doc/en/gentoo-x86-tipsntricks.xml

<?xml version='1.0' encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE guide SYSTEM "/dtd/guide.dtd">

<guide link="/doc/en/gentoo-x86-tipsntricks.xml">
<title>Gentoo/x86 Installation Tips &amp; Tricks</title>
<author title="Author">
    <mail link="swift@gentoo.org">Sven Vermeulen</mail>
</author>

<abstract>
The Gentoo installation allows for very flexible approaches to the various
installation methods. As it is almost impossible to insert every single tip or
trick in the installation instructions this document tries to deal with all
submitted tips and tricks for reference purposes.
</abstract>

<license/>

<version>1.5</version>
<date>September 22, 2004</date>

<chapter>
<title>Introduction</title>
<section>
<title>Preliminary</title>
<body>

<p>
This document contains various tips and tricks for the Gentoo/x86 installation.
Most of them are discussed in a dense way - they are meant as an addendum to the
installation instructions and not as a replacement.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>Contents</title>
<body>

<p>
<b>Advanced Installations</b>
</p>

<ul>
  <li><uri link="#software-raid">Software RAID</uri></li>
  <li><uri link="#ata-raid-2.4">ATA RAID using 2.4 kernels</uri></li>
</ul>

<p>
<b>Simplifying the Installation</b>
</p>

<ul>
  <li><uri link="#leave_terminal">Leaving the Terminal</uri></li>
</ul>

<p>
<b>Fixing Errors/Issues</b>
</p>

<ul>
  <li><uri link="#checking-disks">Extensive Testing of your Disks</uri></li>
  <li>
    <uri link="#recover">Recovering from a malfunctioning installation</uri>
  </li>
</ul>

</body>
</section>
</chapter>
<chapter>
<title>Advanced Installations</title>
<section id="software-raid">
<title>Software RAID</title>
<body>

<note>
If you are not known to software raid, please read the <uri
link="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Software-RAID-HOWTO.html">Software-RAID-HOWTO</uri>.
</note>

<p>
Once you are booted from the LiveCD, load the appropriate RAID modules. For
instance, if you plan on using RAID-1:
</p>

<pre caption="Loading the RAID-1 module">
# <i>modprobe raid1</i>
</pre>

<p>
When you partition your disks, make sure that your partitions use <c>fd</c>
(Linux raid autodetect) as Partition Type instead of <c>83</c> (Linux native).
You can alter the partition type using the <c>t</c> command in <c>fdisk</c>.
</p>

<p>
After partitioning, create the <path>/etc/mdadm.conf</path> file (yes, indeed, 
on the LiveCD environment) using <c>mdadm</c>, an advanced tool for <uri 
link="http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2002/12/05/RAID.html">RAID
management</uri>. For instance, to have your boot, swap and root partition 
mirrored (RAID-1) covering <path>/dev/sda</path> and <path>/dev/sdb</path>, 
you can use:
</p>

<pre caption="mdadm command example">
# <i>mdadm --create --verbose /dev/md0 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1</i>
# <i>mdadm --create --verbose /dev/md1 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sda2 /dev/sdb2</i>
# <i>mdadm --create --verbose /dev/md2 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sda3 /dev/sdb3</i>
</pre>

<p>
The Linux Software RAID driver will start creating the metadevices. You can see
its progress in <path>/proc/mdstat</path>. Wait until the metadevices are
completely finished before proceeding.
</p>

<p>
From now onwards, use <path>/dev/md0</path> for the boot partition,
<path>/dev/md1</path> for the swap partition and <path>/dev/md2</path> for the
root partition.
</p>

<p>
After mounting <path>/dev/md2</path> on <path>/mnt/gentoo</path>, don't forget
to copy over <path>/etc/mdadm.conf</path> to <path>/mnt/gentoo/etc</path>.
</p>

<p>
When you're configuring your kernel, make sure you have the appropriate RAID
support <e>in</e> your kernel and not as module. 
</p>

<p>
When installing extra tools, emerge <c>mdadm</c> as well. Note that this
isn't available on all LiveCDs so you might not be able to install Gentoo on a
Software RAID when using a networkless installation!
</p>

<p>
When configuring your bootloader, make sure it gets installed in the MBR of
<e>both</e> disks if you use mirroring. 
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="ata-raid-2.4">
<title>ATA RAID using 2.4 kernels</title>
<body>

