Gentoo x86 Linux Installation on a VirtualBox Image

UPDATE: gentoo.org now has a one-page “quick install guide” that covers the Gentoo installation.
(Adapted from: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml. This is a work in progress.)

Download VirtualBox. Get the appropriate version–your computer’s current operating system is the host OS for Virtualbox.

http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

Download the ISO minimal installer for Gentoo x86 from this directory, getting the file install-x86-minimal-xxxxxxxx.iso:

http://ftp.ucsb.edu/pub/mirrors/linux/gentoo/releases/x86/current-iso/

Start the Virtualbox image, and select the ISO file as the installation media

Set up networking, choosing wired or wireless according to on your own computer’s network setup:

net-setup eth0

Test networking:

ping www.google.com

Create the boot partition:

fdisk /dev/sda
n
p
1
Enter
+32M
p

Create the swap partition:

n
p
2
Enter
+512M
t
2
82
p

Create the root partition:

n
p
3
Enter
Enter
p
w

Apply the ext2 filesystem to the boot partition:

mke2fs /dev/sda1

Apply the ext3 filesystem to the root partition:

mke2fs -j /dev/sda3

Create a swap signature and activate the swap partition:

mkswap /dev/sda2
swapon /dev/sda2

Mount the partitions:

mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/gentoo
mkdir /mnt/gentoo/boot
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/gentoo/boot

Check the date:

date

Download and unpack the latest stage 3 tarball at the Gentoo mountpoint, getting the file stage3-i686-xxxxxxxx.tar.bz2:

cd /mnt/gentoo
links http://ftp.ucsb.edu/pub/mirrors/linux/gentoo/releases/x86/autobuilds/current-stage3-i686/
tar xvjpf stage3-*.tar.bz2

Download portage from a mirror and install:

wget http://ftp.ucsb.edu/pub/mirrors/linux/gentoo/snapshots/portage-latest.tar.bz2
tar xvjf portage-latest.tar.bz2 -C /mnt/gentoo/usr

Don’t reconfigure any compile options

Choose a mirror for Gentoo base system installation

mirrorselect -i -o >> /mnt/gentoo/etc/make.conf

Copy DNS config

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

Mount filesystems for installation:

mount -t proc none /mnt/gentoo/proc
mount --rbind /dev /mnt/gentoo/dev

Change from installation CD to installation system

chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash
env-update
source /etc/profile
export PS1="(chroot) $PS1"

Update system

emerge --sync

Choose the eselect profile for “desktop/gnome”:

eselect profile list
eselect profile set 3

Update make.conf:

nano -w /etc/make.conf

Change variables in make.conf:

USE="firefox gnome gtk icu kdrive python sqlite -qt4 threads"

Set your locale by uncommenting the two en_US entries and doing locale-gen

nano -w /etc/locale.gen
locale-gen

Set the time zone

cp /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Los_Angeles /etc/localtime

Install a kernel source

emerge gentoo-sources

Automatically configure and compile kernel source

emerge genkernel
zcat /proc/config.gz > /usr/share/genkernel/arch/x86/kernel-config
genkernel all

Wait

Don’t auto-load any kernel modules

Configure filesystem information

nano -w /etc/fstab

Insert these lines into fstab:

/dev/sda1   /boot        ext2    defaults,noatime     1 2
/dev/sda2   none         swap    sw                   0 0
/dev/sda3   /            ext3    noatime              0 1
/dev/cdrom  /mnt/cdrom   auto    noauto,user          0 0

proc        /proc        proc    defaults             0 0
shm         /dev/shm     tmpfs   nodev,nosuid,noexec  0 0

Set computer name

nano -w /etc/conf.d/hostname

Insert:

HOSTNAME="mycomputername"

Set the domain and DHCP:

nano -w /etc/conf.d/net

Insert:

nic_domain_lo="my-nisdomain"
config_eth0=( "dhcp" )

Set to automatically start networking at boot

ln -s /etc/init.d/net.lo /etc/init.d/net.eth0

rc-update add net.eth0 default

Set up the hosts file

nano -w /etc/hosts

Insert:

127.0.0.1	mycomputername.my-nisdomain mycomputername localhost

Set the root password

passwd

Don’t edit /etc/rc.conf
Don’t edit /etc/conf.d/keymaps

Set clock options (set CLOCK to “UTC” for dual boot with Windows, non-Virtualbox)

nano -w /etc/conf.d/hwclock

Put:

CLOCK="local"
TIMEZONE="America/Los_Angeles"

Install system logger

emerge syslog-ng

Wait

Add system logger to update list:

rc-update add syslog-ng default

Install cron daemon

emerge vixie-cron
rc-update add vixie-cron default

Install file indexing

emerge mlocate

Install DHCP client

emerge dhcpcd

Install bootloader and configure

emerge grub
nano -w /boot/grub/grub.conf

Put:

default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title Gentoo Linux 2.6.36-r5
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.36-gentoo-r5 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda3
initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.36-gentoo-r5

## Only in case you want to dual-boot
#title Windows XP
#rootnoverify (hd0,5)
#makeactive
#chainloader +1

grep -v rootfs /proc/mounts > /etc/mtab
grub-install --no-floppy /dev/sda

Unmount the partitions:

exit
cd
umount /mnt/gentoo/boot /mnt/gentoo/dev /mnt/gentoo/proc /mnt/gentoo

Shut down the system:

shutdown -h now

On VirtualBox, remove the installation disk from virtual drive, or change the boot order so you don’t boot from the installation CD.

Add a user: restart the VirtualBox image, log in as root and do:

useradd -m -G users,wheel,audio -s /bin/bash newusername
passwd newusername

Update applications and dependencies

emerge --sync

Remove stage 3 tarball and Portage snapshot

rm /stage3-*.tar.bz2*
rm /portage-latest.tar.bz2*

Install vi:

emerge vim

Update make.conf:

nano -w /etc/make.conf

Set variables in make.conf:

USE="firefox gnome gtk icu kdrive python sqlite -qt4 threads"

VIDEO_CARDS="nvidia"

Attempt to add video drivers:

emerge --config nvidia-drivers

Install VirtualBox Guest Additions:

emerge virtualbox-guest-additions

Install GNOME:

emerge gnome

Wait

Configure settings for GNOME:

/etc/init.d/dbus start

rc-update add dbus default

echo "exec gnome-session" > ~/.xinitrc

sed -i '1i\export XDG_MENU_PREFIX=gnome-' ~/.xinitrc

startx

Exit GDM

rc-update add xdm default

Add to /etc/conf.d/xdm:

DISPLAYMANAGER="gdm"

Install Chromium:

export ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~x86"

emerge -av www-client/chromium

Reboot

reboot

Clone the VirtualBox VM for backup purposes.