doc/en/faq.xml

<?xml version='1.0' encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE guide SYSTEM "/dtd/guide.dtd">
<!-- $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo/xml/htdocs/doc/en/faq.xml,v 1.118 2010/10/14 06:09:40 nightmorph Exp $ -->

<guide>
<title>Gentoo Linux Frequently Asked Questions</title>
<author title="Author">
  <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>
<author title="Editor">
  <mail link="bennyc@gentoo.org">Benny Chuang</mail>
</author>
<author title="Editor">
  <mail link="smithj@gentoo.org">Jonathan Smith</mail>
</author>
<author title="Editor">
  <mail link="nightmorph"/>
</author>

<abstract>
This FAQ is a collection of questions and answers collected from the gentoo-dev 
mailing list and from IRC.
</abstract>

<!-- The content of this document is licensed under the CC-BY-SA license -->
<!-- See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5 -->
<license/>

<version>6</version>
<date>2011-09-11</date>

<faqindex>
<title>Questions</title>
<section>
<title>Introduction</title>
<body>

<p>
Please note that many of these questions are answered within the official
Gentoo documents and guides. This is simply a list of common questions. Please
read the documentation and/or man pages to gain a greater understanding of how
Gentoo and GNU/Linux works, and for answers to questions which may not be
answered here.
</p>

</body>
</section>
</faqindex>

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

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

<p>
<e>Gentoo</e> is pronounced "gen-too" (the "g" in "Gentoo" is a soft "g", as in
"gentle"). The scientific name of the <uri
link="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentoo_penguin">Gentoo penguin</uri> is
<e>Pygoscelis papua</e>. The name <e>Gentoo</e> has been given to the penguin
by the inhabitants of the <uri
link="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkland_Islands">Falkland Islands</uri>.
</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=2">USE flags</uri>),
conditional dependencies, pre-package installation summary, safe installation 
(through sandboxing) and uninstallation of software, system profiles, <uri 
link="/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=3&amp;chap=2#doc_chap3">configuration 
file protection</uri> amongst several other <uri 
link="/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=2&amp;chap=1">features</uri>.
</p>

<p>
With Gentoo you can build your entire system from source, 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 preferences, which is why Gentoo is called a <e>meta-distribution</e>.
</p>

<p>
Gentoo is actively developed. 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, and official releases occur twice per year.
</p>

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

<chapter>
<title>Installation</title>
<section id="optimizations">
<title>
  Things are 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>-O2 -march=&lt;your_arch&gt;</c> before
reporting a bug.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="password">
<title>How do 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. As root, you can change any user password by issuing the command
<c>passwd username</c> For extra options and setting, please <c>man passwd</c>.
</p>

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

<p>
The command <c>useradd username</c> will add a user called "username". However,
this method does not give the user many of the rights you might want to grant
him, so the following command is preferred:
</p>

<pre caption="Using useradd">
# <i>useradd -m -G users,audio,wheel username</i>
</pre>

<p>
This will add a user named "username". The option <c>audio</c> adds them to the
<c>audio</c> group and allows the user to access sound devices. The option
<c>wheel</c> adds the user to the <c>wheel</c> group, which allows the user to
execute the command <c>su</c>, which in turn allows them to gain the
privileges of the <c>root</c> user.
</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 
wheel group. To add a username to the wheel 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="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 after they have
been installed. Gentoo 1.4 and later are <c>glibc-2.3.x</c> based. As such,
running <c>emerge --sync &amp;&amp; emerge -uDN world</c> will bring your
entire system up to speed with the "latest Gentoo". The differences between
individual releases lie in the installation medium and pre-compiled packages.
See the <uri link="/doc/en/gentoo-upgrading.xml">Gentoo Upgrading Guide</uri>
for more information about profiles and their role in upgrading.
</p>

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

<p>
You don't need to redo every step of the installation, but investigating the
kernel and all associated steps is necessary. 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 Install CD 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 &amp;&amp; make modules_install</i>
<comment>Now copy over your bzImage file, overwriting your previous one:</comment>
# <i>cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/&lt;kernel_name&gt;</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 lies 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>
To have Portage automatically use this scheme, define it in 
<path>/etc/make.conf</path>:
</p>

<pre caption = "/etc/make.conf">
http_proxy="http://username:password@yourproxybox.org:portnumber"
ftp_proxy="ftp://username:password@yourproxybox.org:portnumber"
RSYNC_PROXY="rsync://username:password@yourproxybox.server:portnumber"
</pre>

