doc/en/faq.xml

<?xml version='1.0' encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!-- $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo/xml/htdocs/doc/en/faq.xml,v 1.66 2004/07/03 09:05:36 swift Exp $ -->
<!DOCTYPE guide SYSTEM "/dtd/guide.dtd">

<guide link="/doc/en/faq.xml">
<title>Gentoo Linux Frequently Asked Questions</title>
<author title="Chief Architect">
  <mail link="drobbins@gentoo.org">Daniel Robbins</mail>
</author>
<author title="Reviewer">
  Colin Morey
</author>
<author title="Editor"><!-- zhen@gentoo.org -->
  John P. Davis
</author>
<author title="Editor">
  <mail link="stocke2@gentoo.org">Eric Stockbridge</mail>
</author>
<author title="Editor">
  <mail link="zhware@gentoo.org">Stoyan Zhekov</mail>
</author>
<author title="Editor">
  <mail link="carl@gentoo.org">Carl Anderson</mail>
</author>
<author title="Editor">
  <mail link="peesh@gentoo.org">Jorge Paulo</mail>
</author>
<author title="Editor">
  <mail link="swift@gentoo.org">Sven Vermeulen</mail>
</author>

<abstract>
This FAQ is a collection of questions and answers collected from the gentoo-dev 
mailing list and from IRC -- if you have any questions (or answers!) to add, 
please contact either an author or a member of the documentation team.
</abstract>

<license/>

<version>2.8</version>
<date>July 04, 2004</date>

<chapter>
<title>Featured Questions</title>
<section>
<title>Getting Started</title>
<body>

<ul>
  <li>
    <uri link="#pronunciation">How is Gentoo pronounced, and what does it
    mean?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#differences">What makes Gentoo different?</uri>
  </li>
</ul>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>Installation</title>
<body>

<ul>
  <li>
    <uri link="#optimizations">I'm finding things to be really unstable and
    I'm using "-O9 -ffast-math -fomit-frame-pointer" optimizations. What
    gives?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#password">How can I change the root (or any other user's)
    password?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#useradd">How do I add a normal user?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#su">Why can't a user su to root?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#devfs">How do I disable devfs?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#upgrade">Can I upgrade Gentoo from one release to
    another without reinstalling?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#bootrescue">My kernel doesn't boot (properly), what should
    I do now?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#proxy">My proxy requires authentication, what do I
    have to do?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#isoburning">How do I burn an ISO file?</uri>
  </li>
</ul>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>Package Management</title>
<body>

<ul>
  <li>
    <uri link="#ebuilds">In what format are the packages stored?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#configure">I want to perform the ./configure step myself.
    Can I?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#norsync">What if rsync doesn't work for me?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#firewall">How do I use emerge from behind a
    firewall?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#unison">Can I rsync from another operating
    system?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#manualdownload">I have only slow modem connection at home. Can
    I download sources somewhere else and add them to my system?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#distfiles">.tar.gz sources for installed software are
    piling up in /usr/portage/distfiles using valuable space. Is it safe to
    delete there files?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#tmpportage">What's in /var/tmp/portage? Is it safe to
    delete the files and directories in /var/tmp/portage?</uri>
  </li>
</ul>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>Usage</title>
<body>

<ul>
  <li>
    <uri link="#rootssh">I have installed openssh on my box, but can
    only log in as root - my normal user account doesn't work.</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#rootX">I can start X applications as root only</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#intkeyboard">How do I set up an International Keyboard
    Layout?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#rootdns">DNS name resolution works for root only.</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#crontab">Why can't my user use their own crontab?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#numlock">How do I get numlock to start on boot?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#clear">How do I have my terminal cleared when I log
    out?</uri>
  </li>
</ul>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>Maintenance</title>
<body>

<ul>
  <li>
    <uri link="#filecorruption">ReiserFS and filesystem corruption issues --
    how to fix'em, etc.</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#metalogd">Metalogd doesn't log in real time!</uri>
  </li>
</ul>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>Development</title>
<body>