<p>
Make sure you boot your LiveCD using the <c>doataraid</c> option. Once booted,
check the contents of <path>/dev/ataraid</path>. It should contain various
<path>disc*</path> directories for each harddisk available in the ATA RAID. An
entire disk is displayed as <path>disc</path> while partitions are
<path>part*</path>.
</p>

<p>
Write down the various <path>/dev/ataraid/disc*/*</path> device files that you
use to install Gentoo on. You will need to substitute the <path>/dev/hda</path>
examples in the installation with this path.
</p>

<p>
Before chrooting, bind-mount the <path>/dev</path> structure in the new
environment:
</p>

<pre caption="Bind-mounting /dev">
# <i>mount -o bind /dev /mnt/gentoo/dev</i>
</pre>

<p>
When configuring your kernel, make sure you enable support for your ATA RAID
chipset and options. For instance, a popular ATA RAID system is a <e>Promise
FastTrack built-in RAID</e> in which case you definitely need <c>Promise
FastTrack Options</c> built in into your kernel.
</p>

<p>
When configuring GRUB, you first have to create a GRUB bootdisk. This is not as
hard as you think. First install GRUB as you would, but when you come to the
part where GRUB is getting installed in the MBR, follow the following
instructions:
</p>

<pre caption="Creating a GRUB bootdisk">
# <i>cd /boot/grub</i>
# <i>dd if=stage1 of=/dev/fd0 bs=512 count=1</i>
# <i>dd if=stage2 of=/dev/fd0 bs=512 seek=1</i>
</pre>

<p>
You still need to write your <path>grub.conf</path> file. This is no different
from the installation instructions, just make sure that your <c>root=</c> points
to the ATA RAID device. 
</p>

<p>
After finishing the installation, boot with your GRUB bootdisk. You will be
greeted by a GRUB prompt. Now configure GRUB to boot from the ATA RAID device:
</p>

<pre caption="Installing GRUB on the ATA RAID">
grub&gt; root (hd0,x)
grub&gt; setup (hd0)
grub&gt; quit
</pre>

<p>
Now reboot (with the GRUB bootfloppy removed).
</p>

<p>
LILO users can safely use the instructions mentioned in the installation
instructions.
</p>

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

<chapter>
<title>Simplifying the Installation</title>
<section id="leave_terminal">
<title>Leaving your Terminal</title>
<body>

<p>
Many people want to leave their system when it's compiling. In certain cases
this is rather difficult as the installation is done in a public environment
where you cannot trust everyone. If this is the case, you want to be able to
perform the compilation in the background and log out from all terminals.
</p>

<p>
There are several possible solutions for this. The first one is to use
<c>screen</c>. After booting the LiveCD, set your root password and start a
screen session:
</p>

<note>
Not all LiveCDs provide screen. If this is the case, you will have to use one of
the other methods described in this section.
</note>

<pre caption="Starting a screen session">
# <i>screen -S gentoo</i>
</pre>

<p>
Once inside the screen session you can perform the entire installation. When you
want to leave your terminal, press <c>Ctrl-a, d</c> (that is, control and a at
the same time, then followed by a d) to <e>detach</e> your screen session. You
can now safely log out of your system.
</p>

<p>
To regain access to your terminal, log in as root again and <e>attach</e> to 
the running screen session:
</p>

<pre caption="Attaching to a screen session">
# <i>screen -x gentoo</i>
</pre>

<p>
If you can't use screen, there is still a way to leave your terminal. Follow the
installation instructions, but when you come to the point where a long-term
compilation would be started (for instance the <c>./scripts/bootstrap.sh</c>
step), use <c>nohup</c> which allows for a process to continue even when you log
out. Don't forget the trailing "&amp;", otherwise the process won't be placed in
the background! Remember where you are (the <c>pwd</c> command will show you
that) as you will need to know this later on.
</p>

<pre caption="Using nohup">
# <i>pwd</i>
/usr/portage
# <i>nohup ./scripts/bootstrap.sh &amp;</i>
</pre>

<p>
Now exit the chrooted environment (<c>exit</c>) and the LiveCD session. Your
compilation will continue in the background. 
</p>

<p>
When you want to check the compilation, log in as root (on the LiveCD) and
chroot back into your environment and go to the directory where you left off:
</p>

<pre caption="Chrooting back">
# <i>chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash</i>
# <i>env-update &amp;&amp; source /etc/profile</i>
# <i>cd /usr/portage</i>
</pre>

