Funtoo Linux Installation Guide

Note

Translators: Thank you for your help! Please use the section-by-section guide as the basis for your translations. Thanks again!

Introduction

root # Welcome to Funtoo Linux!

Welcome to Funtoo Linux! This document was written to help you install Funtoo Linux on PC-compatible systems, while keeping distracting options regarding system configuration to a minimum.

If you've had previous experience installing Gentoo Linux then a lot of steps will be familiar, but you should still read through as there are a few differences. If you're new to installing a Gentoo-based Linux, or new to Linux entirely -- welcome! We have attempted to make these installation instructions understandable to new users as well.

Before we get started, please review the following important information:

Current Release: The current release of Funtoo Linux is 1.4, sometimes referred to as 1.4-release or 1.4-release-std. 1.4 is not an LTS ("Long Term Stable") release but the upgrade to 2.x LTS should be quite seamless so this version is generally recommended over 1.3 for long-term production deployment.

Development Model: Funtoo Linux is a community-developed Linux meta-distribution. If you use Funtoo Linux, you are welcome to contribute to its development via code.funtoo.org without going through any special procedure or complicated approval process. See Development Guide for more information on how to contribute to Funtoo. We also have YouTube video tutorials to help you get started.

Documentation Styles: We now offer the ability to read and browse the Install Guide section-by-section. Online users may find this more convenient.

Release Notes: To familiarize yourself with the latest changes in Funtoo Linux, Release Notes for Funtoo Linux 1.4 are available.

Upgrade Instructions: If upgrading from Funtoo Linux 1.3 or earlier, please consult Funtoo Linux 1.4 Upgrade Instructions.

AWS Images: We now offer direct deployment of Funtoo Linux in Amazon Web Services. This is a useful option for those who wish to take advantage of AWS or deploy Funtoo Linux automatically. A tutorial-style guide on how to use AWS with Funtoo is available.

Running Steam: We have recently released official Steam Docker images that are supported by Funtoo and are the officially-supported way to run Steam on Funtoo.

Containers: LXD container management as well as Docker is officially supported. Please see Chroot and Containers for an incomplete but growing list of container technologies available, along with links to further documentation.

New Fchroot Tool: Our new fchroot tool is now available to allow you to run ARM and RISCV environments on PC-compatible hardware. This is a very effective tool for accelerating building of large pieces of software on resource-constrained ARM systems. See the code.funtoo.org page, Frankenchroot and Frankenchroot/Live_NFS_Frankenchroot for set-up information.

Now that we've covered all that important information, it's time to get started installing Funtoo Linux!

Installation Overview

This is a basic overview of the Funtoo installation process:

Download and boot the live CD of your choice.
Prepare your disk.
MBR Partitioning.
GPT Partitioning.
Create and mount filesystems.
Setting the Date.
Install the Funtoo stage tarball of your choice.
Chroot into your new system.
Download the Portage tree.
Configure your system.
Introducing Portage.
Install a kernel.
Install a bootloader.
Configure the Network.
Complete final steps.
Profile Configuration.
All Done! Enjoy!

Download LiveCD

In order to install Funtoo Linux, you will first need to boot your computer using a Linux-based Live CD or USB stick. We recommend the Funtoo-based Area31 Funtoo LiveCD (1.5GB download) as it contains a modern kernel as well as a full graphical environment. It can be burned to CD/DVD or installed on a USB stick. Download it here:

Download from Area31 Funtoo LiveCD (1.5GB download)

To copy it to a USB stick for booting, use the following command:

root # dd if=funtoo-livecd-area31-5.1-beta.iso of=/dev/sdx bs=4k status=progress

Of course, you will need to change /dev/sdx to point to the block device of the USB stick on your system.

Network Access

Once you have booted the Area31 Funtoo LiveCD, see if you have Internet access. Internet access is required for installing Funtoo Linux:

root # ping www.google.com
PING www.google.com (216.58.217.36) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from den03s10-in-f4.1e100.net (216.58.217.36): icmp_seq=1 ttl=57 time=30.1 ms

If the ping is successful (you see 64 bytes messages as above,) then your Network is set up. Hit Control-C to stop the ping.

If you need to set up a WiFi connection for Internet access, then this can be accomplished using the nmtui command-line tool:

root # nmtui

Remote Install

Alternatively, you can log into Area31 Funtoo LiveCD over the network via SSH to perform the install from another computer, and this may be more convenient way to install Funtoo Linux.