<ul>
  <li>
    <uri link="#reportbugs">Where can I report bugs?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#releases">How often are new releases made?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#addfaq">How can I add a question or answer to this
    FAQ?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#beeping">My speaker beeps like crazy while compiling
    Mozilla. How do I disable console beeps?</uri>
  </li>
</ul>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>Resources</title>
<body>

<ul>
  <li>
    <uri link="#resources">Where can I find more information about Gentoo
    Linux?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#buycd">Can I buy a CD of Gentoo Linux?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#mailinglist">Why, when I hit reply to a post on a Gentoo
    mailinglist, does my answer only go to the original poster and not the
    entire list?</uri>
  </li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#help">This FAQ hasn't answered my question. What do I
    do now?</uri>
  </li>
</ul>

</body>
</section>
</chapter>

<chapter>
<title>Getting Started</title>

<section id="pronunciation">
<title>How is Gentoo pronounced, and what does it mean?</title>
<body>

<p>
A <e>Gentoo</e> is a species of a small, fast penguin, pronounced "gen-too" (the
"g" in "gentoo" is a soft "g", as in "gentle"). The latin name of the Gentoo 
penguin is <e>Pygoscelis papua</e>. The name <e>Gentoo</e> has been given to the
penguin by the inhabitants of the Falkland Islands.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="differences">
<title>What makes Gentoo different?</title>
<body>

<p>
Gentoo uses a BSD ports-like system called <uri 
link="/proj/en/portage">Portage</uri>. Portage is a package management system
that allows great flexibility while installing and maintaining software on a
Gentoo system. It provides compile-time option support (through <uri
link="/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=2&amp;chap=1">USE flags</uri>),
conditional dependencies, "fake" installs, safe installation (through
sandboxing) and uninstallation of software, system profiles, <uri 
link="/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=2&amp;chap=4#doc_chap1">configuration 
file protection</uri> amongst several other <uri 
link="/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=2&amp;chap=3">features</uri>.
</p>

<p>
With Gentoo you can build your entire system from source completely using your
choice of optimizations. You have complete control over what packages are or
aren't installed. Gentoo provides you with numerous choices so you can install
Gentoo to your own taste. This is why Gentoo is called a 
<e>meta-distribution</e>.
</p>

<p>
Gentoo is very actively developed. Not only the <e>ebuilds</e> themselves (the
package format Gentoo uses) but the entire distribution uses a rapid pace
development style. Patches to the packages are quickly integrated in the
mainline tree, documentation is updated on daily basis, portage features are
added frequently, releases succeed each other quickly, ...
</p>

</body>
</section>
</chapter>

<chapter>
<title>Installation</title>
<section id="optimizations">
<title>
  I'm finding things to be really unstable and I'm using "-O9 -ffast-math 
  -fomit-frame-pointer" optimizations.  What gives?
</title>
<body>

<p>
Don't bother using anything higher than <c>-O3</c> since it isn't supported by 
current versions of gcc.  Very aggressive optimizations sometimes cause the 
compiler to streamline the assembly code to the point where it doesn't quite 
do the same thing anymore. 
</p>

<p>
Please try to compile with CFLAGS <c>-march= -O2</c> first before reporting a 
bug.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="password">
<title>How can i change the root (or any other user's) password?</title>
<body>

<p>
You can use <c>passwd</c> to change the password for the user you are logged 
into. For extra options and setting, please see <c>man passwd</c> once you've 
completed the install.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="useradd">
<title>How do i add a normal user?</title>
<body>

<p>
The command <c>adduser gentoo</c> will add a user called gentoo. The next step 
is to give this user a password and <c>passwd</c> will do exactly that.
</p>

<p>
Instead of <c>adduser</c> you can also use:
</p>

<pre caption="Using useradd">
# <i>useradd gentoo -m -G users,audio,wheel -s /bin/bash</i>
</pre>

<p>
This will add a user gentoo, will make possible for him/her to use sound-related
devices (<path>/dev/sound/*</path>), will make possible for him/her to switch to
root (using <c>su</c>) and will make <path>/bin/bash</path> his/her login shell.
</p>

