## About gentoo-install A installer for gentoo with a simple menuconfig inspired configuration TUI. The configurator is only used to generate a `gentoo.conf` file, which can also be edited by hand if desired. An example configuration is provided with the repository. ## Quick start 1. Download a copy or clone this repo 1. Run `./configure` and save your configuration 1. When using encryption, export your desired key with `export GENTOO_INSTALL_ENCRYPTION_KEY='mypassword'` 1. Run installation using `./install` Every option is explained in detail in `gentoo.conf.example` and in the help menu popups in the configurator. When installing, you will be asked to review the partitioning before anything critical is done. ## Overview This script performs a reasonably minimal installation of gentoo. An EFI system is highly recommended, but legacy BIOS boot is also supported. The script supports both systemd (default) and OpenRC as the init system. The system will use `sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-bin`, which should be suitable to boot most systems out of the box. It is strongly recommend to replace this kernel with a custom built one, when the system is functional. If you are looking for a way to detect and manage your kernel configuration, have a look at [autokernel](https://github.com/oddlama/autokernel). 1. Partition disks (supports gpt, raid, luks) 1. Download and cryptographically verify the newest stage3 tarball 1. Extract the stage3 tarball 1. Sync portage tree 1. Configure portage (create zz-autounmask files, configure MAKEOPTS, EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS) 1. Select the fastest gentoo mirrors 1. Configure the base system 1. Install git and other required tools (e.g. zfs if you have used zfs) 1. Install `sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-bin` (until you replace it) 1. Generate an initramfs with dracut 1. Create efibootmgr entry or install syslinux depending on whether your system uses EFI or BIOS 1. Generate a basic fstab 1. Asks if a root password should be set Also, optionally the following will be done: * Install sshd with secure config * Install dhcpcd (only for OpenRC) * Install additional packages provided in config Anything else is probably out of scope for this script, but you can obviously do anything later on when the system is booted. Here are some things that you probably want to consider doing after the base system installation is finished: * Read the news with `eselect news read`. * Compile a custom kernel and remove `gentoo-kernel-bin` * Adjust `/etc/portage/make.conf` - Set `CFLAGS` to `-O2 -pipe -march=native` for native builds - Set `CPU_FLAGS_X86` using the `cpuid2cpuflags` tool - Set `FEATURES="buildpkg"` if you want to build binary packages * Use a safe umask like `umask 0077` ## Usage Installing gentoo with this script is simple. 1. Boot into the live system of your choice. As the script requires some utilities, I recommend using a live system where you can quickly install new software. Any [Arch Linux](https://www.archlinux.org/download/) live iso works fine. 2. Clone this repository 3. Run `./configure` or create your own `gentoo.conf` following the example file. Particularily pay attention to the device which will be partitioned. The script will ask for confirmation before doing any partitioning - but better be safe here. 4. Execute `./install`. The script should be able to run without any user supervision after partitioning, but depending on the current state of the gentoo repository you might need to intervene in case a package fails to emerge. The critical commands will ask you what to do in case of a failure. ### (Optional) sshd The script can provide a fully configured ssh daemon with reasonably good security settings. It will by default only allow ed25519 keys, restrict key exchange algorithms to a reasonable subset, disable any password based authentication, and only allow root to login. You can provide keys that will be written to root's `.ssh/authorized_keys` file. This will allow you to directly continue your setup with your favourite infrastructure management software. ### (Optional) Additional packages You can add any amount of additional packages to be installed on the target system. These will simply be passed to a final `emerge` call before the script is done, where autounmasking will also be done automatically. It is recommended to keep this to a minimum, because of the quite "interactive" nature of gentoo package management ;) ### Troubleshooting In theory, after the initial sanity check, the script should be able to finish unattendedly. But given the unpredictability of future gentoo versions, you might still run into an issue. The script checks every command for success, so if anything fails during installation, you will be given a proper message of what went wrong. Inside the chroot, most commands will be executed in a checked loop, and allow you to interactively fix problems with a shell, to retry, or to skip the command. ## References * [Sakaki's EFI Install Guide](https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Sakaki%27s_EFI_Install_Guide) * [Gentoo AMD64 Handbook](https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Handbook:AMD64)