[gentoo-user] Installing Gentoo via Gentoo ?

[gentoo-user] Installing Gentoo via Gentoo ?

[meino.cramer]

Hi,

currently I am reading the Gentoo-Handbokk about installing a 
new Gentoo-System via boot-CD.

If I have a running Gentoo-Sytem on my PC...would it be
possible to install a new Gentoo-System on a fresh harddisk,
which is currently unpartitioned and unformatted electrically
wired with my PC (SATAII) ?

Just an idea...

Thanks a lot for any help in advance!
Best regards
mcc

-- 
Please don't send me any Word- or Powerpoint-Attachments
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Re: [gentoo-user] Installing Gentoo via Gentoo ?

[Zeerak Mustafa Waseem]

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On Sun, Apr 18, 2010 at 02:21:19PM +0200, meino.cramer@gmx.de wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> currently I am reading the Gentoo-Handbokk about installing a 
> new Gentoo-System via boot-CD.
> 
> If I have a running Gentoo-Sytem on my PC...would it be
> possible to install a new Gentoo-System on a fresh harddisk,
> which is currently unpartitioned and unformatted electrically
> wired with my PC (SATAII) ?
> 
> Just an idea...
> 
> Thanks a lot for any help in advance!
> Best regards
> mcc
> 
> -- 
> Please don't send me any Word- or Powerpoint-Attachments
> unless it's absolutely neccessary. - Send simply Text.
> See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html
> In a world without fences and walls nobody needs gates and windows.
> 
> 

Should be, the most important thing for a Gentoo install is after all a commandline after all :-)
(And the necessary tools the handbook assumes you have as they are on the boot-cd)

-- 
Zeerak Waseem

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[gentoo-user] Re: Installing Gentoo via Gentoo ?

[Lie Ryan]

On 04/18/10 22:21, meino.cramer@gmx.de wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> currently I am reading the Gentoo-Handbokk about installing a 
> new Gentoo-System via boot-CD.
> 
> If I have a running Gentoo-Sytem on my PC...would it be
> possible to install a new Gentoo-System on a fresh harddisk,
> which is currently unpartitioned and unformatted electrically
> wired with my PC (SATAII) ?

Yes, you should be able to, installing Gentoo is basically just copying
a bunch of files to a partition in a harddisk, nothing magical.

However, you will have to be able to compile a compatible kernel from
your PC. Compatible usually means either your PC have the same
architecture as your laptop (which means everything should be already
setup) or you have to cross-compile the kernel.

I've never done kernel cross-compiling, but it's definitely possible,
you just need to modify modify some of the Makefile manually (search on
google for a howto).

Also, I'm not sure whether a bootloader installation needs to mess with
the BIOS. I *think* it shouldn't, as the low-level booting process
between the box and the harddisk is controlled by BIOS from MBR and
grub/lilo is just installing onto the MBR.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Installing Gentoo via Gentoo ?

[Zeerak Mustafa Waseem]

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On Sun, Apr 18, 2010 at 10:57:05PM +1000, Lie Ryan wrote:
> On 04/18/10 22:21, meino.cramer@gmx.de wrote:
> > 
> > Hi,
> > 
> > currently I am reading the Gentoo-Handbokk about installing a 
> > new Gentoo-System via boot-CD.
> > 
> > If I have a running Gentoo-Sytem on my PC...would it be
> > possible to install a new Gentoo-System on a fresh harddisk,
> > which is currently unpartitioned and unformatted electrically
> > wired with my PC (SATAII) ?
> 
> Yes, you should be able to, installing Gentoo is basically just copying
> a bunch of files to a partition in a harddisk, nothing magical.
> 
> However, you will have to be able to compile a compatible kernel from
> your PC. Compatible usually means either your PC have the same
> architecture as your laptop (which means everything should be already
> setup) or you have to cross-compile the kernel.
> 
> I've never done kernel cross-compiling, but it's definitely possible,
> you just need to modify modify some of the Makefile manually (search on
> google for a howto).
> 
> Also, I'm not sure whether a bootloader installation needs to mess with
> the BIOS. I *think* it shouldn't, as the low-level booting process
> between the box and the harddisk is controlled by BIOS from MBR and
> grub/lilo is just installing onto the MBR.
> 
> 

About the bootloader shouldn't one set that up on the individual machine? I'm sure everything but the bootloader could be done from another machine, but my guess is a bootcd would be necessary for the actual bootloader.