<p>
You can also install <c>superadduser</c> using <c>emerge superadduser</c> and 
then issue <c>superadduser gentoo</c> to add a user called gentoo. Just follow 
the instructions given to you by <c>superadduser</c>.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="su">
<title>Why can't a user su to root?</title>
<body>

<p>
For security reasons, users may only <c>su</c> to root if they belong to the 
<e>wheel</e> group. To add a <e>username</e> to the <e>wheel</e> group, issue 
the following command as root:
</p>

<pre caption="Adding a user to the wheel group">
# <i>gpasswd -a username wheel</i>
</pre>

</body>
</section>
<section id="devfs">
<title>How to I disable devfs?</title>
<body>

<p>
If you plan on using Gentoo with the "old-style" <path>/dev</path> approach, you
can disable devfs by passing the <c>gentoo=nodevfs</c> to the kernel. If on the
other hand you want to use <uri link="/doc/en/udev-guide.xml">udev</uri> (2.6
kernels only), you can disable devfs by passing the <c>devfs=nomount</c> option
to the kernel. Don't forget to read up on our <uri
link="/doc/en/udev-guide.xml">udev guide</uri> too.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="upgrade">
<title>
  Can I upgrade Gentoo from one release to another without reinstalling?
</title>
<body>

<p>
In fact there is no difference between the various releases 
<b>after they have been installed</b>. Gentoo 1.4 and later are 
<c>glibc-2.3.x</c> based. As such running <c>emerge sync; emerge -u world</c> 
will bring your entire system up to speed with the "latest Gentoo". 
The true differences between individual releases lie in the installation.
</p>

<p>
More information can be found in our <uri link="gentoo-upgrading.xml">Gentoo
Upgrading Guide</uri>.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="bootrescue">
<title>My kernel doesn't boot (properly), what should I do now?</title>
<body>

<p>
You don't need to redo every step of the installation, but only the
kernel-stuff and all associated steps. Suppose you have installed Gentoo
on <path>/dev/hda1</path> (/boot) and <path>/dev/hda3</path> (/) with
<path>/dev/hda2</path> being the swap space:
</p>

<pre caption = "Reconfiguring the kernel">
<comment>Boot from the LiveCD and wait until you receive a prompt</comment>
<comment>We first mount all partitions:</comment>
# <i>mount /dev/hda3 /mnt/gentoo</i>
# <i>mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/gentoo/boot</i>
# <i>swapon /dev/hda2</i>
# <i>mount -t proc none /mnt/gentoo/proc</i>
<comment>Then we chroot into our Gentoo environment and configure the kernel:</comment>
# <i>chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash</i>
# <i>env-update &amp;&amp; source /etc/profile</i>
# <i>cd /usr/src/linux</i>
# <i>make menuconfig</i>
<comment>Now (de)select anything you have (de)selected wrongly at your</comment>
<comment>previous attempt. Then quit and compile your kernel:</comment>
# <i>make dep &amp;&amp; make bzImage modules modules_install</i>
<comment>Now copy over your bzImage file, overwriting your previous one:</comment>
# <i>cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot</i>
<comment>If you use LILO, rerun lilo -- GRUB users should skip this:</comment>
# <i>/sbin/lilo</i>
<comment>Now exit the chroot and reboot.</comment>
# <i>exit</i>
# <i>umount /mnt/gentoo/proc /mnt/gentoo/boot /mnt/gentoo</i>
# <i>reboot</i>
</pre>

<p>
If on the other hand the problem lays with your bootloader configuration,
follow the same steps, but instead of configuring/compiling your kernel you
should reconfigure your bootloader (recompilation isn't necessary).
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="proxy">
<title>My proxy requires authentication, what do I have to do?</title>
<body>

<p>
When you have to download something using <c>wget</c>, use the 
following syntax to authenticate yourself:
</p>

<pre caption = "Proxy-authentication using wget">
# <i>wget --proxy-user=</i><comment>username</comment><i> --proxy-passwd=</i><comment>password</comment><i> &lt;url&gt;</i>
</pre>

<p>
To have Portage automatically use this scheme, define it in 
<path>/etc/make.conf</path>:
</p>