If you'd like to complete the install remotely, here's how. First, you will need to ensure that the Area31 LiveCD has a functioning network connection. Then, you will need to set a root password for the Area31 Funtoo LiveCD:

root # passwd
New password: ********
Retype new password: ********
passwd: password updated successfully

Once you have typed in a password, you will now need to determine the IP address of the LiveCD, and then you can use ssh to connect to it. To determine the IP address currently being used by the LiveCD, type ifconfig:

root # ifconfig

Alternatively, determining of an IP address is possible with iproute2 ip tool:

root # ip addr show

One of the interfaces should have an IP address (listed as inet addr:) from your LAN. You can then connect remotely, from another system on your LAN, to System Rescue CD, and perform steps from the comfort of an existing OS. On your remote system, type the following, replacing 1.2.3.4 with the IP address of the LiveCD. Connecting from an existing Linux or MacOS system would look something like this:

remote system $ ssh root@1.2.3.4
Password: **********

Note

If you'd like to connect remotely from an existing Microsoft Windows system, you'll need to download an SSH client for Windows, such as OpenSSH.

After you've logged in via SSH, you're now connected remotely to the LiveCD and can perform the installation steps.

Prepare Disk

In this section, you will need to choose a disk format to use for booting and partitioning -- either MBR or UEFI/GPT. If you are not familiar with the differences between these options, please review our Disk Formats page for an overview of each option and the trade-offs. Generally, it's usually safe to pick the legacy MBR method for system disks under 2TB in size and most modern PC systems support MBR as well as UEFI booting.

But First...

Before doing anything to your disks, make sure you are partitioning the right one. Use the lsblk command to view a list of all block devices on your system, as well as partitions on these block devices:

root # lsblk
NAME          MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda             8:0    0  1.8T  0 disk 
├─sda1          8:1    0  512M  0 part 
├─sda2          8:2    0    8G  0 part [SWAP]
└─sda3          8:3    0  1.8T  0 part 
  ├─main-root 254:0    0  500G  0 lvm  /
  └─main-data 254:1    0  1.3T  0 lvm  /home

Note

If you're not sure which disks are which, you can use lsblk -o MODEL,NAME,SIZE to show the device models matching the /dev/sd? names.

Make sure you will not be overwriting any important data and that you have chosen the correct /dev/sd? device. Above, you can see that SATA disk sda contains three partitions, sda1, sda2 and sda3, and that sda3 contains LVM volumes. If you are using an NVME disk, then you may see nvme0n1 as your disk, and your partitions (if any exist yet) will be named nvme0n1p1, nvme0n1p2, etc. If you are installing on microSD Card for Raspberry Pi, your disk will likely be mmcblk0 and partitions will have suffixes p1, p2, etc.

Once you've double-checked your target block device and made sure you'll be partitioning the correct disk, proceed to the next step.

MBR Partitioning

Legacy (BIOS/MBR) Method

Note

Use this method if you are booting using your BIOS, and if your Funtoo LiveCD initial boot menu was light blue. If you're going to use the UEFI/GPT disk format, then please proceed to the next section.

First, it's a good idea to make sure that you've found the correct hard disk to partition. Try this command and verify that /dev/sda is the disk that you want to partition:

root # fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 640.1 GB, 640135028736 bytes, 1250263728 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk label type: gpt

#         Start          End    Size  Type            Name
 1         2048   1250263694  596.2G  Linux filesyste Linux filesystem

Now, it is recommended that you erase any existing MBR or GPT partition tables on the disk, which could confuse the system's BIOS at boot time. We accomplish this using sgdisk:

Warning

This will make any existing partitions inaccessible! You are strongly cautioned and advised to backup any critical data before proceeding.

root # sgdisk --zap-all /dev/sda

Creating new GPT entries.
GPT data structures destroyed! You may now partition the disk using fdisk or
other utilities.

