[TAG] udev hosed

[mso@oz.net]

Ramon wrote:
> On 25 Oct , 2005, at 10:45 PM, Benjamin A. Okopnik wrote:
>
>> On Tue, Oct 25, 2005 at 09:04:34PM +0200, Ramon van Alteren wrote:
>>>
>>> Using the Packages CD is nicely documented in the gentoo handbook:
>>> http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/2005.1/handbook-amd64.xml?
>>> part=1&chap=11#doc_chap2 The entire handbook should be on the CD
>>> as well
>>>
>>
>> Ah-ha! I recalled seeing that somewhere in the handbook, but
>> managed to
>> somehow miss it on the subsequent searches - and searching the Gentoo
>> site for "Packages CD" gives you nothing. Thank you, Ramon!
>
> Most welcome. It's usually refered to as GRP: Gentoo Reference Platform
> God knows why though, especially since they changed the name of the
> CD to Packages CD.

I never could find the Packages CD or the CD of precompiled packages the
documentation seemed to hint at.  I just gave up and compiled all the
packages the normal way.

One trick I haven't seen in the documentation is that some huge packages
come in pairs.  So "openoffice" is compile-it-yourself but
"openoffice-bin" is precompiled.  Same for "mozilla-firefox" and
"mozilla-firefox-bin".

> Agreed, I usually set PS1 differently for the chroot I'm working in
> otherwise I get confused somewhere during the install. Normal
> installs aren't that much of problem but the more complicated ones
> with lots of manual configuration are a pain. I _always_ get confused
> between all the different terminals I have open.

The easiest way to install Gentoo is from a working Linux system.  You
don't even need the install CD image, just the stage 3 tarball and portage
snapshot tarball.  Then you chroot into the new system to configure it and
install more software -- I use a Konsole tab for that.  Chroot is five
commands you have to type every time (mount, mount, chroot, env-update,
source) -- which you can't script because it crosses a chroot boundary --
but at least it's only five.

I haven't had a problem with remembering which window is which, but then I
keep my tabs organized.
(1) For short actions like starting graphical programs or running 'cal' or
'man', cd'd to my most-used directory.
(2) For a second project, cd'd to its directory.
(3) A root login, in case I need to do something as root.  (It stays at
the password prompt if I never need it, and has a light yellow background
to remind me not to do anything stupid there.)
(4, 5) For long-running programs like chroot or a web app I'm debugging.

>> Don't get me wrong: it's a pretty nice distro in lots of ways. It's
>> just
>> that right now, at this very moment, it's the negative stuff that's
>> most
>> prominent - and _boy_ is it ever prominent.

Gentoo is flexible, the USE flags are more convenient than spit-up
packages, and it stays closer to upstream so there's less to go wrong. 
But the package query tools are unfinished.  'equery', 'qpkg' and
'esearch' all overlap but not completely, and each has different arguments
and output format.  Doing "I want a package that does X" usually requires
a trip to packages.quixote.org .  So it's harder to browse what's
available than with Debian, especially since packages have one-line
descriptions rather than a couple paragraphs.  I think there are a couple
graphical front-ends for package management that may alleviate this but I
haven't explored them.  But you have to memorize their names, as well as
the names of other specialized commands you might need.

The best thing to do is to print out the Gentoo Handbook and read it
twice.  Second is to browse through the HOWTO list
(http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/) and remember the titles.  Third is to read
"man portage" if you forget where a configuration file is or what its
format is.  Remember: "man portage" for an overview, "man emerge" to
install something.

I realize none of this helps Ben while he lacks Internet access.  I'm
sending the Java doorknob via carrier pigeon.  (Yes, Larry Wall's original
pigeon that carried clay tablets.  It's *old*, I tell you.)  It has a
wireless adapter built-in, and the front is a curved screen that usually
shows a background image, but it comes with a Dillo browser for
websurfing.

-- Mike