<pre caption = "/etc/make.conf">
FETCHCOMMAND="wget --proxy-user=<comment>username</comment> --proxy-passwd=<comment>password</comment> -t 5 --passive-ftp -P \${DISTDIR} \${URI}"
RESUMECOMMAND="/usr/bin/wget --proxy-user=<comment>username</comment> --proxy-passwd=<comment>password</comment> -c -t 5 --passive-ftp -P \${DISTDIR} \${URI}"
</pre>

<p>
Sadly, <c>rsync</c> doesn't seem to support username/password 
authentication for proxies. See <uri link="#doc_chap4_sect3">What 
if rsync doesn't work for me?</uri> for more information on how to 
handle this situation.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="isoburning">
<title>How do I burn an ISO file?</title>
<body>

<p>
You need to burn the file in so-called <e>raw</e> mode. This means that you
should <e>not</e> just place the file on the CD, but interpret the file as an
entire CD.
</p>

<p>
There are lots of CD burning tools available; covering them all would be a
Sisyphean problem. Describing a few popular tools however doesn't hurt :)
</p>

<ul>
  <li>
    With EasyCD Creator you select <c>File</c>, <c>Record CD
    from CD image</c>. Then you change the <c>Files of type</c> to <c>ISO image
    file</c>. Then locate the ISO file and click <c>Open</c>. When you click on
    <c>Start recording</c> the ISO image will be burned correctly onto the CD-R.
  </li>
  <li>
    With Nero Burning ROM, cancel the wizard which automatically pops up and
    select <c>Burn Image</c> from the <c>Recoder</c> menu. Select the image you
    want to burn and click <c>Open</c>. Now hit the <c>Burn</c> button and watch
    your brand new CD being burnt.
  </li>
  <li>
    With cdrecord, you simply type <c>cdrecord dev=/dev/hdc</c> (replace
    <path>/dev/hdc</path> with your CD-RW drive's device path) followed
    by the path to the ISO file :)
  </li>
  <li>
    With K3B, select <c>Tools</c> &gt; <c>CD</c> &gt; <c>Burn Image</c>. Then
    you can locate your ISO file within the 'Image to Burn' area. Finally click
    <c>Start</c>.
  </li>
  <li>
    With Mac OS X Panther, launch <c>Disk Utility</c> from
    <path>Applications/Utilities</path>, select <c>Open</c> from the
    <c>Images</c> menu, select the mounted disk image in the main window and
    select <c>Burn</c> in the <c>Images</c> menu.
  </li>
  <li>
    With Mac OS X Jaguar, launch <c>Disk Copy</c> from
    <path>Applications/Utilities</path>, select <c>Burn Image</c> from the
    <c>File</c> menu, select the ISO and click the <c>Burn</c> button.
  </li>
</ul>


</body>
</section>
</chapter>

<chapter>
<title>Package Management</title>
<section id="ebuilds">
<title>In what format are the packages stored?</title>
<body>

<p>
They exist in our portage tree as <e>ebuild</e> autobuild scripts; Gentoo is 
primarily a ports-based distribution, meaning that we provide scripts 
(<c>.ebuild</c> files) and a special system (Portage) so that you can build 
apps from sources. We generally only build binaries for releases and snapshots.
The <uri link="/doc/en/gentoo-howto.xml">Development HOWTO</uri> covers the 
contents of an ebuild script in detail.  For full binary ISO releases, we 
create a full suite of binary packages in an enhanced <c>.tbz2</c> format 
(<c>.tar.bz2</c> compatible with meta-information attached to the end of the 
file).
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="configure">
<title>I want to perform the ./configure step myself.  Can I?</title>
<body>

<p>
Yes, but it is not trivial, and the next method only works when it is a simple
ebuild (i.e. just <c>./configure</c> and <c>make &amp;&amp; make install</c>).
Be sure to read the ebuild itself to see how Gentoo handles it.
</p>

<p>
Start with unpacking the ebuild: <c>ebuild 
/usr/portage/&lt;category&gt;/&lt;package&gt;/&lt;ebuild&gt; unpack</c>.
</p>