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

<p>
You need to burn the file in raw 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. However, describing a few popular tools never hurts:
</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>File</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 CD 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>
<section id="cpus">
<title>What CD/stage should I use for my CPU?</title>
<body>

<p>
First you need to find out what CPU you use. Suppose it's a Pentium-M. Then you
need to find out what CPU it is, instruction-wise, compatible with. You may
need to consult the CPU's vendor website for this, although <uri
link="http://www.google.com">Google</uri> is at least as efficient :-).
</p>

<p>
If you are uncertain, take a "lower" CD/stage file, for instance a i686 or even
generic x86 (or the equivalent in your arch). This will ensure that your system
will work, but may not be as fast as further optimizations.
</p>

<p>
Please note that many more options exist than those for which Gentoo builds 
binary stages. Please see the <uri
link="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-4.4.3/gcc/i386-and-x86_002d64-Options.html#i386-and-x86_002d64-Options">gcc
guide</uri> for setting <c>-march</c>.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="dhcp">
<title>I can't get online after rebooting. What is wrong?</title>
<body>

<p>
First you need to check if your network card is discovered properly by the
kernel. Run <c>ifconfig&nbsp;-a</c> and look for eth0 or wlan0 (in case of
certain wireless network cards). You might need to load specific kernel modules
for the kernel to properly detect the network card. If that is the case, make
sure that these kernel modules are listed in
<path>/etc/conf.d/modules</path>.
</p>

<p>
If you have forgotten to include support for your network card in your kernel,
you will need to reconfigure your kernel. 
</p>

<p>
If your network card is found by your kernel, but you have set your networking
configuration to use DHCP, you might have forgotten to
<c>emerge&nbsp;dhcpcd</c>. You will need to reboot with your installation CD to
install <c>dhcpcd</c>.
</p>

<p>
Information on how to rescue your system using the installation CD is <uri
link="#bootrescue">available</uri> as well.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="dualboot">
<title>
I want to boot Windows from grub or lilo but it shows only black screen. What
should I do? 
</title>
<body>

<p>
This is a known problem. Windows refuses to boot when it isn't installed on the
first hard drive and shows a black/blank screen. To handle this, you will have
to "fool" Windows into believing that it is installed on the first hard drive
with a little tweak in your boot loader configuration. Please note that in the
below example, Gentoo is installed on <path>hda</path> (first disk) and Windows
on <path>hdb</path> (second one). Adjust your config as needed.
</p>

<pre caption="Example dual boot entry for Windows in grub.conf">
title Windows XP
     map (hd1) (hd0)
     map (hd0) (hd1)
     rootnoverify (hd1,0)
     chainloader +1
</pre>

<pre caption="Example dual boot entry for Windows in lilo.conf">
other=/dev/hdb1
     label=WindowsXP
     table=/dev/hdb
     map-drive = 0x80
     to = 0x81
     map-drive = 0x81
     to = 0x80
</pre>

<p>
This will make Windows believe it is installed on the first hard drive and boot
without problems. More information can be found in the <uri
link="http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/">GRUB documentation</uri> and in <c>man
lilo.conf</c>, depending on the boot loader you're using.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="stage12">
<title>How do I Install Gentoo Using a Stage1 or Stage2 Tarball?</title>
<body>

<p>
The Gentoo Handbook only describes a Gentoo installation using a stage3 tarball.
However, Gentoo still provides stage1 and stage2 tarballs. This is for
development purposes (the Release Engineering team starts from a stage1 tarball
to obtain a stage3) but shouldn't be used by users: a stage3 tarball can very
well be used to bootstrap the system. You do need a working Internet connection.
</p>

<p>
Bootstrapping means building the toolchain (the C library and compiler) for 
your system after which you install all core system packages. To bootstrap the
system, perform a stage3 installation. Before you start the chapter on 
<e>Configuring the Kernel</e>, modify the <path>bootstrap.sh</path> script to
suit your needs and then run it:
</p>

<pre caption="Bootstrapping the system">
# <i>cd /usr/portage/scripts</i>
# <i>vi bootstrap.sh</i>

# <i>./bootstrap.sh</i>
</pre>

<p>
Next, rebuild all core system packages with the newly built toolchain. We need
to rebuild them since the stage3 tarball already offers them:
</p>

<pre caption="Rebuilding the core system packages">
# <i>emerge -e system</i>
</pre>

<p>
Now you can continue with <e>Configuring the Kernel</e>. You can not use the
prebuilt GRP packages anymore though.
</p>