This output is also nothing to worry about, as the command still succeeded:

***************************************************************
Found invalid GPT and valid MBR; converting MBR to GPT format
in memory. 
***************************************************************

Now we will use fdisk to create the MBR partition table and partitions:

root # fdisk /dev/sda

Within fdisk, follow these steps:

Empty the partition table:

Command (m for help): o ↵

Create Partition 1 (boot):

Command (m for help): n ↵
Partition type (default p): ↵
Partition number (1-4, default 1): ↵
First sector: ↵
Last sector: +128M ↵

Create Partition 2 (swap):

Command (m for help): n ↵
Partition type (default p): ↵
Partition number (2-4, default 2): ↵
First sector: ↵
Last sector: +2G ↵
Command (m for help): t ↵ 
Partition number (1,2, default 2):  ↵
Hex code (type L to list all codes): 82 ↵

Create the root partition:

Command (m for help): n ↵
Partition type (default p): ↵
Partition number (3,4, default 3): ↵
First sector: ↵
Last sector: ↵

Verify the partition table:

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sda: 298.1 GiB, 320072933376 bytes, 625142448 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x82abc9a6

Device    Boot     Start       End    Blocks  Id System
/dev/sda1           2048    264191    131072  83 Linux
/dev/sda2         264192   4458495   2097152  82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3        4458496 625142447 310341976  83 Linux

Write the partition table to disk:

Command (m for help): w

Your new MBR partition table will now be written to your system disk.

Note

You're done with partitioning! Now, jump over to Creating filesystems.

GPT Partitioning

UEFI/GPT Method

Note

Use this method if you are interested in booting using UEFI, and if your Funtoo LiveCD initial boot menu was black and white, or the system booted without a boot menu. If it was light blue, this method will not work. Instead, use the instructions in the previous section then skip this section, or reboot LiveCD in UEFI mode first.

The gdisk commands to create a GPT partition table are as follows. Adapt sizes as necessary, although these defaults will work for most users. Start gdisk:

root # gdisk /dev/sda

Within gdisk, follow these steps:

Create a new empty partition table (This will erase all data on the disk when saved):

Command: o ↵
This option deletes all partitions and creates a new protective MBR.
Proceed? (Y/N): y ↵

Create Partition 1 (boot):

Command: n ↵
Partition Number: 1 ↵
First sector: ↵
Last sector: +500M ↵
Hex Code: EF00 ↵

Create Partition 2 (swap):

Command: n ↵
Partition Number: 2 ↵
First sector: ↵
Last sector: +4G ↵
Hex Code: 8200 ↵

Create Partition 3 (root):

Command: n ↵
Partition Number: 3 ↵
First sector: ↵
Last sector: ↵ (for rest of disk)
Hex Code: ↵

Along the way, you can type "p" and hit Enter to view your current partition table. If you make a mistake, you can type "d" to delete an existing partition that you created. When you are satisfied with your partition setup, type "w" to write your configuration to disk:

Write Partition Table To Disk:

Command: w ↵
Do you want to proceed? (Y/N): Y ↵

The partition table will now be written to the disk and gdisk will close.

Now, your GPT/GUID partitions have been created, and will show up as the following block devices under Linux:

/dev/sda1, which will be used to hold the /boot filesystem,
/dev/sda2, which will be used for swap space, and
/dev/sda3, which will hold your root filesystem.

Tip

You can verify that the block devices above were correctly created by running the command lsblk.

Creating Filesystems

Note

This section covers both BIOS and UEFI installs. Don't skip it!

Before your newly-created partitions can be used, the block devices that were created in the previous step need to be initialized with filesystem metadata. This process is known as creating a filesystem on the block devices. After filesystems are created on the block devices, they can be mounted and used to store files.

Let's keep this simple. Are you using legacy MBR partitions? If so, let's create an ext2 filesystem on /dev/sda1:

root # mkfs.ext2 /dev/sda1

If you're using GPT partitions for UEFI, or installing for Raspberry Pi, you'll want to create a vfat filesystem on your first partition. This will be mmcblk0p1 in the case of Raspberry Pi:

root # mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sda1

Now, let's create a swap partition. This partition will be used as disk-based virtual memory for your Funtoo Linux system.

You will not create a filesystem on your swap partition, since it is not used to store files. But it is necessary to initialize it using the mkswap command. Then we'll run the swapon command to make your newly-initialized swap space immediately active within the live CD environment, in case it is needed during the rest of the install process:

root # mkswap /dev/sda2
root # swapon /dev/sda2

Root Filesystem

Now, we need to create a root filesystem. This is where Funtoo Linux will live. We generally recommend ext4 or XFS root filesystems. Keep in mind that some filesystems will require additional filesystem tools to be emerged prior to rebooting. Please consult the following table for more information:

Filesystem	Recommended as root file system?	Additional tools required to emerge
ext4	Yes	None
XFS	Yes	`sys-fs/xfsprogs`
reiserfs	Yes -- will likely need to enable kernel support	`sys-fs/reiserfsprogs`
zfs	No - advanced users only	`sys-fs/zfs`
btrfs	No - advanced users only	`sys-fs/btrfs-progs`

Important

We do not recommend users set up ZFS or BTRFS as their root filesystem. This is much more complex and usually not necessary. Instead, choose XFS or ext4. We do support ZFS or BTRFS as non-root filesystems and this is much, much easier to configure. See ZFS and BTRFS after you are done setting up your Funtoo Linux system to configure ZFS or BTRFS for additional secondary storage.

