Gentoo 2007.0 released

[nelz]

Gentoo 2007.0 has been released today, the release having been delayed by a number of security bugs in major packages that the developers wanted to ensure were cleared.

See http://www.gentoo.org/ for more details.

[spottedcat]

Excellent news. I know I can simply change the profiles in my existing installs but I think I might try an install with 2007.0 because I read that the gtk installer has been 'fixed', and I'd like to see what that means. The Gentoo forums are littered with comments about the 2006.1 gtk installer being 'broken' which is odd because I've done two successful installs with it. Perhaps it's broken if you choose unusual optimisations. I don't know.

Anyway....

Message for Mike. No doubt you'll be including this on a future LXF cover DVD, but can I suggest you use the live DVD rather than the CD? It's 3.7 Gb but only available via bit-torrent. I thought it might appeal to LXF readers because I found the following from a Gentoo dev on the Gentoo forums:

The LiveDVDs are also only available for x86 and amd64, but they contain a few complete graphical environments; KDE, Gnome, Xfce, Fluxbox, etc. They also have distfiles, so not only can you install a basic system, you can install a desktop and related packages if you want so that once you reboot you've got a very solid system.

But I imagine you could still use it for a network install if you want to make life difficult for yourself. Something for everyone?

[Marrea]

Something for everyone?

Everyone? So that's you, spottedcat, and nelz.

The rest of us are still struggling with the easy-peasey Linuxes.

[M-Saunders]

Message for Mike. No doubt you'll be including this on a future LXF cover DVD, but can I suggest you use the live DVD rather than the CD? It's 3.7 Gb but only available via bit-torrent.

Thanks for pointing that out. 3.7GB might be pushing it a bit -- Gentoo isn't for everyone so I'd be looking to include another distro and more software too. If it's easy to remove some stuff from the Live DVD, I'll definitely consider it.

M

[nelz]

Code: Select all

rm -f distfiles/gnome*

[spottedcat]

I've got a much better idea:

Code: Select all

rm -f distfiles/kde*

[M-Saunders]

I'll delete them both and you can just have IceWM

M

[towy71]

I'll delete them both and you can just have IceWM

M

That's just rotten, much better have XFCE ;

[pootman]

twm.
Then there'll be lots of room left for a *buntu, or Mandriva, or some other distro whose latest release merits a news story rather than an announcement...

[shifty_ben]

The rest of us are still struggling with the easy-peasey Linuxes.

Gentoo's not that hard, just takes some getting used to. I haven't looked back since I started using it, though there have been a few occasions where I haven't been able to do something, googled for hours then realized that if I just got around to reading the handbook it's in there. (I didn't have time to read it when I first installed, and I have been using it for a year or so now so have given up on ever getting round to reading the whole thing)

Let us know how the installer goes Spottedcat, but I am just going to be changing my profile (though i have been meaning to update it since portage started warning me about it.)

[spottedcat]

Let us know how the installer goes Spottedcat, but I am just going to be changing my profile

Which is what I did on my now several Gentoo installs - update the profile that is. All remarkably easy and undramatic - a bit of an anti-climax really. Yawn - what shall I do next? Ah, yes.....

.....I think I might try an install with 2007.0 because I read that the gtk installer has been 'fixed'........

Famous last words I fear - the bit about the gtk installer being fixed that is, and those were not my words I hasten to add. There's a bit of a to do over on Gentoo forums about the 2007.0 CD. A sticky no less! Seems that the 2007.0 installer has completely wiped all pre-exisiting partitions on several people's machines - with no pre-warning. That's the allegation anyway. I've downloaded the install CD but I have no particular reason to do yet another install (more's the pity - I quite enjoy it - I learn something new every time). Except to see what everyone's wittering on about perhaps. I'll pop a spare hard drive into one of my machines, set up some partitions and see if the allegations are true. What I really mean is I'll see what I can break.

But, to be honest, the next time I do an install for real I'll try a network install using a live CD from another distro - Ubuntu or Knoppix seem to be favourite - just for the experience. But shifty-ben's right, Marrea. Gentoo's not that bad. Go on. You know you want to.

[shifty_ben]

Thanks for replying spottedcat, I had set the emerge of portage going, and completely forgotten about it. Seeing the reply notification in my inbox prompted me to finish the job. thats one computer done, jsut got to get around to the others now.

[nordle]

Gentoo's not that bad. Go on. You know you want to.

Just remember that your installation method and choice of software has a dramatic impact on the amount of your life you have left to do other things.

I got the live cd via torrent, thinking I didn't really need the 3.7GB DVD. Went through the gtk installer, which was a little flaky, got to the install bit. I went through ticking various packages, assuming they were binary versions. Then this dialogue box popped up with the install stage on a nice progress bar. After 10mins it had got about 10mm across. mmmm weird I thought, there is no title bar text and the bar appears to go to the right off the screen.

So I grabbed the bar and dragged it back, and dragged, and (a little like this post) dragged a truck load more. And eventually found the middle of the progress bar, the frickin MIDDLE!!! My estimates, based on progressbar progress, were that the install would take about 72hours on a 2.9GHZ dual core machine with 2GB RAM.
Needless to say, I bugged out.

Gentoo used to be able to do a stage3 install, meaning binary for most stuff. I think this is still possible, and maybe the 3.7GB DVD has many more binaries on it. I'll have to look into it.

Moral of the story, I guess it really does pay to read the excellent documentation first, before just downloading the nearest live cd and trying to install it.

[shifty_ben]

So I grabbed the bar and dragged it back, and dragged, and (a little like this post) dragged a truck load more. And eventually found the middle of the progress bar, the frickin MIDDLE!!! My estimates, based on progressbar progress, were that the install would take about 72hours on a 2.9GHZ dual core machine with 2GB RAM.
Needless to say, I bugged out.

A progress bar? Consider yourself blessed, imagine telling Gentoo to emerge KDE and dependencies (including X) with nothing to gauge your progress with but the GCC output crawling past on the screen. In fact thats all I see nowadays, but at least I know what to expect. My first Gentoo install took four days of constantly checking to see if the latest set of compilation had finished.

[nelz]

A stage 3 install is mainly binary, but it only covers the base system. If you were emerging KDE/GNOME, X and a bunch of apps, then it would take a long time, especially is you picked openoffice instead of openoffice-bin. For a really fast installation, you need the GRP packages, which are pre-compiled packages that will get a full KDE/GNOME setup going in no time at all. Unfortunately, there don't seem to be many GRP packages yet, although there are some on the DVD.

I still think you are missing the point of Gentoo if you use the installer (although it is good for those installing multiple systems). The best way to install Gentoo is using the handbook, then you really understand what you've got and how it works - in a way that Slackware users can only dream about