Re: [gentoo-user] mirrorselect on new install

[Mark Knecht <markknecht@gmail.com>]

On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 5:06 PM, Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> wrote:
> On 2011/05/12 17:03 (GMT-0400) Indi composed:
>
>> On 2011/05/12 16:41 (GMT-0400) Felix Miata composed:
>
>>>  http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=1&chap=6
>>> seems to
>>>  have a circular reference, that is, suggesting the use of the subject
>>> utility
>>>  prior to chrooting and having any such utility in $PATH. I've never
>>> installed
>>>  Gentoo before, so maybe I've missed something. Or maybe that page could
>>> use
>>>  another link or some rewrite to clarify?
>
>>>  I tried to find an answer via http://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-user/
>>> but it
>>>  seems to lack a search function/box. :-(
>
>> It's been quite awhile since I installed, but ISTR that mirrorselect
>> must be emerged after chrooting into the new envirnment.
>> You can also just add mirrors manually, like this:
>
>> GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://mirror.mcs.anl.gov/pub/gentoo/
>> ftp://mirror.mcs.anl.gov/pub/gentoo/"
>
> Since I'm familiar and happy with mirrors.us.kernel.org performance, I might
> rather use that, or rsync.us.gentoo.org (if that's not yet another/separate
> entry make.conf needs, not clear from my reading of the OP URL). So all
> GENTOO_MIRRORS needs is the same URL once as http and once as ftp, or is
> that something specific to mcs.anl.gov?
>
> It's encouraging to try a new distro, join its mailing list, ask a question,
> and get 3 answers within half an hour of asking, and even get one 17 minutes
> before I asked the question (2011/05/12 16:24 (GMT-0400) Todd Goodman using
> Mutt). :-)
>
> In the pages preceding
> http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=1&chap=6 it
> seemed as though the process would be easy enough, having built up some
> experience working in chroot lately to fix fubar'd Fedora and Mandriva rpm
> database disasters (https://qa.mandriva.com/show_bug.cgi?id=32547 &
> https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=680508).
>
> I guess I missed the requirement to be running Gentoo to be able to initiate
> an install of Gentoo. I thought whatever Linux was already installed would
> be good enough, until I got to the mirrorselect instructions, and found no
> incorporated alternative such as Indi has replied with.  Indeed, not needing
> to have booted Gentoo to run a Gentoo installer was part of the allure that
> got me started.
>
> I have more than 20 functional multiboot puters, with few having less than 4
> installed operating systems. More typical is 12+. What I use 24/7 are
> openSUSE and eComStation. Most of the rest are either backup, or
> [OS,browser,web site] testing only.
> --
> "The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant
> words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation)
>
>  Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!
>
> Felix Miata  ***  http://fm.no-ip.com/
>
>

Felix,
   Welcome.

   OK, I personally think (not speaking for anyone except myself
here...) that the Gentoo Install Guide is based on what Todd suggested
- the *idea* that the person that's following it booted a Gentoo
Install CD. That' a pretty natural assumption I think. You want to
install Fedora, you boot a Fedora CD, Ubuntu, Ubuntu CD, etc.

   That does _not_ mean however that you MUST boot a Gentoo Install
CD, and it doesn't mean that you have to follow the guide explicitly.
For instance, I seldom set up mirrorselect on new installs as I
generally just copy a make.conf file from another machine and that
copy has the address. I typically don't use links to download the two
big tar file, I do that on some other machine that's already running
Gentoo and the ssh them over to do the new install.

   I guess the point is that there are about as many ways as you want
to do this install. The documentation folks did what works for most
people and let others proceed on their own as they wish.

Hope this helps,
Mark