<p>
Now use the <c>less</c> command on the <path>nohup.out</path> file that is
situated inside that directory. The compilation will append its output to that
file, so if you want to follow the compilation progress, run <c>less
nohup.out</c> and press <c>F</c> to follow the changes. When the compilation is
finished, you can continue with the next step of the installation instructions.
</p>

<p>
If you ever get tired of following the changes, press <c>Ctrl-C</c> followed by
a <c>q</c>. This won't stop the compilation process, only the <c>less</c>
process.
</p>

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

<chapter>
<title>Fixing Errors/Issues</title>
<section id="checking-disks">
<title>Extensive Testing of your Disks</title>
<body>

<p>
If you think your disk needs to be thoroughly checked for consistency (bad
sectors and such), you can use the <c>-c</c> option while placing the ext2 or
ext3 filesystem on it (using <c>mke2fs</c>). This will perform a read-test and 
will mark all bad blocks as such. If you are really paranoid, use <c>-c -c</c> 
to perform an extensive read/write test.
</p>

<pre caption="Checking for disk consistency">
# <i>mke2fs -j -c /dev/hda3</i>
</pre>

</body>
</section>
<section id="recover">
<title>Recovering from a malfunctioning installation</title>
<body>

<p>
If for some reason your Gentoo installation fails, you don't have to redo the
installation all over again. Instead, you can safely "go" to the point where you
think you made a mistake (or where you think the instructions are flawed) and
try a different approach.
</p>

<p>
First of all you need to chroot back into your Gentoo Linux environment. Follow
the instructions again, but ignore the partitioning steps as your partitions are
already created and even populated. You can therefore immediately mount those
partitions at <path>/mnt/gentoo</path>. You should also ignore the steps about
stage extraction and modifying <path>make.conf</path> - you don't want to 
overwrite your files do you?
</p>

<p>
Once chrooted inside your Gentoo Linux environment, immediately go to the step
where you think you should try a different approach. Don't redo all the steps
like bootstrapping and such unless that is the place where you think things
went wrong.
</p>

<p>
For instance, if you believe that you have a wrongly configured
<path>grub.conf</path>, you can immediately fire up your editor to update
<path>/boot/grub/grub.conf</path>.
</p>

<p>
Once you have tried a different approach for your situation, you should consider
how much of the subsequent steps you need to perform again. If the subsequent
steps are depending on your change, you will need to redo those. 
</p>

<p>
For instance,
</p>

<ul>
  <li>
    if you have changed a variable inside <path>make.conf</path> you will need 
    to do all subsequent compiling since those depend on the settings inside
    <path>make.conf</path>
  </li>
  <li>
    if you have altered <path>/boot/grub/grub.conf</path> you can immediately
    exit the chrooted environment and reboot as no subsequent steps are
    depending on <path>grub.conf</path>
  </li>
  <li>
    if you have recompiled your kernel you only need to make sure that your
    bootloader configuration points to the correct kernel image (double-check
    that you mounted your <path>/boot</path>!), then you can exit the chrooted
    environment and reboot
  </li>
  <li>
    if you have altered <path>/etc/fstab</path> you can exit the chrooted
    environment and reboot
  </li>
</ul>

<p>
As you can see, for most recovery operations you can immediately reboot. Only in
certain cases will you need to redo the subsequent installation steps.
</p>

