. The older 5.10 kernel still works, though the app tray is empty—no apps, no terminal, and no internet. Even SSH can't connect. I realized I should have paid more attention to the ~ in my make.conf. It’s a tough lesson, especially since I knew what I should have done. I’ll probably start fresh and maybe try systemd stage 3 instead of openrc next time. Cheers!
I'm just starting out on this forum but I've been using Gentoo daily since 2006. I love seeing others try it out. I'm not an expert, but my current build has run smoothly since 2016 with no major problems. It's set up as "~amd64" worldwide, has unsafe CFLAGS (though I understand what they do), and uses LTO+Graphite globally. Did you set up your kernel manually? If so, why are you using genkernel instead of the standard build commands? Also, keep in mind /etc/portage/package.env and /etc/portage/package.use for custom make.conf and flags—especially if you're using LTO or Graphite globally, which helps with performance and compatibility.
Hello, I had to uninstall the installation, restarted it, but failed once more. This time I opted for systemd instead of openrc and unexpectedly encountered the same error—GRUB says it can't mount UUID=xxxxxxxxxxxxxx as a root drive. Right now I’m determined to try another attempt, though my desktop is in a rough condition and I’m unsure if it’s worth the effort or if it’s better to just delete it and start over. I faced difficulties getting AMDGPU to recognize my 5700XT after a clean install. Some community members helped me switch to the TKG-PDS kernel, which fixed the issues, but now the same problem persists even with that setup. I’m thinking about switching to Manjaro for a more stable base—it includes pamac OOTB and has minimal bloat, something Arco and Garuda both appreciate.