<p>
Next, go to <path>/var/tmp/portage/&lt;package&gt;-&lt;version&gt;/work</path>.
Inside it you'll find the unpacked sources. Execute the steps you need to
perform to configure and compile the package.
</p>

<p>
When finished, execute <c>touch
/var/tmp/portage/&lt;package&gt;-&lt;version&gt;/.compiled</c> to trick Portage
into thinking it configured and compiled the package. Then finish up with
<c>ebuild /usr/portage/&lt;category&gt;/&lt;package&gt;/&lt;ebuild&gt;
merge</c>.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="norsync">
<title>What if rsync doesn't work for me?</title>
<body>

<p>
If you're behind a firewall that doesn't permit rsync traffic, then you can use 
<c>emerge-webrsync</c> which will fetch and install a Portage snapshot for you 
through regular HTTP. <c>emerge-webrsync</c> uses <c>wget</c> to download, so 
proxy is fully supported.
</p>

<pre caption="Using emerge-webrsync">
# <i>emerge-webrsync</i>
</pre>

</body>
</section>
<section id="firewall">
<title>How do I use emerge from behind a firewall?</title>
<body>

<p>
Edit the PROXY settings in <path>/etc/make.conf</path>.  If that doesn't work,
edit <path>/etc/wget/wgetrc</path> and edit http_proxy and ftp_proxy
appropriately.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="unison">
<title>Can I rsync from another operating system?</title>
<body>

<p>
There's a program called unison that works under both UNIX and Win32, available 
from <uri>http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/</uri>.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="manualdownload">
<title>
  I have only slow modem connection at home. Can I download sources somewhere 
  else and add them to my system?
</title>
<body>

<p>
Definitely. You can run <c>emerge --pretend package</c> to see what programs
are going to be installed. To find out the sources for those packages and where 
to download the sources from, you can run <c>emerge -fp package</c>. Download 
sources and bring them on any media home. Put the sources into 
<path>/usr/portage/distfiles</path> and run <c>emerge package</c> to see it 
picking up the sources you just brought in!
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="distfiles">
<title>
  .tar.gz sources for installed software are piling up in 
  /usr/portage/distfiles/ using valuable space. Is it safe to delete these 
  files?
</title>
<body>

<p>
Yes, you can safely delete these files. But if you are on a slow
connection, such as a modem, you might want to keep the archives if
possible; often several ebuilds will be released for the same version of
a specific piece of software  - if you have deleted the archive and you
upgrade the software it will have to be downloaded from the internet
again.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="tmpportage">
<title>
  What's in /var/tmp/portage? Is it safe to delete the files and 
  directories in /var/tmp/portage?
</title>
<body>

<p>
During compilation, Gentoo saves the sources of the package in 
<path>/var/tmp/portage</path>. It is safe to clean out all contents of this 
directory.
</p>

</body>
</section>
</chapter>

<chapter>
<title>Usage</title>
<section id="rootssh">
<title>
  I have installed openssh on my box, but can only log in as root - my normal 
  user account doesn't work.
</title>
<body>

<p>
This is most probably because your user account doesn't have a valid shell 
specified. Check for your user entry in <path>/etc/passwd</path> and see if it 
ends in /bin/bash (or any other shell). If it doesn't, you must set a shell for
the user. This is done using the usermod command, like this:
</p>

<pre caption="Using usermod">
# <i>usermod -s /bin/bash myuser</i>
</pre>

</body>
</section>
<section id="rootX">
<title>I can start X applications as root only.</title>
<body>

<p>
Your <path>/tmp</path> directory has the wrong permissions (it needs the 
sticky bit set). Type the following as root:
</p>

<pre caption="Changing /tmp permissions">
# <i>chmod 1777 /tmp</i>
</pre>

</body>
</section>
<section id="intkeyboard">
<title>How do I set up an International Keyboard Layout?</title>
<body>

<p>
Edit the <c>KEYMAP</c> variable in <path>/etc/rc.conf</path>.
Then either reboot or restart the keymaps script:
<c>/etc/init.d/keymaps restart</c>.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="rootdns">
<title>DNS name resolution works for root only.</title>
<body>

<p>
<path>/etc/resolv.conf</path> has the wrong permissions; <c>chmod</c> it as 
follows:
</p>