</body>
</section>

</chapter>

</guide>
1	swift	1.1	<?xml version='1.0' encoding="UTF-8"?>
2			<!DOCTYPE guide SYSTEM "/dtd/guide.dtd">
3
4			<guide link="/doc/en/gentoo-x86-tipsntricks.xml">
5			<title>Gentoo/x86 Installation Tips & Tricks</title>
6			<author title="Author">
7			<mail link="swift@gentoo.org">Sven Vermeulen</mail>
8			</author>
9
10			<abstract>
11			The Gentoo installation allows for very flexible approaches to the various
12			installation methods. As it is almost impossible to insert every single tip or
13			trick in the installation instructions this document tries to deal with all
14			submitted tips and tricks for reference purposes.
15			</abstract>
16
17			<license/>
18
19	swift	1.8	<version>1.5</version>
20			<date>September 22, 2004</date>
21	swift	1.1
22			<chapter>
23			<title>Introduction</title>
24			<section>
25			<title>Preliminary</title>
26			<body>
27
28			<p>
29			This document contains various tips and tricks for the Gentoo/x86 installation.
30			Most of them are discussed in a dense way - they are meant as an addendum to the
31			installation instructions and not as a replacement.
32			</p>
33
34			</body>
35			</section>
36			<section>
37			<title>Contents</title>
38			<body>
39
40	swift	1.2	<p>
41			<b>Advanced Installations</b>
42			</p>
43
44	swift	1.1	<ul>
45			<li><uri link="#software-raid">Software RAID</uri></li>
46	swift	1.4	<li><uri link="#ata-raid-2.4">ATA RAID using 2.4 kernels</uri></li>
47	swift	1.1	</ul>
48
49	swift	1.3	<p>
50			<b>Simplifying the Installation</b>
51			</p>
52
53			<ul>
54			<li><uri link="#leave_terminal">Leaving the Terminal</uri></li>
55			</ul>
56
57	swift	1.5	<p>
58			<b>Fixing Errors/Issues</b>
59			</p>
60
61			<ul>
62			<li><uri link="#checking-disks">Extensive Testing of your Disks</uri></li>
63	swift	1.6	<li>
64			<uri link="#recover">Recovering from a malfunctioning installation</uri>
65			</li>
66	swift	1.5	</ul>
67
68	swift	1.1	</body>
69			</section>
70			</chapter>
71			<chapter>
72			<title>Advanced Installations</title>
73			<section id="software-raid">
74			<title>Software RAID</title>
75			<body>
76
77			<note>
78			If you are not known to software raid, please read the <uri
79			link="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Software-RAID-HOWTO.html">Software-RAID-HOWTO</uri>.
80			</note>
81
82			<p>
83			Once you are booted from the LiveCD, load the appropriate RAID modules. For
84			instance, if you plan on using RAID-1:
85			</p>
86
87			<pre caption="Loading the RAID-1 module">
88			# <i>modprobe raid1</i>
89			</pre>
90
91			<p>
92			When you partition your disks, make sure that your partitions use <c>fd</c>
93			(Linux raid autodetect) as Partition Type instead of <c>83</c> (Linux native).
94			You can alter the partition type using the <c>t</c> command in <c>fdisk</c>.
95			</p>
96
97			<p>
98	swift	1.8	After partitioning, create the <path>/etc/mdadm.conf</path> file (yes, indeed,
99			on the LiveCD environment) using <c>mdadm</c>, an advanced tool for <uri
100	swift	1.7	link="http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2002/12/05/RAID.html">RAID
101			management</uri>. For instance, to have your boot, swap and root partition
102			mirrored (RAID-1) covering <path>/dev/sda</path> and <path>/dev/sdb</path>,
103			you can use:
104	swift	1.1	</p>
105
106	swift	1.7	<pre caption="mdadm command example">
107			# <i>mdadm --create --verbose /dev/md0 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1</i>
108			# <i>mdadm --create --verbose /dev/md1 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sda2 /dev/sdb2</i>
109			# <i>mdadm --create --verbose /dev/md2 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sda3 /dev/sdb3</i>
110	swift	1.1	</pre>
111
112			<p>
113			The Linux Software RAID driver will start creating the metadevices. You can see
114			its progress in <path>/proc/mdstat</path>. Wait until the metadevices are
115			completely finished before proceeding.
116			</p>
117
118			<p>
119			From now onwards, use <path>/dev/md0</path> for the boot partition,
120			<path>/dev/md1</path> for the swap partition and <path>/dev/md2</path> for the
121			root partition.
122			</p>
123
124			<p>
125			After mounting <path>/dev/md2</path> on <path>/mnt/gentoo</path>, don't forget
126	swift	1.8	to copy over <path>/etc/mdadm.conf</path> to <path>/mnt/gentoo/etc</path>.
127	swift	1.1	</p>
128
129			<p>
130			When you're configuring your kernel, make sure you have the appropriate RAID
131			support <e>in</e> your kernel and not as module.
132			</p>
133
134			<p>
135	swift	1.8	When installing extra tools, emerge <c>mdadm</c> as well. Note that this
136	swift	1.1	isn't available on all LiveCDs so you might not be able to install Gentoo on a
137			Software RAID when using a networkless installation!
138			</p>
139
140			<p>
141			When configuring your bootloader, make sure it gets installed in the MBR of
