I just installed Gentoo in less than a dozen minutes (and with just one command). (… Though, a gentoo install is never “done”.)
how in the...
digit 20251229 tyson mx /home/digit % time sudo brl fetch -n timetoo gentoo [sudo] password for digit: [ 1/16 ( 6%)] Determining name * Using timetoo [ 2/16 ( 12%)] Determining CPU architecture * Using x86_64 [ 3/16 ( 18%)] Determining release * Using rolling [ 4/16 ( 25%)] Determining mirror * Checking bedrock.conf [brl-fetch-mirror] items [\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\] 100% * Fast filtering 286 to top 10 [\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\] 100% * Finding fastest mirror from 10 [\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\] 100% * Using http://ftp.fau.de/gentoo [ 5/16 ( 31%)] Making bootstrap directory structure [ 6/16 ( 37%)] Finding bootstrap software group_flavor: amd64 openrc [ 7/16 ( 43%)] Downloading bootstrap software Looking for file matching: ^stage3-amd64-openrc-[^.]*[.]tar[.]\(xz\|bz2\)$ at: http://ftp.fau.de/gentoo/releases/amd64/autobuilds/current-stage3-amd64-openrc/ found: stage3-amd64-openrc-20251228T163057Z.tar.xz Downloading http://ftp.fau.de/gentoo/releases/amd64/autobuilds/current-stage3-amd64-openrc//stage3-amd64-openrc-20251228T163057Z.tar.xz.DIGESTS % Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed 100 1352 100 1352 0 0 4684 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 4694 Downloading http://ftp.fau.de/gentoo/releases/amd64/autobuilds/current-stage3-amd64-openrc//stage3-amd64-openrc-20251228T163057Z.tar.xz % Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed 100 250M 100 250M 0 0 1376k 0 0:03:06 0:03:06 --:--:-- 1189k [ 8/16 ( 50%)] Preparing bootstrap software [\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\] 100% [ 9/16 ( 56%)] Running bootstrap software [\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\] 100% [10/16 ( 62%)] Configuring !!! Section 'gentoo' in repos.conf has location attribute set to nonexistent directory: '/var/db/repos/gentoo' !!! Invalid Repository Location (not a dir): '/var/db/repos/gentoo' * PGP verification method: gemato * Fetching most recent snapshot ... * Trying to retrieve 20251228 snapshot from http://ftp.fau.de/gentoo ... * Fetching file gentoo-20251228.tar.xz.md5sum ... /var/tmp/emerge-webrsync.reeo1M/gentoo-20251228.tar.xz.md5sum 100%[======================================================================================================================================================================================================>] 57 --.-KB/s in 0s 2025-12-29 17:07:38 URL:http://ftp.fau.de/gentoo/snapshots/gentoo-20251228.tar.xz.md5sum [57/57] -> "/var/tmp/emerge-webrsync.reeo1M/gentoo-20251228.tar.xz.md5sum" [1] * Fetching file gentoo-20251228.tar.xz.gpgsig ... /var/tmp/emerge-webrsync.reeo1M/gentoo-20251228.tar.xz.gpgsig 100%[======================================================================================================================================================================================================>] 1000 --.-KB/s in 0s 2025-12-29 17:07:39 URL:http://ftp.fau.de/gentoo/snapshots/gentoo-20251228.tar.xz.gpgsig [1000/1000] -> "/var/tmp/emerge-webrsync.reeo1M/gentoo-20251228.tar.xz.gpgsig" [1] * Fetching file gentoo-20251228.tar.xz ... /var/tmp/emerge-webrsync.reeo1M/gentoo-20251228.tar.xz 100%[======================================================================================================================================================================================================>] 45.76M 1.35MB/s in 35s 2025-12-29 17:08:15 URL:http://ftp.fau.de/gentoo/snapshots/gentoo-20251228.tar.xz [47983992/47983992] -> "/var/tmp/emerge-webrsync.reeo1M/gentoo-20251228.tar.xz" [1] * Checking digest ... * Checking signature with gemato ... [ INFO] Refreshing keys... [ INFO] Keys refreshed. [ INFO] File /var/tmp/emerge-webrsync.reeo1M/gentoo-20251228.tar.xz verified successfully against the signature in /var/tmp/emerge-webrsync.reeo1M/gentoo-20251228.tar.xz.gpgsig: [ INFO] - status: OpenPGPSignatureStatus.GOOD [ INFO] - valid: True, trusted: True [ INFO] - primary key: DCD05B71EAB94199527F44ACDB6B8C1F96D8BF6D [ INFO] - subkey: E1D6ABB63BFCFB4BA02FDF1CEC590EEAC9189250 [ INFO] - timestamp: 2025-12-29 01:06:30 UTC * Getting snapshot timestamp ... * Extracting 'gentoo-20251228.tar.xz' ... * Using rsync to refresh '/var/db/repos/gentoo' ... Number of files: 155,780 (reg: 128,249, dir: 27,531) Number of created files: 155,779 (reg: 128,249, dir: 27,530) Number of deleted files: 0 Number of regular files transferred: 128,249 Total file size: 236.44M bytes Total transferred file size: 236.44M bytes Literal data: 236.44M bytes Matched data: 0 bytes File list size: 3.60M File list generation time: 0.001 seconds File list transfer time: 0.000 seconds Total bytes sent: 