<pre caption="Changing permissions on /etc/resolv.conf">
# <i>chmod 0644 /etc/resolv.conf</i>
</pre>

</body>
</section>
<section id="crontab">
<title>Why can't my user use their own crontab?</title>
<body>

<p>
You need to add that user to the <c>cron</c> group.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="numlock">
<title>How do I get numlock to start on boot?</title>
<body>

<p>
If you log on graphically, or want numlock to be activated when 
you issue <c>startx</c>, then you must <c>emerge numlockx</c> and
add <c>/usr/X11R6/bin/numlockx</c> to 
<path>/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc</path> (for <c>startx</c>) or 
<path>/etc/X11/Sessions/</path> (for any graphical login manager) such
as <path>/etc/X11/Sessions/Gnome</path> for GDM.
</p>

<p>
GNOME 2.6 users however will notice that this doesn't work. Instead, they will
need to start the <c>gnome-session-properties</c> tool. At the top of the
Window, select <c>Startup Properties</c> and click the <c>Add</c> button. Now
insert the location of the <c>numlockx</c> tool (for instance
<path>/usr/X11R6/bin/numlockx</path>) and exit.
</p>

<p>
If you work in commandline, you only need to <c>rc-update add 
numlock default</c> and numlock will be activated on the next
reboot.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="clear">
<title>How do I have my terminal cleared when I log out?</title>
<body>

<p>
To have your terminal cleared, add <c>clear</c> to your
<path>~/.bash_logout</path> script:
</p>

<pre caption = "Clearing the terminal during logout">
$ <i>echo clear &gt;&gt; ~/.bash_logout</i>
</pre>

<p>
If you want this to happen automatically when you add a new
user, do the same for the <path>/etc/skel/.bash_logout</path>:
</p>

<pre caption = "Making new users their terminal clear on logout">
# <i>echo clear &gt;&gt; /etc/skel/.bash_logout</i></pre>
</body>

</section>
</chapter>

<chapter>
<title>Maintenance</title>
<section id="filecorruption">
<title>ReiserFS and filesystem corruption issues -- how to fix'em, etc</title>
<body>

<p>
If your ReiserFS partition is corrupt, try booting the Gentoo 
Linux boot CD and run <c>reiserfsck --rebuild-tree</c> on
the corrupted filesystem.  This should make the filesystem consistent
again, although you may have lost some files or directories due
to the corruption.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="metalogd">
<title>Metalogd doesn't log in real time!</title>
<body>

<p>
Metalog flushes output to the disk in blocks, so messages aren't immediately 
recorded into the system logs.  If you are trying to debug a daemon, this 
performance-enhancing behavior is less than helpful.  When your Gentoo Linux 
system is up and running, you can send metalog a USR1 signal to temporarily 
turn off this message buffering (meaning that <c>tail -f 
<path>/var/log/everything/current</path></c> will now work in real time, as 
expected) and a USR2 signal to turn buffering back on again. If you want to 
disable buffering permanently, you can change METALOG_OPTS="-B" to 
METALOG_OPTS="-B -s" in <path>/etc/conf.d/metalog</path>. 
</p>

<pre caption="Turning metalog buffering on/off">
<codenote>To turn the buffering off:</codenote>
# <i>killall -USR1 metalog</i>
<codenote>To turn the buffering back on:</codenote>
# <i>killall -USR2 metalog</i>
</pre>

</body>
</section>
</chapter>

<chapter>
<title>Development</title>
<section id="reportbugs">
<title>Where can I report bugs?</title>
<body>

<p>
For bugs within a specific program, contact the program's author. Otherwise, 
use our Bugzilla bug tracker at <uri>http://bugs.gentoo.org</uri>.  You can 
also visit us in <c>#gentoo</c> on the <uri 
link="http://www.freenode.net">FreeNode</uri> IRC network.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="releases">
<title>How often are new releases made?</title>
<body>

<p>
New releases are announced on the <uri 
link="http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/lists.xml">gentoo-announce</uri> 
mailing list. In reality the packages themselves are updated shortly after the 
main authors release new code. As for when Gentoo makes new releases, check our
<uri link="/proj/en/releng">Release Engineering Project</uri> page.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="addfaq">
<title>How can I add a question or answer to this FAQ?</title>
<body>