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

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

<p>
Packages aren't "stored" per se. Instead, Gentoo provides a set of scripts
which can resolve dependencies, fetch source code, and compile a version of the
package specifically for your needs. We generally only build binaries for
releases and snapshots. The <uri
link="/proj/en/devrel/handbook/handbook.xml?part=2&amp;chap=1">Gentoo Ebuild
HOWTO</uri> covers the contents of an ebuild script in detail.
</p>

<p>
For full ISO releases, we create a full suite of binary packages in an enhanced
<c>.tbz2</c> format, which is <c>.tar.bz2</c> compatible with meta-information
attached to the end of the file. These can be used to install a working (though
not fully optimized) version of the package quickly and efficiently.
</p>

<p>
It is possible to create RPMs (Redhat package manager files) using Gentoo's
Portage, but it is not currently possible to use already existing RPMs to
install packages.
</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, nor is it recommended. Since the method to do this
requires a good understanding of Portage internals and commands, it is instead
recommended that you patch the ebuild to do whatever it is that you want and
place it in a Portage overlay (that's why overlays exist). This is <e>much</e>
better for maintainability, and usually easier. See the <uri
link="/proj/en/devrel/handbook/handbook.xml?part=2&amp;chap=1">Ebuild
HOWTO</uri> for more information.
</p>

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

<p>
See the questions on <uri link="#proxy">proxies</uri>, <uri
link="#norsync">rsync</uri>, and <uri link="#manualdownload">downloading source
files manually</uri>.
</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. See the <uri link="#proxy">proxy section</uri> of this
document for information on downloading source files and Portage snapshots via
a proxy.
</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 then simply run <c>emerge package</c>.
Be warned, however, that this is a tedious process.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="distfiles">
<title>
  Source tarballs are collecting in /usr/portage/distfiles/. Is it safe to
  delete these files?
</title>
<body>

<p>
Deleting these files will have no negative impact on day-to-day performance.
However, it might be wise to keep the most recent version of the files; 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
be necessary to download them from the internet again.
</p>

<p>
You can use the <c>eclean</c> script from <c>app-portage/gentoolkit</c> to
manage the contents of <path>/usr/portage/distfiles/</path> and a few other
locations. Please read <c>man eclean</c> to learn more about its usage, as well
as the <uri link="/doc/en/gentoolkit.xml">Gentoolkit Guide</uri>.
</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>. These files and folder are usually deleted upon
a successful merge, but this sometimes fails. It is safe to clean out all
contents of this directory <e>if</e> emerge is not running. Just to be sure,
always <c>pgrep emerge</c> before cleaning out this directory.
</p>

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

<chapter>
<title>Usage</title>
<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/conf.d/keymaps</path>. To have
console working correctly with extended characters in your keymap you might
also need to set up variables <c>CONSOLETRANSLATION</c> and <c>CONSOLEFONT</c>
in your <path>/etc/conf.d/consolefont</path> (for further information on
localising your environment, refer to <uri 
link="/doc/en/guide-localization.xml">our localisation guide</uri>).
Then, either <c>reboot</c>, or restart the keymaps and consolefont scripts:
</p>

<pre caption="Restarting keymaps">
# <i>/etc/init.d/keymaps restart</i>
# <i>/etc/init.d/consolefont restart</i>
</pre>

</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 work in command line, you only need to <c>rc-update add 
numlock default &amp;&amp;/etc/init.d/numlock start</c>.
</p>

<p>
Each GUI provides different tools for this sort of thing; please check the help
section or online manuals for assistance.
</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 them, etc</title>
<body>

<p>
If your ReiserFS partition is corrupt, try booting the Gentoo Install 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>
</chapter>

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

<p>
Use our <uri link="https://bugs.gentoo.org">Bugzilla</uri>. If you are unsure if
your problem is an actual bug, you can visit <uri
link="irc://irc.gentoo.org/gentoo">#gentoo</uri> on IRC.
</p>

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

<p>
Gentoo's packages are usually updated shortly after the main authors release
new code. As for when Gentoo itself makes new stage/profile/ISO releases, check
our <uri link="/proj/en/releng">Release Engineering Project</uri> page. New
releases are announced on the <uri
link="/main/en/lists.xml">gentoo-announce</uri> mailing list. See the question
on <uri link="#upgrade">upgrading</uri> for more information.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="beeping">
<title>
  My speaker beeps like crazy. 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 at
<uri>http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/</uri>.
</p>

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

<p>
Install CDs for all supported architectures are available on our <uri
link="http://www.cafepress.com/officialgentoo/">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 various resellers listed on our <uri
link="/main/en/where.xml">Get Gentoo!</uri> page.
</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="/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: <uri link="irc://irc.gentoo.org/gentoo">#gentoo</uri>.
</p>

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