120.70M Total bytes received: 2.56M sent 120.70M bytes received 2.56M bytes 7.47M bytes/sec total size is 236.44M speedup is 1.92 Performing Global Updates (Could take a couple of minutes if you have a lot of binary packages.) * IMPORTANT: 18 news items need reading for repository 'gentoo'. * Use eselect news read to view new items. [11/16 ( 68%)] Setting locale Found 1 locale declaration in '/etc/locale.gen'. Compiling 2 locales with 2 workers ... [1/2] Compiling locale: C.UTF-8 [2/2] Compiling locale: en_GB.UTF-8 Waiting for active workers to finish their jobs ... The location of the archive shall be '/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive'. Adding 2 locales to the locale archive ... Successfully installed an archive containing 2 locales, of 2.93 MiB in size. [12/16 ( 75%)] Cleaning up [13/16 ( 81%)] Importing users and groups [14/16 ( 87%)] Preparing symlinks [15/16 ( 93%)] Showing [16/16 (100%)] Enabling * Successfully fetched a new gentoo stratum with name timetoo ________________________________________________________ Executed in 683.06 secs fish external usr time 90.03 millis 1.33 millis 88.71 millis sys time 182.29 millis 0.55 millis 181.74 millisThe beauty is that you never fully install the Gentoo you want. It’s about the journey and the friends we make along the way, not the destination.
How does one install friends (i want to compile them first)
emergefrom your parents’ basement(challenge level: impossible)
Friends are a bloatware.
Firends
Reminder: you can say shit on the Internet.
Shit, you can‽
ollama.
I’ve got a local llm model running on my steam deck just to see if it could do it.
It can!
… It is polite, but also somewhat limited… but at least it is honest about its limitations, I have not gotten it to hallucinate anything insane yet.
Anyway yeah I think there are just docker images for ollama, you can install a friend (kind of) today!
Oh man, Silly tavern with kobold is way better. I’ve been using the Omega models and boy oh boy I’ve never had more friends! Or such well fleshed out ones either!
… if you are saying that silly tavern is some kind of local llm thing, i will have to look into that, I’ve not heard of that haha!
Silly tavern is a local fronted, can be used with api models from the internet as well. Highly modular, similar to character ai, but fully local. Would suggest messing with the themes if you know how theming works, its a tab bit dated in design, still amazing though.
Huh, good to know! tyty
No problem, I collect self hosted ai stuff, so of you ever want to know what’s available, I might be able to help so hit me up!
Or it is about the friends you loose after you have successfully installed Gentoo and now maintaining it.
Fun aside: I used Gentoo for more than a decade (15 years?, idk). Since I am back on Debian stable, I don’t feel like I am missing out on stuff I want to try, because I don’t have to wait or solve useflag issues anymore. I still think, Gentoo is a solid distro, but I have other hobbies, too. If it were my sole job to maintain a Gentoo system I would do it. But I don’t want to deal with it anymore in my spare time.
I have Gentoo, it just works, compiling is pretty quick
I’m confused. I also have many hobbies. That’s what compile time is for–big compiles are started just before bed time. Gentoo stays out of your way and gives you more freedom. I concede that I may just be lucky at not having any useflag issues in many years. But I also learned a lot from the first few I stumbled into. It’s this quality of learning I can’t find in any other distro.
I love all non-windows OS tho
Maybe. But, only until bedtime I managed to solve all the issues and I needed to it run overnight. I had use flag issues only every 3 to 6 months, granted, but it was enough for me.
Don’t forget about the anger and rage you develop too.
Frustration is a natural part of learning; ignorance is bliss
“Yes, but after you do, it’ll be blazing fast in the twenty minutes before you’ll have to recompile due to software updates.”
“So, you’re saying that it would have been really efficient if all my eight cores weren’t constantly pegged building software?”
“…Uh, yes.”
“And that optimizing software for the native architecture could have enabled power savings, if those machines weren’t all burning oceans of kilowatt hours building the same software over and over again redundantly?”
“Ah…”
I wonder what CPU performance you would need so that it is compiling all the time given: average package release rate and average compile time of the most commonly installed ones.
Well, it’d be highly contingent on what set of packages one has installed, but it’s an interesting question.
Some non-Gentoo distros ship CPU-optimized builds anyway, so even that is quite questionable.
Blazing fast, as in, a full 1 to 3% faster than a generic build.
