If the standard boot-from-CD install method doesn't work for you (or you just don't like it), help is now here. This document serves to provide a repository of alternative Gentoo Linux installation techniques to those who need them. Or, if you prefer, it serves as a place to put your wacky installation methods. If you have an installation method that you yourself find useful, or you have devised an amusing way of installing Gentoo, please don't hesitate to write something up and post it on Bugzilla.
2. Booting the Install CD with Smart BootManager
Download Smart BootManager available from http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/download.html. Linux source or binary format and windows .exe versions are available as well as many language packs. However, at this time, the preferred method would be to use the binary format, as the source will not compile with newer versions of NASM.
Either compile the package from source or just grab the binary. There are several options that can be utilized while creating your boot floppy, as seen below.
Code Listing 2.1: Smart BootManager Options |
sbminst [-t theme] [-d drv] [-b backup_file] [-u backup_file]
-t theme select the theme to be used, in which the theme could be:
us = English theme de = German theme
hu = Hungarian theme zh = Chinese theme
ru = Russian theme cz = Czech theme
es = Spanish theme fr = French theme
pt = Portuguese theme
-d drv set the drive that you want to install Smart BootManager on;
for Linux:
/dev/fd0 is the first floppy driver,
/dev/hda is the first IDE harddisk driver.
/dev/sda is the first SCSI harddisk driver.
for DOS:
0 is the first floppy drive
128 is the first hard drive;
-c disable CD-ROM booting feature;
-b backup_file backup the data that will be overwritten for
future uninstallation;
-u backup_file uninstall Smart BootManager, should be used alone;
-y do not ask any question or warning.
|
Code Listing 2.2: Using sbminst to build the boot floppy |
# sbminst -t us -d /dev/fd0
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Note: Replace fd0 with your respective floppy device name if yours is different. |
Now simply place the floppy in the floppy drive of the computer you'd like to boot the Install CD on, as well as placing the Install CD in the CD-ROM and boot the computer.
You'll be greeted with the Smart BootManager dialog. Select your CD-ROM and press ENTER to boot the Install CD. Once booted proceed with the standard installation instructions.
Further information on Smart BootManager may be found at http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/
Note: Knoppix is only available for x86 users. |
Booting from the Knoppix LiveCD is a way to have a fully functional system while you're compiling Gentoo. Tux Racer will help you pass the time while you wait, and you can use OpenOffice for work.
Warning: Be aware that if you save anything in Knoppix's home directory while waiting for your Gentoo system to install, it will not be available when you reboot into Gentoo. Be sure to save important files on the hard disk or on some other computer! |
Boot from the Knoppix CD. If you have Knoppix 3.6-3.8.2, you will need to specify knoppix26 as a boot option to load a 2.6 kernel. If you miss this step, when you chroot, you will recieve an error saying that your kernel is too old. If, however, you have Knoppix 3.9+, this step is unnecessary, since the 2.6 kernel is default.
By default Knoppix boots into a KDE desktop. Open a konsole and su - so you can change your password. This lets you set the root password for Knoppix. You can now configure sshd for remote login, at your preference.
Code Listing 3.1: Creating the /mnt/gentoo mountpoint |
# mkdir /mnt/gentoo
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At this point, you can pick up with the standard install documentation at part 4. However, when you are asked to mount the proc system, issue the following command instead:
Code Listing 3.2: Bind-mounting the proc pseudo filesystem |
# mount -o bind /proc /mnt/gentoo/proc
|
Also, know that some of Portage's FEATURES will not work in knoppix. Especially watch out for userpriv and usersandbox. If you find yourself getting errors, it might be wise to disable some or all of the optional features.
4. Diskless install using PXE boot
You will need a network card on the diskless client that uses the PXE protocol to boot, like many 3com cards. You will also need a BIOS that supports booting from PXE.
Create directories: The first thing to do is to create the directories where your diskless system will be stored. Create a directory called /diskless which houses a directory for each diskless client. For the rest of this howto we'll be working on the client 'eta'.