-- 
Zeerak Waseem

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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Installing Gentoo via Gentoo ?

[meino.cramer]

Zeerak Mustafa Waseem <zeerak.w@gmail.com> [10-04-18 15:28]:
> On Sun, Apr 18, 2010 at 10:57:05PM +1000, Lie Ryan wrote:
> > On 04/18/10 22:21, meino.cramer@gmx.de wrote:
> > > 
> > > Hi,
> > > 
> > > currently I am reading the Gentoo-Handbokk about installing a 
> > > new Gentoo-System via boot-CD.
> > > 
> > > If I have a running Gentoo-Sytem on my PC...would it be
> > > possible to install a new Gentoo-System on a fresh harddisk,
> > > which is currently unpartitioned and unformatted electrically
> > > wired with my PC (SATAII) ?
> > 
> > Yes, you should be able to, installing Gentoo is basically just copying
> > a bunch of files to a partition in a harddisk, nothing magical.
> > 
> > However, you will have to be able to compile a compatible kernel from
> > your PC. Compatible usually means either your PC have the same
> > architecture as your laptop (which means everything should be already
> > setup) or you have to cross-compile the kernel.
> > 
> > I've never done kernel cross-compiling, but it's definitely possible,
> > you just need to modify modify some of the Makefile manually (search on
> > google for a howto).
> > 
> > Also, I'm not sure whether a bootloader installation needs to mess with
> > the BIOS. I *think* it shouldn't, as the low-level booting process
> > between the box and the harddisk is controlled by BIOS from MBR and
> > grub/lilo is just installing onto the MBR.
> > 
> > 
> 
> About the bootloader shouldn't one set that up on the individual machine? I'm sure everything but the bootloader could be done from another machine, but my guess is a bootcd would be necessary for the actual bootloader.
> 
> -- 
> Zeerak Waseem

...to clearify things a little:
I want to setup a new system on a harddisk, which is currently
connected to the second SATA-connector. The old system, which should
be replaced by the new system as soon as this one is setup, is on
a harddisk currently connected with the first SATA connector.

Beside the harddisks, which later will be swapped, everything remains
the same.

Later the new system will run the same hardware as currently the old
system does.

Best regards
mcc




-- 
Please don't send me any Word- or Powerpoint-Attachments
unless it's absolutely neccessary. - Send simply Text.
See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html
In a world without fences and walls nobody needs gates and windows.

[gentoo-user] Re: Installing Gentoo via Gentoo ?

[Grant Edwards]

On 2010-04-18, Lie Ryan <lie.1296@gmail.com> wrote:

> Yes, you should be able to, installing Gentoo is basically just copying
> a bunch of files to a partition in a harddisk, nothing magical.

Precisely.

> However, you will have to be able to compile a compatible kernel from
> your PC. Compatible usually means either your PC have the same
> architecture as your laptop (which means everything should be already
> setup) or you have to cross-compile the kernel.

Cross compiling the kernel is fairly trivial, but you need a
cross-toolchain.  Building one with crosstool-NG isn't too hard, but
its' not trivial either.

> I've never done kernel cross-compiling, but it's definitely possible,
> you just need to modify modify some of the Makefile manually (search on
> google for a howto).

You don't actually need to modify the Makefile if you don't want to.
You can do it from the command line:

  make ARCH=targetarch CROSS_COMPILE=/path/to/cross/compiler

-- 
Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Installing Gentoo via Gentoo ?

[meino.cramer]

Grant Edwards <grant.b.edwards@gmail.com> [10-04-18 16:00]:
> On 2010-04-18, Lie Ryan <lie.1296@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > Yes, you should be able to, installing Gentoo is basically just copying
> > a bunch of files to a partition in a harddisk, nothing magical.
> 
> Precisely.
> 
> > However, you will have to be able to compile a compatible kernel from
> > your PC. Compatible usually means either your PC have the same
> > architecture as your laptop (which means everything should be already
> > setup) or you have to cross-compile the kernel.
> 
> Cross compiling the kernel is fairly trivial, but you need a
> cross-toolchain.  Building one with crosstool-NG isn't too hard, but
> its' not trivial either.
> 
> > I've never done kernel cross-compiling, but it's definitely possible,
> > you just need to modify modify some of the Makefile manually (search on
> > google for a howto).
> 
> You don't actually need to modify the Makefile if you don't want to.
> You can do it from the command line:
> 
>   make ARCH=targetarch CROSS_COMPILE=/path/to/cross/compiler
> 
> -- 
> Grant
> 

...no, I dont want to cross-compile anything. Everything will run
on the same identical CPU (not only product-wise, but even the CPU
(as a thing) will remain the same! :) )




-- 
Please don't send me any Word- or Powerpoint-Attachments
unless it's absolutely neccessary. - Send simply Text.
See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html
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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Installing Gentoo via Gentoo ?