142			<e>both</e> disks if you use mirroring.
143			</p>
144
145			</body>
146			</section>
147	swift	1.4	<section id="ata-raid-2.4">
148			<title>ATA RAID using 2.4 kernels</title>
149			<body>
150
151			<p>
152			Make sure you boot your LiveCD using the <c>doataraid</c> option. Once booted,
153			check the contents of <path>/dev/ataraid</path>. It should contain various
154			<path>disc*</path> directories for each harddisk available in the ATA RAID. An
155			entire disk is displayed as <path>disc</path> while partitions are
156			<path>part*</path>.
157			</p>
158
159			<p>
160			Write down the various <path>/dev/ataraid/disc/</path> device files that you
161			use to install Gentoo on. You will need to substitute the <path>/dev/hda</path>
162			examples in the installation with this path.
163			</p>
164
165			<p>
166			Before chrooting, bind-mount the <path>/dev</path> structure in the new
167			environment:
168			</p>
169
170			<pre caption="Bind-mounting /dev">
171			# <i>mount -o bind /dev /mnt/gentoo/dev</i>
172			</pre>
173
174			<p>
175			When configuring your kernel, make sure you enable support for your ATA RAID
176			chipset and options. For instance, a popular ATA RAID system is a <e>Promise
177			FastTrack built-in RAID</e> in which case you definitely need <c>Promise
178			FastTrack Options</c> built in into your kernel.
179			</p>
180
181			<p>
182			When configuring GRUB, you first have to create a GRUB bootdisk. This is not as
183			hard as you think. First install GRUB as you would, but when you come to the
184			part where GRUB is getting installed in the MBR, follow the following
185			instructions:
186			</p>
187
188			<pre caption="Creating a GRUB bootdisk">
189			# <i>cd /boot/grub</i>
190			# <i>dd if=stage1 of=/dev/fd0 bs=512 count=1</i>
191			# <i>dd if=stage2 of=/dev/fd0 bs=512 seek=1</i>
192			</pre>
193
194			<p>
195			You still need to write your <path>grub.conf</path> file. This is no different
196			from the installation instructions, just make sure that your <c>root=</c> points
197			to the ATA RAID device.
198			</p>
199
200			<p>
201			After finishing the installation, boot with your GRUB bootdisk. You will be
202			greeted by a GRUB prompt. Now configure GRUB to boot from the ATA RAID device:
203			</p>
204
205			<pre caption="Installing GRUB on the ATA RAID">
206			grub> root (hd0,x)
207			grub> setup (hd0)
208			grub> quit
209			</pre>
210
211			<p>
212			Now reboot (with the GRUB bootfloppy removed).
213			</p>
214
215			<p>
216			LILO users can safely use the instructions mentioned in the installation
217			instructions.
218			</p>
219
220			</body>
221			</section>
222	swift	1.1	</chapter>
223	swift	1.3
224			<chapter>
225			<title>Simplifying the Installation</title>
226			<section id="leave_terminal">
227			<title>Leaving your Terminal</title>
228			<body>
229
230			<p>
231			Many people want to leave their system when it's compiling. In certain cases
232			this is rather difficult as the installation is done in a public environment
233			where you cannot trust everyone. If this is the case, you want to be able to
234			perform the compilation in the background and log out from all terminals.
235			</p>
236
237			<p>
238			There are several possible solutions for this. The first one is to use
239			<c>screen</c>. After booting the LiveCD, set your root password and start a
240			screen session:
241			</p>
242
243			<note>
244			Not all LiveCDs provide screen. If this is the case, you will have to use one of
245			the other methods described in this section.
246			</note>
247
248			<pre caption="Starting a screen session">
249			# <i>screen -S gentoo</i>
250			</pre>
251
252			<p>
253			Once inside the screen session you can perform the entire installation. When you
254			want to leave your terminal, press <c>Ctrl-a, d</c> (that is, control and a at
255			the same time, then followed by a d) to <e>detach</e> your screen session. You
256			can now safely log out of your system.
257			</p>
258
259			<p>
260			To regain access to your terminal, log in as root again and <e>attach</e> to
261			the running screen session:
262			</p>
263
264			<pre caption="Attaching to a screen session">
265			# <i>screen -x gentoo</i>
266			</pre>
267
268			<p>
269			If you can't use screen, there is still a way to leave your terminal. Follow the
270			installation instructions, but when you come to the point where a long-term
271			compilation would be started (for instance the <c>./scripts/bootstrap.sh</c>
272			step), use <c>nohup</c> which allows for a process to continue even when you log
273			out. Don't forget the trailing "&", otherwise the process won't be placed in
274			the background! Remember where you are (the <c>pwd</c> command will show you
275			that) as you will need to know this later on.
276			</p>
277
278			<pre caption="Using nohup">
279			# <i>pwd</i>
280			/usr/portage