Code Listing 4.1: Directory setup |
# mkdir /diskless # mkdir /diskless/eta # mkdir /diskless/eta/boot |
DHCP and TFTP setup: The client will get boot informations using DHCP and download all the required files using TFTP.
For dhcpd, just run emerge dhcp (or any other DHCP server of your choice). Make sure that the correct interface is selected in /etc/conf.d/dhcpd, and configure it for your basic needs. Then, add the following on /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf.
Note: This provides a static IP address for the client and the path of a PXE boot image, here pxegrub. You have to replace the MAC address of the ethernet card of the client and the directory where you will put the client files with the one you use. |
Code Listing 4.2: dhcpd.conf |
option option-150 code 150 = text ;
ddns-update-style none ;
host eta {
hardware ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00;
fixed-address ip.add.re.ss;
option option-150 "/eta/boot/grub.lst";
filename "/eta/boot/pxegrub";
}
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Next you'll need to configure your interface in /etc/conf.d/net so that it doesn't get cleared at bootup. See /etc/conf.d/net.example for more information.
Code Listing 4.3: /etc/conf.d/net |
(Replace eth0 with the correct interface)
config_eth0=( "noop" )
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For TFTP, emerge app-admin/tftp-hpa. In /etc/conf.d/in.tftpd, put the following :
Code Listing 4.4: in.tftpd |
INTFTPD_PATH="/diskless"
INTFTPD_USER="nobody"
INTFTPD_OPTS="-u ${INTFTPD_USER} -l -vvvvvv -p -c -s ${INTFTPD_PATH}"
|
Setup GRUB: To provide PXE booting I use GRUB with the netboot USE flag enabled. Once GRUB is compiled, copy the PXE image to the diskless client's boot directory. Then edit its grub.lst config file.
Code Listing 4.5: Grub setup |
# echo "sys-boot/grub netboot" >> /etc/portage/package.use # emerge -av grub # cp /usr/lib/grub/pxegrub /diskless/eta/boot/pxegrub # nano -w /diskless/eta/boot/grub.lst |
Code Listing 4.6: grub.lst |
default 0 timeout 30 title=Diskless Gentoo root (nd) kernel /eta/bzImage ip=dhcp root=/dev/nfs nfsroot=ip.add.re.ss:/diskless/eta # For the nfsroot option, the IP address is the one of the server and the directory is the one where your diskless client files are located (on the server). |
Setup NFS: NFS is quite easy to configure. The only thing you have to do is to add a line on the /etc/exports config file:
Code Listing 4.7: /etc/exports |
# nano -w /etc/exports
# /etc/exports: NFS file systems being exported. See exports(5).
/diskless/eta eta(rw,sync,no_root_squash)
|
Update your hosts: One important thing to do now is to modify your /etc/hosts file to fit your needs.
Code Listing 4.8: /etc/hosts |
127.0.0.1 localhost 192.168.1.10 eta.example.com eta 192.168.1.20 sigma.example.com sigma |
Creating the system on the server
You might want to reboot the server with a Gentoo Install CD, although you can very well continue immediately if you know how to proceed with the Gentoo Installation Instructions from an existing installation. Follow the standard install procedure as explained in the Gentoo Handbook BUT with the following differences: When you mount the file system, do the following (where hdaX is the partition where you created the /diskless directory). You do not need to mount any other partitions as all of the files will reside in the /diskless/eta directory.
Code Listing 4.9: Mounting the filesystem |
# mount /dev/hdaX /mnt/gentoo
|
Stage tarballs and chroot: This example uses a stage3 tarball. Mount /proc to your diskless directory and chroot into it to continue with the install. Then follow the installation manual until kernel configuration.
Warning: Be very careful where you extract your stage tarball. You don't want to end up extracting over your existing installation. |
Code Listing 4.10: Extracting the stage tarball |
# cd /mnt/gentoo/diskless/eta/ # tar -xvjpf /mnt/cdrom/gentoo/stage3-*.tar.bz2 # mount -t proc /proc /mnt/gentoo/diskless/eta/proc # cp /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/gentoo/diskless/eta/etc/resolv.conf # chroot /mnt/gentoo/diskless/eta/ /bin/bash # env-update # source /etc/profile |
Kernel configuration: When you do the make menuconfig of your kernel configuration, don't forget to enable the following options with the others recommended into the install howto.
Code Listing 4.11: menuconfig options |
- Your network card device support
(In the kernel, *not* as a module!)
- Under "Networking options" :
[*] TCP/IP networking
[*] IP: kernel level autoconfiguration
[*] IP: DHCP support
[*] IP: BOOTP support
- Under "File systems --> Network File Systems" :
<*> NFS file system support
[*] Provide NFSv3 client support
[*] Root file system on NFS
|
Save the kernel in your chrooted / (not in /boot) according to the pxegrub setting defined earlier. Next configure your diskless client's /etc/fstab.
Code Listing 4.12: /etc/fstab |
# nano -w /etc/fstab
/dev/cdroms/cdrom0 /mnt/cdrom iso9660 noauto,ro 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs nodev,nosuid,noexec 0 0
|
You also need to prevent the client to run a filesystem check:
Code Listing 4.13: Preventing the client to run a filesystem check |
# touch /fastboot # echo "touch /fastboot" >> /etc/conf.d/local.start |
Install nfs-utils since your client will heavily depend on it:
Code Listing 4.14: Installing nfs-utils |
# emerge nfs-utils
|
Bootloader. Don't install another bootloader because we already have one - pxegrub. Simply finish the install and restart the server. Start the services you'll need to boot the new client: DHCP, TFTPD, and NFS.
Code Listing 4.15: Starting services |
# /etc/init.d/dhcp start # /etc/init.d/in.tftpd start # /etc/init.d/nfs start |
For the new client to boot properly, you'll need to configure the bios and the network card to use PXE as the first boot method - before CD-ROM or floppy. For help with this consult your hardware manuals or manufacturers website. The network card should get an IP address using DHCP and download the GRUB PXE image using TFTP. Then, you should see a nice black and white GRUB bootmenu where you will select the kernel to boot and press Enter. If everything is ok the kernel should boot, mount the root filesystem using NFS and provide you with a login prompt. Enjoy.
5. Installing Gentoo from an existing Linux distribution
In order to install Gentoo from your existing Linux distribution you need to have chroot command installed, and have a copy of the Gentoo installation tarball or ISO you want to install. A network connection would be preferable if you want more than what's supplied in your tarball. (by the way, a tarball is just a file ending in .tbz or .tar.gz). The author used RedHat Linux 7.3 as the "host" operating system, but it is not very important. Let's get started!
We will first allocate a partition to Gentoo by resizing our existing Linux partition, mount the partition, untar the tarball to the partition that is mounted, chroot inside the pseudo-system and start building. Once the bootstrap process is done, we will do some final configuration on the system so as to make sure it boots, then we are ready to reboot and use Gentoo.
How should we make space for Gentoo?
The root partition is the filesystem mounted under /. A quick run of mount on my system shows what I am talking about. We well also use df (disk free) to see how much space I have left and how I will be resizing. Note that it is not mandatory to resize your root partition! You could be resizing anything else supported by our resizer, but let's talk about that later.
Code Listing 5.1: Filesystem information |
# mount /dev/hdb2 on / type ext3 (rw) none on /proc type proc (rw) none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620) none on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nodev,nosuid,noexec) # df -h Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/hdb2 4.0G 1.9G 2.4G 82% / none 38M 0 38M 0% /dev/shm |
As we can see, the partition mounted as / named /dev/hdb2 has 2.4 gigabytes free. In my case, I think I will resize it as to leave 400Megs free of space, therefore allocating 2 gigabytes for Gentoo. Not bad, I could have quite some stuff installed. However, I think that even one gigabyte is enough for most users. So let's partition this thing!
Building parted to resize partition
Parted is an utility supplied by the GNU foundation, an old and respectable huge project whose software you are using in this very moment. There is one tool, however, that is extremely useful for us at the moment. It's called parted, partition editor and we can get it from http://www.gnu.org/software/parted/
Note: There are other tools for doing resize of partitions as well, but the author is unsure/uninterested whether PartitionMagic(tm) or other software of the kind do the job. It's the reader's job to check them out |
Look up on that page the type of filesystem you want to resize and see if parted can do it. If not, you're out of luck, you will have to destroy some partition to make space for Gentoo, and reinstall back. Go ahead by downloading the software, install it. Here we have a problem. We want to resize our Linux root partition, therefore we must boot from a floppy disk a minimal linux system and use previously-compiled parted copied to a diskette in order to resize /. However, if you can unmount the partition while still in Linux you are lucky, you don't need to do what follows. Just compile parted and run it on an unmounted partition you chose to resize. Here's how I did it for my system.
Important: Make sure that the operations you want to do on your partition are supported by parted! |
Get the mininux boot/root disk (a 2.4-powered mini Linux distribution on a floppy - free of charge) from http://mininux.free.fr/uk/, create a floppy as suggested in the Documentation that accompanies the software package and insert a new floppy in the drive for the next step.
Note: Note again that Linux is synonym of "There's one more way to do it". Your objective is to run parted on an unmounted partition so it can do its work. You might use some boot/root diskset other than mininux. You might not even need to do this step at all, ie. you might only have umount the filesystem you want to repartition in your Linux session and run parted on it. |
Code Listing 5.2: Utility disk creation |
# mkfs.minix /dev/fd0
480 inodes
1440 blocks
Firstdatazone=19 (19)
Zonesize=1024
Maxsize=268966912
|
We will now proceed with the build of parted. If it's not already downloaded and untarred, do so now and cd into the corresponding directory. Now run the following set of commands to build the utility and copy it to your floppy disk.
Code Listing 5.3: Building the utility floppy |
# mkdir /floppy; mount -t minix /dev/fd0 /floppy &&
export CFLAGS="-O3 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer -static" && ./configure
&& make && cp parted/parted /floppy && umount /floppy
|
Congratulations, you are ready to reboot and resize your partition. Do this only after taking a quick look at the parted documentation on the GNU website. The resize should take under 30 minutes for the largest hard-drives, be patient. Reboot your system with the mininux boot disk (just pop it inside), and once you are logged in, switch the disk in the drive with your utility disk we have created above and type mount /dev/fd0 /floppy to have parted under /floppy. There you go. Run parted and you will be able to resize your partition. Once this lenghty process done, we are ready to have the real fun, by installing Gentoo. Reboot back into your old Linux system for now. The drive you wish to operate on is the drive containing the partition we want to resize. For example, if we want to resize /dev/hda3, the drive is /dev/hda.
Code Listing 5.4: Commands to run once logged into mininux system |
# mount /dev/fd0 /floppy # cd /floppy; ./parted [drive you wish to operate on] (parted) print Disk geometry for /dev/hdb: 0.000-9787.148 megabytes Disk label type: msdos Minor Start End Type Filesystem Flags 1 0.031 2953.125 primary ntfs 3 2953.125 3133.265 primary linux-swap 2 3133.266 5633.085 primary ext3 4 5633.086 9787.148 extended 5 5633.117 6633.210 logical 6 6633.242 9787.148 logical ext3 (parted) help resize resize MINOR START END resize filesystem on partition MINOR MINOR is the partition number used by Linux. On msdos disk labels, the primary partitions number from 1-4, and logical partitions are 5 onwards. START and END are in megabytes (parted) resize 2 3133.266 4000.000 |
Important: Be patient! The computer is working! Just look at the harddrive LED on your case to see that it is really working. This should take between 2 and 30 minutes. |
Once you have resized, boot back into your old linux as described. Then go to The Gentoo Handbook: Preparing the Disks and follow the instructions. When chrooting, use the following command to flush your environment:
Code Listing 5.5: Flushing the environment during chroot |
# env -i HOME=$HOME TERM=$TERM chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash # /usr/sbin/env-update # source /etc/profile |
Enjoy!
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