[dhk]

On 04/18/2010 09:58 AM, Grant Edwards wrote:
> On 2010-04-18, Lie Ryan <lie.1296@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Yes, you should be able to, installing Gentoo is basically just copying
>> a bunch of files to a partition in a harddisk, nothing magical.
> 
> Precisely.
> 
>> However, you will have to be able to compile a compatible kernel from
>> your PC. Compatible usually means either your PC have the same
>> architecture as your laptop (which means everything should be already
>> setup) or you have to cross-compile the kernel.
> 
> Cross compiling the kernel is fairly trivial, but you need a
> cross-toolchain.  Building one with crosstool-NG isn't too hard, but
> its' not trivial either.
> 
>> I've never done kernel cross-compiling, but it's definitely possible,
>> you just need to modify modify some of the Makefile manually (search on
>> google for a howto).
> 
> You don't actually need to modify the Makefile if you don't want to.
> You can do it from the command line:
> 
>   make ARCH=targetarch CROSS_COMPILE=/path/to/cross/compiler
> 

I'm about to do the same thing.  My current disk is almost full and my
/usr partition isn't big enough, most of the time I can get it down to
95% but often goes to 100%.  In the next week or two I will move my
system to another drive with lvm or at least a different partition
configuration.  I'll either do a fresh install or a stage4 install.  You
may want to look into that:  a stage4 install.  The documentation is at
http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Custom_Stage4 and it looks pretty good
and simple.  This may be the way you want to go.

dhk

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Installing Gentoo via Gentoo ?

[meino.cramer]

dhk <dhkuhl@optonline.net> [10-04-18 16:20]:
> On 04/18/2010 09:58 AM, Grant Edwards wrote:
> > On 2010-04-18, Lie Ryan <lie.1296@gmail.com> wrote:
> > 
> >> Yes, you should be able to, installing Gentoo is basically just copying
> >> a bunch of files to a partition in a harddisk, nothing magical.
> > 
> > Precisely.
> > 
> >> However, you will have to be able to compile a compatible kernel from
> >> your PC. Compatible usually means either your PC have the same
> >> architecture as your laptop (which means everything should be already
> >> setup) or you have to cross-compile the kernel.
> > 
> > Cross compiling the kernel is fairly trivial, but you need a
> > cross-toolchain.  Building one with crosstool-NG isn't too hard, but
> > its' not trivial either.
> > 
> >> I've never done kernel cross-compiling, but it's definitely possible,
> >> you just need to modify modify some of the Makefile manually (search on
> >> google for a howto).
> > 
> > You don't actually need to modify the Makefile if you don't want to.
> > You can do it from the command line:
> > 
> >   make ARCH=targetarch CROSS_COMPILE=/path/to/cross/compiler
> > 
> 
> I'm about to do the same thing.  My current disk is almost full and my
> /usr partition isn't big enough, most of the time I can get it down to
> 95% but often goes to 100%.  In the next week or two I will move my
> system to another drive with lvm or at least a different partition
> configuration.  I'll either do a fresh install or a stage4 install.  You
> may want to look into that:  a stage4 install.  The documentation is at
> http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Custom_Stage4 and it looks pretty good
> and simple.  This may be the way you want to go.
> 
> dhk
> 

Hi dhk,

...same reasons here: A two small harddisk, a system, which suffers
from to less experience as at was initially installed and a person,
who wants a fresh one in no time, since time cannot be bought in re-
peatedly bigger amounts as with harddisks :)

Thank you very much in advance for the hint, dhk!
One question: Is it possible to install a new system while starting
with an initially empty "world" file, which will be populated then
while the configuration/installation process?

keep hacking!
mcc


-- 
Please don't send me any Word- or Powerpoint-Attachments
unless it's absolutely neccessary. - Send simply Text.
See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html
In a world without fences and walls nobody needs gates and windows.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Installing Gentoo via Gentoo ?

