My Gentoo Configuration & Dependencies

The following are Gentoo Linux configuration personalised by me.

Motivation

"Building" an minimal, clean and optimum OS for development purposes.

Kernel Configuration

• HID over I2C transport layer ACPI driver [*] (for Elantech touchpad)
• Macintosh device drivers [ ]
• Reiserfs, JFS, XFS, GFS2, OCFS2, Btrfs, NILFS2, F2FS, zonefs [ ]
• ATI Radeon, AMD GPU, Nouveau cards [ ]
• MMC/SD/SDIO card support [ ]
• Sony MemoryStick card support [ ]
• Disable joystick, tablets, touchscreen, [ ]

/etc/portage/make.conf

USE="X pulseaudio elogind postproc text -bindst -ldap -openldap -gnome -systemd -kde -css -bluetooth -multilib -qt -qt5 -qtwebengine -webengine -wayland"
INPUT_DEVICES="libinput synaptics"
VIDEO_CARDS="intel"
MAKEOPTS="-j5"
ACCEPT_LICENSE="*"
GRUB_PLATFORM="efi-64"
PHP_TARGETS="php8-1 php7-4"
NGINX_MODULE_HTTP="fastcgi"

Packages

• app-editors/vim
• app-editors/vscode
• dev-db/mariadb
• dev-lang/php-8.1.16
• dev-lang/php-7.4.33
• dev-php/pecl-imagick
• dev-vcs/git
• mail-client/thunderbird
• media-fonts/noto
• media-fonts/noto-cjk
• media-fonts/noto-emoji
• media-fonts/ubuntu-font-family
• media-gfx/feh
• net-im/discord ---> Can be installed with tar package into /opt/discord and insert dmenu at /usr/local/bin
• net-misc/freerdp
• net-vpn/openvpn
• net-wireless/iwd
• sys-boot/grub
• sys-firmware/intel-microcode
• sys-power/acpilight
• sys-power/acpi ---> Need to give permission to acpilight
• virtual/cron
• www-client/firefox
• www-servers/nginx
• x11-apps/xrandr
• x11-base/xorg-server
• x11-libs/libnotify
• x11-libs/libXScrnSaver ---> For discord
• x11-misc/cbatticon
• x11-misc/i3lock
• x11-misc/i3status
• x11-terms/st
• x11-wm/i3

/etc/portage/package.use

media-libs/libsndfile minimal
app-crypt/gcr gtk
app-text/ghostscript-gpl cups
dev-lang/php -opcache gd mysql pdo mysqli fpm cli intl curl calendar zip xmlreader xmlwriter
app-eselect/eselect-php fpm
app-misc/mime-types nginx
*/* PYTHON_TARGETS: -* python3_11
*/* PYTHON_SINGLE_TARGET: -* python3_11

Manual Kernel Configuration

Please enable framebuffer first!

• Device Drivers
  • Graphic Supports
    • Frame buffer Devices
      • <*> Support for frame buffer device drivers

Synaptics Touchpad

• Device Drivers
  • Input device support
    • Mice
      • [*] Elantech PS/2 protocol extension

Sound

• Device Drivers
  • Sound card support
    • ALSA
      • [*] Build Realtek HD-audio codec support
      • [*] Build Analog Devices HD-audio codec support
      • [*] Build IDT/Sigmatel HD-audio codec support
      • [*] Build VIA HD-audio codec support
      • [*] Build HDMI/DisplayPort HD-audio codec support

Problems Encountered

Unable to startx after configuring .xinitrc

Make sure to add the user into the video group

Touchpad not working (elantech)

Enable HID over I2C transport layer ACPI driver inside kernel configuration and recompile.

Unable to play sound

Make sure the .config folder is writeable. Use pulsemixer to check if the output is muted or not. Add the user to audio group.

Unable to change screen brightness

Bunch of solution online, emerge sys-power/acpilight and try with command xbacklight -dec 2, it usually works.

Installed apache and php-fpm, but php files showing blank page (PHP-FPM through mod_proxy_fcgi method)

Follow the instruction given in the handbook. Add APACHE2_MODULES="$APACHE2_MODULES http2 proxy proxy_fcgi" into your make.conf and update.

Kernel 6.1.38 high temperature when idle

Enabling Laptop Hybrid Graphics and Nouveau (NVIDIA) cards modules. Follow how to power down graphic card on hybrid graphics wiki in Gentoo handbook.

Unable to run Zoom-5.15.3.4839.glibc2.17-x86_64.AppImage

Emerge app-crypt/mit-krb5.

I F*ed up! What should I do?

If your grub is gone, boot into the live cd and ssh into the live cd. Copy all the instructions given below.

mount --types proc /proc /mnt/gentoo/proc && mount --rbind /sys /mnt/gentoo/sys && mount --make-rslave /mnt/gentoo/sys && mount --rbind /dev /mnt/gentoo/dev && mount --make-rslave /mnt/gentoo/dev && mount --bind /run /mnt/gentoo/run && mount --make-slave /mnt/gentoo/run 

chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash  && source /etc/profile && export PS1="(chroot) ${PS1}"

The command above will chroot you into your system. You may reinstall the kernel if you like to.

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=Gentoo

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

The command above will reinstall grub. Sometimes you don't need to reinstall grub, you only need to reconfigure the grub.

Contributing

I'm not a Linux expert nor a skilled programmer, feel free to help me in "building" optimised, clean and minimal linux environment by creating an issue or PR.

What is next?

Linux From Scratch?