<p>
Submit a new bug over at <uri>http://bugs.gentoo.org</uri> and add it to the
"Docs-user" product, "Gentoo Linux FAQ" component.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="beeping">
<title>
  My speaker beeps like crazy while compiling Mozilla. How do I disable console 
  beeps?
</title>
<body>

<p>
Console beeps can be turned off using setterm, like this:
</p>

<pre caption="Using setterm">
# <i>setterm -blength 0</i>
</pre>

<p>
If you would like to turn off the console beeps on boot
you need to put this command in <path>/etc/conf.d/local.start</path>. However, 
this only disables beeps for the current terminal. To disable
beeps for other terminals, pipe the command output to the 
target terminal, like this:
</p>

<pre caption="Using setterm (bis)">
# <i>setterm -blength 0 >/dev/vc/1</i>
</pre>

<p>
You need to replace /dev/vc/1 with the terminal you would like to disable 
console beeps for.
</p>

</body>
</section>
</chapter>

<chapter>
<title>Resources</title>
<section id="resources">
<title>Where can I find more information about Gentoo Linux?</title>
<body>

<p>
The official Gentoo documentation can be found on 
<uri>http://www.gentoo.org</uri>; general Linux information is at 
<uri>http://www.tldp.org</uri>.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="buycd">
<title>Can I buy a CD of Gentoo Linux?</title>
<body>

<p>
Yes! LiveCDs for all supported architecture are available on
our <uri link="http://store.gentoo.org/">Gentoo Store</uri>. When you
purchase a CD from our store, you are also supporting our development.
So, please consider buying from our store if possible :-)
</p>

<p>
You can also find fresh CDs from
<uri link = "http://www.tuxcds.com/section.php?section=42">
tuxcds</uri> for a very good price. These people also bounce back a
portion of the profits to the Gentoo project, so buy them while they are hot!
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="mailinglist">
<title>
  Why, when I hit reply to a post on a Gentoo mailing list, does my answer 
  only go to the original poster and not the entire list?
</title>
<body>

<p>
The mailing list administrators have decided to go with minimal munging 
(altering of mail headers), which means that they have decided against  
altering headers to have replies go to the mailing list.  There are various 
reasons for this. For example, if a subscriber has a full mailbox, the 
entire list receives notice of this every time that something is posted.  
</p>

<p>
Most GUI based mailers have a "reply to all" function. This will ensure that 
your reply goes to the mailing list as well as the original poster. Most 
users of text based emailers already know the methods to use, but if you 
don't, in Pine, there is a "reply to group" option.  Setting Mutt to reply to 
the list is covered in the unofficial documentation at
<uri link="http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=1085">forums.gentoo.org</uri>.
</p>

<p>
Some list members do not like this method, but it was very heavily 
discussed when it went into effect, with arguments on both sides.  
Eventually the list administrators decided to keep it this way. Discussing 
it on the mailing list will sometimes bring a polite explanation and other 
times a rather brusque comment to check the archives. Although the 
administrators regret the inconvenience that it may cause some users, it is 
felt that at present it is preferable to the alternative for several 
reasons, many of these covered
<uri link="http://www.unicom.com/pw/reply-to-harmful.html">here</uri>.  
</p>

<p>
(There are other eloquent arguments in favor of munging, and yes, the list 
administrators have seen them).
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="help">
<title>This FAQ hasn't answered my question.  What do I do now?</title>
<body>

<p>
A good first step is to browse through the relevant <uri 
link="http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/index.xml">documentation</uri>, failing that,
the various Gentoo Linux mailing lists listed on <uri 
link="http://www.google.com">Google</uri>.  To search through the Gentoo 
mailing lists, just enter "lists.gentoo.org foo" to search for "foo".  If all 
else fails, or you just want to hang out with Gentoo folks, visit us on irc: 
<c>#gentoo</c> on <c>irc.freenode.net</c>.
</p>

</body>
</section>
</chapter>

</guide>