[dhk]

On 04/18/2010 10:37 AM, meino.cramer@gmx.de wrote:
> dhk <dhkuhl@optonline.net> [10-04-18 16:20]:
>> On 04/18/2010 09:58 AM, Grant Edwards wrote:
>>> On 2010-04-18, Lie Ryan <lie.1296@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Yes, you should be able to, installing Gentoo is basically just copying
>>>> a bunch of files to a partition in a harddisk, nothing magical.
>>>
>>> Precisely.
>>>
>>>> However, you will have to be able to compile a compatible kernel from
>>>> your PC. Compatible usually means either your PC have the same
>>>> architecture as your laptop (which means everything should be already
>>>> setup) or you have to cross-compile the kernel.
>>>
>>> Cross compiling the kernel is fairly trivial, but you need a
>>> cross-toolchain.  Building one with crosstool-NG isn't too hard, but
>>> its' not trivial either.
>>>
>>>> I've never done kernel cross-compiling, but it's definitely possible,
>>>> you just need to modify modify some of the Makefile manually (search on
>>>> google for a howto).
>>>
>>> You don't actually need to modify the Makefile if you don't want to.
>>> You can do it from the command line:
>>>
>>>   make ARCH=targetarch CROSS_COMPILE=/path/to/cross/compiler
>>>
>>
>> I'm about to do the same thing.  My current disk is almost full and my
>> /usr partition isn't big enough, most of the time I can get it down to
>> 95% but often goes to 100%.  In the next week or two I will move my
>> system to another drive with lvm or at least a different partition
>> configuration.  I'll either do a fresh install or a stage4 install.  You
>> may want to look into that:  a stage4 install.  The documentation is at
>> http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Custom_Stage4 and it looks pretty good
>> and simple.  This may be the way you want to go.
>>
>> dhk
>>
> 
> Hi dhk,
> 
> ...same reasons here: A two small harddisk, a system, which suffers
> from to less experience as at was initially installed and a person,
> who wants a fresh one in no time, since time cannot be bought in re-
> peatedly bigger amounts as with harddisks :)
> 
> Thank you very much in advance for the hint, dhk!
> One question: Is it possible to install a new system while starting
> with an initially empty "world" file, which will be populated then
> while the configuration/installation process?
> 
> keep hacking!
> mcc
> 
> 

I'm not an expert, but I think it is possible.

Beware I haven't done this yet, but this is the procedure I'm going to
try in the the next couple of weeks.

Do the following in a terminal window from your working system.
 1) Plug in the new drive.
 2) Boot your machine as usual to the old Gentoo.
 3) Run fdisk on the new drive to make partitions you want on your new
system (fdisk /dev/sdb).
 4) Make your file systems with mke2fs and mkswap, then run swapon
/dev/sdb?.
 5) Make all the mount points for all your partitions, but instead of
doing it on your new drive do it on your old drive in the /mnt directory
(mkdir -p /mnt/sdb/boot /mnt/sdb/tmp /mnt/sdb/usr /mnt/sdb/var . . .)
and make one extra mount point for your old system bin (mkdir -p
/mnt/sdb/oldsysbin).
 6) Mount the directories on /dev/sdb from /dev/sda (mount -t ext3
/dev/sdb7 /mnt/sdb/usr).
 7) Mount your old system bin for the tar command. My tar is in /bin and
/bin is on (df -k /bin) /dev/sda3.  Run "mount -t ext3 /dev/sda3
/mnt/oldsys/" to mount the bin directory.
 8) Make the stage4.  At the end of the documentation in the link above
there are scripts that seem to work.  Make sure you change the
stage4Location in mkstage4.sh to some place with a lot of room.  In this
example I'd change it to "stage4Location=/mnt/sdb/usr/" remembering the
trailing slash.  Making it could take a few hours.
 9) Now the tricky part.  So not to confuse the root partitions (the old
and new) I would do a chroot.  Run: chroot /mnt/sdb /bin/bash and export
PS1="(chroot) $PS1" .
 10) Install the stage4.  Change to the /usr directory and if all is
correct you should see your stage4 there.  Do a df -k also to make sure
everything looks right.  Now install the stage4, run: /oldsys/bin/tar
xvjpf stage4-*.tar.bz2

When this is done exit chroot and umount everything in /mnt/sdb.  Shut
down the machine.  If all went well you should now be able to unplug
either drive and boot to the other.  I would boot to the old drive first
to make sure that still works as if nothing happened.  Then shutdown,
unplug the old drive and plug in the new drive.  See if you can boot to
the new drive.  This should be a mirror image of the old drive with the
new partition sizes.

