Crunch time: Debian, Libranet or FC1?

[Matthew Carpenter]

Collins wrote:

>Nohing wrong with starting over; I've had to do that with non-gentoo systems as well. Here are a few pointers:
>
>1. I would recommend that you start with a Stage 2 tarball which saves a little time. Forget about the pre-compiled packages. Get familiar with Gentoo procedures.
>2. Always do 'emerge -pv system' and 'emerge -uvp world' to see what you're installing before doing it for real. -p means pretend.
>3. Next do 'emerge -f system' or 'emerge -uf world'. This will cause all required packages to be downloaded only. That way, you'll find out whether anything is missing before you leave it to run unattended.
>4. Finally do 'emerge system' or 'emerge -u world'.
>5. Be sure to create directory /var/log/portage and add PORT_LOGDIR=/var/log/portage to /etc/make.conf. That way portage will log each step, and you can easily find out what went bang and why.
>6. After all is well, do emerge -f kde to download averything first. kde is a super pain in the butt to get installed, and it keeps the gentoo developers busy, but I have had no problems with it.
>
>And, BTW, read all the docs several times; you need to understand what is being done at each step.
>
>  
>
Thanks again, Collins.  I will.  It seems that each time I read the 
handbook or emerge's man page I'm picking up something new.  Partly 
because the handbook changed :)
Thanks for the pointers.  Not a bad set of procedures.  Probably use 
them next time I do this process.

Matt