281			# <i>nohup ./scripts/bootstrap.sh &</i>
282			</pre>
283
284			<p>
285			Now exit the chrooted environment (<c>exit</c>) and the LiveCD session. Your
286			compilation will continue in the background.
287			</p>
288
289			<p>
290			When you want to check the compilation, log in as root (on the LiveCD) and
291			chroot back into your environment and go to the directory where you left off:
292			</p>
293
294			<pre caption="Chrooting back">
295			# <i>chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash</i>
296			# <i>env-update && source /etc/profile</i>
297			# <i>cd /usr/portage</i>
298			</pre>
299
300			<p>
301			Now use the <c>less</c> command on the <path>nohup.out</path> file that is
302			situated inside that directory. The compilation will append its output to that
303			file, so if you want to follow the compilation progress, run <c>less
304			nohup.out</c> and press <c>F</c> to follow the changes. When the compilation is
305			finished, you can continue with the next step of the installation instructions.
306			</p>
307
308			<p>
309			If you ever get tired of following the changes, press <c>Ctrl-C</c> followed by
310			a <c>q</c>. This won't stop the compilation process, only the <c>less</c>
311			process.
312			</p>
313
314			</body>
315			</section>
316			</chapter>
317
318	swift	1.5	<chapter>
319			<title>Fixing Errors/Issues</title>
320			<section id="checking-disks">
321			<title>Extensive Testing of your Disks</title>
322			<body>
323
324			<p>
325			If you think your disk needs to be thoroughly checked for consistency (bad
326			sectors and such), you can use the <c>-c</c> option while placing the ext2 or
327			ext3 filesystem on it (using <c>mke2fs</c>). This will perform a read-test and
328			will mark all bad blocks as such. If you are really paranoid, use <c>-c -c</c>
329			to perform an extensive read/write test.
330			</p>
331
332			<pre caption="Checking for disk consistency">
333			# <i>mke2fs -j -c /dev/hda3</i>
334			</pre>
335
336			</body>
337			</section>
338	swift	1.6	<section id="recover">
339			<title>Recovering from a malfunctioning installation</title>
340			<body>
341
342			<p>
343			If for some reason your Gentoo installation fails, you don't have to redo the
344			installation all over again. Instead, you can safely "go" to the point where you
345			think you made a mistake (or where you think the instructions are flawed) and
346			try a different approach.
347			</p>
348
349			<p>
350			First of all you need to chroot back into your Gentoo Linux environment. Follow
351			the instructions again, but ignore the partitioning steps as your partitions are
352			already created and even populated. You can therefore immediately mount those
353			partitions at <path>/mnt/gentoo</path>. You should also ignore the steps about
354			stage extraction and modifying <path>make.conf</path> - you don't want to
355			overwrite your files do you?
356			</p>
357
358			<p>
359			Once chrooted inside your Gentoo Linux environment, immediately go to the step
360			where you think you should try a different approach. Don't redo all the steps
361			like bootstrapping and such unless that is the place where you think things
362			went wrong.
363			</p>
364
365			<p>
366			For instance, if you believe that you have a wrongly configured
367			<path>grub.conf</path>, you can immediately fire up your editor to update
368			<path>/boot/grub/grub.conf</path>.
369			</p>
370
371			<p>
372			Once you have tried a different approach for your situation, you should consider
373			how much of the subsequent steps you need to perform again. If the subsequent
374			steps are depending on your change, you will need to redo those.
375			</p>
376
377			<p>
378			For instance,
379			</p>
380
381			<ul>
382			<li>
383			if you have changed a variable inside <path>make.conf</path> you will need
384			to do all subsequent compiling since those depend on the settings inside
385			<path>make.conf</path>
386			</li>
387			<li>
388			if you have altered <path>/boot/grub/grub.conf</path> you can immediately
389			exit the chrooted environment and reboot as no subsequent steps are
390			depending on <path>grub.conf</path>
391			</li>
392			<li>
393			if you have recompiled your kernel you only need to make sure that your
394			bootloader configuration points to the correct kernel image (double-check
395			that you mounted your <path>/boot</path>!), then you can exit the chrooted
396			environment and reboot
397			</li>
398			<li>
399			if you have altered <path>/etc/fstab</path> you can exit the chrooted
400			environment and reboot
401			</li>
402			</ul>
403
404			<p>
405			As you can see, for most recovery operations you can immediately reboot. Only in
406			certain cases will you need to redo the subsequent installation steps.
407			</p>
408
409			</body>
410			</section>
411
412	swift	1.5	</chapter>
413
414	swift	1.1	</guide>