Once again, I haven't tried this yet.  Maybe solicit some other
opinions.  I don't think it will affect the original system and it
should allow you to work in another terminal while your building the new
drive.

Does this make sense.  Let me know if it works.

Good luck,

dhk

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Installing Gentoo via Gentoo ?

[dhk]

On 04/18/2010 12:30 PM, dhk wrote:
> On 04/18/2010 10:37 AM, meino.cramer@gmx.de wrote:
>> dhk <dhkuhl@optonline.net> [10-04-18 16:20]:
>>> On 04/18/2010 09:58 AM, Grant Edwards wrote:
>>>> On 2010-04-18, Lie Ryan <lie.1296@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Yes, you should be able to, installing Gentoo is basically just copying
>>>>> a bunch of files to a partition in a harddisk, nothing magical.
>>>>
>>>> Precisely.
>>>>
>>>>> However, you will have to be able to compile a compatible kernel from
>>>>> your PC. Compatible usually means either your PC have the same
>>>>> architecture as your laptop (which means everything should be already
>>>>> setup) or you have to cross-compile the kernel.
>>>>
>>>> Cross compiling the kernel is fairly trivial, but you need a
>>>> cross-toolchain.  Building one with crosstool-NG isn't too hard, but
>>>> its' not trivial either.
>>>>
>>>>> I've never done kernel cross-compiling, but it's definitely possible,
>>>>> you just need to modify modify some of the Makefile manually (search on
>>>>> google for a howto).
>>>>
>>>> You don't actually need to modify the Makefile if you don't want to.
>>>> You can do it from the command line:
>>>>
>>>>   make ARCH=targetarch CROSS_COMPILE=/path/to/cross/compiler
>>>>
>>>
>>> I'm about to do the same thing.  My current disk is almost full and my
>>> /usr partition isn't big enough, most of the time I can get it down to
>>> 95% but often goes to 100%.  In the next week or two I will move my
>>> system to another drive with lvm or at least a different partition
>>> configuration.  I'll either do a fresh install or a stage4 install.  You
>>> may want to look into that:  a stage4 install.  The documentation is at
>>> http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Custom_Stage4 and it looks pretty good
>>> and simple.  This may be the way you want to go.
>>>
>>> dhk
>>>
>>
>> Hi dhk,
>>
>> ...same reasons here: A two small harddisk, a system, which suffers
>> from to less experience as at was initially installed and a person,
>> who wants a fresh one in no time, since time cannot be bought in re-
>> peatedly bigger amounts as with harddisks :)
>>
>> Thank you very much in advance for the hint, dhk!
>> One question: Is it possible to install a new system while starting
>> with an initially empty "world" file, which will be populated then
>> while the configuration/installation process?
>>
>> keep hacking!
>> mcc
>>
>>
> 
> I'm not an expert, but I think it is possible.
> 
> Beware I haven't done this yet, but this is the procedure I'm going to
> try in the the next couple of weeks.
> 
> Do the following in a terminal window from your working system.
>  1) Plug in the new drive.
>  2) Boot your machine as usual to the old Gentoo.
>  3) Run fdisk on the new drive to make partitions you want on your new
> system (fdisk /dev/sdb).
>  4) Make your file systems with mke2fs and mkswap, then run swapon
> /dev/sdb?.
>  5) Make all the mount points for all your partitions, but instead of
> doing it on your new drive do it on your old drive in the /mnt directory
> (mkdir -p /mnt/sdb/boot /mnt/sdb/tmp /mnt/sdb/usr /mnt/sdb/var . . .)
> and make one extra mount point for your old system bin (mkdir -p
> /mnt/sdb/oldsysbin).
>  6) Mount the directories on /dev/sdb from /dev/sda (mount -t ext3
> /dev/sdb7 /mnt/sdb/usr).
>  7) Mount your old system bin for the tar command. My tar is in /bin and
> /bin is on (df -k /bin) /dev/sda3.  Run "mount -t ext3 /dev/sda3
> /mnt/oldsys/" to mount the bin directory.
>  8) Make the stage4.  At the end of the documentation in the link above
> there are scripts that seem to work.  Make sure you change the
> stage4Location in mkstage4.sh to some place with a lot of room.  In this
> example I'd change it to "stage4Location=/mnt/sdb/usr/" remembering the
> trailing slash.  Making it could take a few hours.
>  9) Now the tricky part.  So not to confuse the root partitions (the old
> and new) I would do a chroot.  Run: chroot /mnt/sdb /bin/bash and export
> PS1="(chroot) $PS1" .
>  10) Install the stage4.  Change to the /usr directory and if all is
> correct you should see your stage4 there.  Do a df -k also to make sure
> everything looks right.  Now install the stage4, run: /oldsys/bin/tar
> xvjpf stage4-*.tar.bz2
> 
> When this is done exit chroot and umount everything in /mnt/sdb.  Shut
> down the machine.  If all went well you should now be able to unplug
> either drive and boot to the other.  I would boot to the old drive first
> to make sure that still works as if nothing happened.  Then shutdown,
> unplug the old drive and plug in the new drive.  See if you can boot to
> the new drive.  This should be a mirror image of the old drive with the
> new partition sizes.
> 
> Once again, I haven't tried this yet.  Maybe solicit some other
> opinions.  I don't think it will affect the original system and it
> should allow you to work in another terminal while your building the new
> drive.
> 
> Does this make sense.  Let me know if it works.
> 
> Good luck,
> 
> dhk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

correction in #7 "mount -t ext3 /dev/sda3 /mnt/oldsys/" should be "mount
-t ext3 /dev/sda3 /mnt/oldsysbin/"

dhk

Re: [gentoo-user] Installing Gentoo via Gentoo ?

[Alan McKinnon]

On Sunday 18 April 2010 14:21:19 meino.cramer@gmx.de wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> currently I am reading the Gentoo-Handbokk about installing a
> new Gentoo-System via boot-CD.
> 
> If I have a running Gentoo-Sytem on my PC...would it be
> possible to install a new Gentoo-System on a fresh harddisk,
> which is currently unpartitioned and unformatted electrically
> wired with my PC (SATAII) ?
> 
> Just an idea...

Of course you can.

Your question betray the fact that you don't fully understand how OS installs 
work. It goes like this:

- You have a running operating system on disk A
- This can be any system you feel like, it can be Ubuntu, a LiveCD, MacOS or 
anything else
- This OS runs an application that writes a crap load of files to disk B (or a 
different partition on the same disk - essentially the same thing)
- Disk B is never the same bit as disk A. It doesn't matter what OS you are 
using to install on disk B, it is never the same thing as disk A. If it is, it 
isn't an install, it's an update
- These files on disk B are written in such a way that they form a functioning 
OS.
- Boot the machine and tell it to use the files on disk B.
- Voila!! B runs, and has nothing to do with A.

It stands to reason that the original A can be Gentoo to install Gentoo on B. 
Don't get hung up on this, it means nothing.

If you have a suitable install app, MacOS can install Gentoo.
If you have a suitable install app, Windows can install Gentoo.
If you have a suitable install app, Gentoo can install Gentoo.

Make sense now?
-- 
alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com

[gentoo-user] Re: Installing Gentoo via Gentoo ?

[Damian]

meino.cramer@gmx.de writes:  > Hi, > > currently I am reading the 
Gentoo-Handbokk about installing a  > new Gentoo-System via 
boot-CD.  > > If I have a running Gentoo-Sytem on my PC...would it 
be > possible to install a new Gentoo-System on a fresh harddisk, 
> which is currently unpartitioned and unformatted electrically > 
wired with my PC (SATAII) ?  > > Just an idea...  I installed 
Gentoo from an Ubuntu installation. Just a couple of things for 
you to keep in mind (I don't know if they will apply in your 
case):  - When chrooting, use the following command to flush your 
environment:

    # env -i HOME=$HOME TERM=$TERM chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash
    # /usr/sbin/env-update
    # source /etc/profile

    - When you are asked to mount the proc system, in the gentoo
    handbook, issue the following command instead:

          # mount -o bind /proc /mnt/gentoo/proc

    - In order to get the network working in a chrooted enviroment you
    will need to copy the /etc/resolv.conf from the working system.

In summary, the Gentoo handbook is your workhorse during the
installation process. You only need to be careful about the particular
details that I mentioned (and that are scattered all over the Gentoo
documentation).


Good luck,
Damian.