[gentoo-amd64] Re: About to install on a 64 bit system. Advice wanted.

[Duncan <1i5t5.duncan@cox.net>]

Frank Peters posted on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 20:54:37 -0500 as excerpted:

> You have to make a symbolic link, /etc/make.profile, to a particular
> profile in /usr/share/portage/profiles, i.e. either the multilib (64/32)
> or the no-multilib (64-bit) profile.  Also, the USE flag "multilib"
> indicates to the compiler that both 32-bit and 64-bit libraries should
> be built.

The newer way to do it is to use eselect profile.  AFAIK that's what the 
manual says to do now days as well.  But all that does is (with list) list 
the suitable profiles, so you don't get mixed up and select a stub that's 
not intended to be used directly, and (with set) set the symlink one used 
to set manually.

But that's something only an old-timer that was also keeping reasonably 
updated with the current manual and/or automated way of doing things could 
be expected to know.  Otherwise, old timers can continue setting the 
symlink manually as they always did, and newbies might very well not 
understand that all it is is a symlink after all, in the first place.

I'm sure it /does/ categorize me as cranky old-timer, but I must admit to 
feeling a bit sad about that loss of "bare metal" configuring knowledge, 
amongst the newbies.  Oh, well, at least the graphical installer project 
got hung up somewhere along the way and isn't considered viable any more.  
To many of us old-timer Gentooers, that was SACRILEGE!  There's /supposed/ 
to be a bit of an entry barrier with Gentoo, as it never was meant as a 
hand-holding distribution, and the graphical installer... just didn't fit 
with what Gentoo /is/ (or at least used to be... and I can't say I'm sad 
to see it hewing to its roots once again).

> Check the Gentoo manual for all the details.  You'd best get used to
> reading the manual early.  Everything is in there.

Dale's been a Gentoo (x86) user for some time and with me is one of the 
few Gentoo users active on the KDE lists.  So he should (/should/, see the 
above lament about the graphical installer, etc, but I /think/ he does) 
know all about the handbook.  He's only new to amd64.

That said, strongly agreed with the sentiment.  Anybody who neglects the 
handbook or only reads the install section is doing themselves a HUGE 
disservice, making the going on Gentoo **FAR** harder than it needs to be, 
for sure.  That certainly applies to experienced folks as well, 
particularly when they're doing a new install, as things change over the 
years, and one can save themselves a LOT of trouble by re-familiarizing 
themselves with the handbook on occasion, with a new install being about 
as good an occasion as they come, /especially/ when it's to a new arch, as 
is the case here.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman