Gentoo PrefixTo bring out the virtues of Gentoo Linux on different operating systems, the Gentoo Prefix project develops and maintains a way of installing Gentoo systems in a non-standard location, designated by a "prefix". Usually, Gentoo Linux's package manager (portage) installs in the root of the filesystem hierarchy known as /. On systems other than Gentoo Linux, this usually results in problems, due to conflicts of software packages , unless the OS is adapted like Gentoo/FreeBSD. Instead, Gentoo Prefix installs within an offset, known as a prefix, allowing users to install Gentoo in another location in the filesystem hierarchy, hence avoiding conflicts. Next to this offset, Gentoo Prefix runs unprivileged, meaning no root user or rights are required to use it. By using an offset (the "prefix" location), it is possible for many "alternative" user groups to benefit from a large part of the packages in the Gentoo Linux Portage tree. Currently users of the following systems successfully run Gentoo Prefix: Mac OS X on PPC and x86, Linux on x86, x86_64 and ia64, Solaris 10 on Sparc, Sparc/64, x86 and x86_64, FreeBSD on x86, AIX on PPC, Interix on x86, Windows on x86 (with the help of Interix), HP-UX on PARISC and ia64. To get a prefixed Portage installed on your system, you need to go through a few steps we call bootstrapping. We currently only have detailed guides on Mac OS X and Solaris systems, but if you have another system, following the Solaris guide might be enough for you. The systems that are known to work with a prefixed Portage are various Linux systems and FreeBSD. Note that, for systems where bash is missing, you need to bootstrap it first with the bootstrap-bash.sh script. It can be found next to bootstrap-prefix.sh as indicated by the guides. Windows users can get directly up to speed using the Interix installers. To ease the setup of a prefixed Portage installation, the Gentoo Prefix project provides a script called bootstrap-prefix.sh. This script is a sort of kickstart in the bootstrap process, automating downloading the Portage tree, installing Portage and the necessary temporary helper applications. In addition, it tries to setup a profile and prepares those settings that it can deduce automatically. The location of the correct bootstrap-prefix.sh script as well as how and when to use it is described in each platforms' bootstrap process HOWTO. The following guides give a detailed description on how to install a prefixed Portage on the selected platforms.
Windows users can find the documentation and ISO images for the Interix port of Gentoo Prefix on our mirrors. More documentation as well as pointers for support can be found in our Resources section.
All developers can be reached by e-mail using nickname@gentoo.org. To keep track of the supported platforms, the following matrix is maintained. It also provides feedback on which developer is maintaining the platform or has direct access to such systems.
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Resources offered by the prefix project are:
Over time, developers come and go again. Some mysteriously disappear, others loose interest and decide to leave. For all past contributors we would like to express our gratitude towards them for helping the Prefix project to become what it is today.
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