I did Gentoo in my 20s when all I could afford was garbage computers. I enjoyed the experience — whether it did or not, it made me feel like I was getting the most out of whatever I had, and I learned SO much about Linux.
Agreed. I blew up. Multiple Gentoo installs, but by the time I stopped using it, I could recover from any of my mistakes. I still miss portage but I actually use my linux machines now instead them being the project themselves :p. I’m a boring Debian boy now…
I run my Gentoo like a Debian by now. All stable (except Firefox) and conservative compiler flags.
Binary packages also look kinda interesting.
Sometimes I want to tinker and I unmask some packages.
Run a Gentoo Prefix maybe? You get portage and can install customized packages like one does, without risking the system.
Interesting. Why not use systemd-nspawn? From what I understand, the kernel is shared anyway.
I don’t think a Gentoo Prefix is anything but an environment directly on the host, it’s not containerized in any way. For me its for a system where the package manager is a bit outdated or I need to patch it, then installing with portage by a Gentoo Prefix helps me do that.
I wanted to try Gentoo to learn more about Linux and compiling.
But that fucking distro just works, and compiling is so automatic I’m done in one command!
I feel betrayed, but also very satisfied by the distro.
Fuck binary blobs.
Sadly, it’s Systemd or Openrc only.
Edit: though there was a s6 custom repo i think, last i looked?
Sadly, it’s Systemd or Openrc only.
You got me quickly checking on that… e.g.:
% eix -c runit [N] sys-process/runit (2.2.0-r2): A UNIX init scheme with service supervision… You sure?
Gentoo’s all about choice.
Sorry, everytime I see the gentoo logo, I see this:
Who’s that pokemon!?!
From Subnautica?
… Subnautica has pokemon?
Ah fuck, I’ve read your comment so now the Nintendo lawyers are knocking on my door
Sorry what?
Can’t hear you.
Too busy playing Brawl on my Steam Deck.
Why does this image have a picture of Techmoan on it? I’m sure he’d love to know he’s become a meme posterboy
Aha I did a double take for the same reason. Not just techmoan but a really old photo of him too.
Love him but Tech Tangents would be more appropriate here lol. That dude loves wasting time.
Is that Techmoan?
Yes (his name is Matt, BTW).
Fun fact: he has no sense of smell/taste.
That’s perfect for british food. He won the lottery there…
My god. The bets you could win with people.
“Okay, so I’m going to eat this - what was in it again? Durian, sardines, kimchee, and muenster cheese salad? Let’s add some onion for crunch and I’m in.”
I might pay to watch Techmoan install Gentoo. (I am a big fan. Loved his dashcam reviews.)
That’s an optimistic timeframe if you want to use kde and firefox.
Gentoo has had an official binary repo for a little while now. Makes installing desktops and browsers pretty painless if you don’t need to tweak the default use flags. Just be sure nothing requires qtwebengine and you’re good to go (or mask it to prevent it being pulled in).
oh lol. so I installed Gentoo in 2007 or so on an AMD K6. I set the architecture to 686. Cause it’s a K6 right?
build failed after a day of compiling. tried again and the build failed again. finally I read the docs and there’s an innocuous like saying all K6s are 586.
What a waste. switched to Debian after some 3y of Gentoo. switched to arch after 10y of Debian. been on arch 6y now…
“I use arch, btw” classic
in my defense, Gentoo was harder to install than arch…
To be expected, difficulty of Arch installation was always overblown, and Gentoo doesn’t have an installer either, but you need to handle stage tarballs while in Arch, you just used pacman
honestly idk why people say the arch install is hard. it takes 30mins max. instructions are fantastic.
A K6 is just a fast Pentium I, it’s not a Pentium II equivalent.
I installed Gentoo 2004.3 under the watchful eye of a Gentoo developer. (Gentoo did come in handy because I was using amd64 Opterons before most binary distributions had 64-bit packages.) It also took me about 3 years to get tired of rebuilding
world“continuously”. I similarly switch to Debian on 2007-11 and I’m writing this from that installation, just migrated across several generations of hardware.honestly I loved Debian stable. unfortunately I got new hardware, and Debian stable didn’t support it. I hacked by on a combination of testing and backports for a bit. but it finally got too much and I made the switch…
Yeah, I run a mixed (unsupported) system from time to time for hw support, but testing requires a lot for admin time than stable does, so I can certainly see that moving to something more malleable than stable. Arguably that’s what I’m doing while my system is mixed, since it’s not (supported) Debian.
I’m guessing this guy is still performing the demonstration tutorial that he started in 1999
I don’t know why you got downvoted. This project has been my default go to for installing Gentoo for a while now.
What is gentoo?
A Hannah Montana Linux wannabe.
Damn, I’m not sure I have the stamina for 3 weeks of that.
How to install gentoo in only 3 weeks
I can do an evening