If you're not sure, choose ext4. Here's how to create a root ext4 filesystem:

root # mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3

...and here's how to create an XFS root filesystem, if you prefer to use XFS instead of ext4:

root # mkfs.xfs /dev/sda3

Your filesystems (and swap) have all now been initialized, so that that can be mounted (attached to your existing directory heirarchy) and used to store files. We are ready to begin installing Funtoo Linux on these brand-new filesystems.

Additional Filesystems

Note

This can be very useful for Raspberry Pi systems!

You may want to create additional filesystems for various parts of your Funtoo filesystem tree. It is not uncommon to place /home or /var on separate filesystems.

For Raspberry Pi, you may not have a lot of spare room on the card depending on the capacity of your microSD card, and it may make a lot of sense to put the entire /var filesystem on an external hard drive or solid state disk. This will not only ensure you don't run out of disk space, but can also improve performance since writes to the microSD card typically aren't that fast.

To do this, you will want to use fdisk or gdisk to create a partition on your external drive, and then use the mkfs.xfs or mkfs.ext4 commands to create a filesystem on the new partition. We will mount this new filesystem in the next step prior to extracting the stage3 tarball.

Mounting Filesystems

Mount the newly-created filesystems as follows, creating /mnt/funtoo as the installation mount point:

root # mkdir /mnt/funtoo
root # mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/funtoo
root # mkdir /mnt/funtoo/boot
root # mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/funtoo/boot

If you have any additional filesystems you created earlier (such as /home or /var), you should mount them now, so that when the stage3 is extracted (which we will do in a later step) these filesystems will get populated with the necessary files. This can be done as follows:

root # mkdir /mnt/funtoo/var
root # mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/funtoo/var

Setting the Date

Important

If your system's date and time are too far off (typically by months or years), then it may prevent Portage from properly downloading source tarballs. This is because some of our sources are downloaded via HTTPS, which use SSL certificates and are marked with an activation and expiration date. However, if your system time is relatively close to correct, you can probably skip this step for now.

Now is a good time to verify the date and time are correctly set to UTC. Use the date command to verify the date and time:

root # date
Fri Jul 15 19:47:18 UTC 2011

If the date and/or time need to be corrected, do so using date MMDDhhmmYYYY, keeping in mind hhmm are in 24-hour format. The example below changes the date and time to "July 16th, 2011 @ 8:00PM" UTC:

root # date 071620002011
Fri Jul 16 20:00:00 UTC 2011

Once you have set the system clock, it's a very good idea to copy the time to the hardware clock, so it persists across reboots:

root # hwclock --systohc

Download and Extract Stage3

Now that filesystems are created and your hardware and system clock are set, the next step is downloading the initial Stage 3 tarball. The Stage 3 is a pre-compiled system used as a starting point to install Funtoo Linux.

To download the correct build of Funtoo Linux for your system, head over to the Subarches page. Subarches are builds of Funtoo Linux that are designed to run on a particular type of CPU, to offer the best possible performance. They also take advantage of the instruction sets available for each CPU.

What Subarch?

From the subarch list at Subarches, choose your desired level of optimization. A system built specifically for your CPU will run faster than a less-optimized system. For a modern Intel or AMD system, it is safe to pick the exact optimization level for your particular family of CPU. This will offer the best possible performance.

If you are using a virtualization technology to run Funtoo Linux and your VM may be used on different types of hardware, then it's recommended that you use a stage3 that is optimized for the oldest CPU instruction set that your VM will run on, or a more generic image if it may run on both AMD and Intel processors.

Once you have found the appropriate subarch at Subarches, you will likely have a few installation images to choose from. This next section will help you understand which one to pick.

Which Image?

You can always manually choose an installation image via https://build.funtoo.org as well as using the Subarches page. Here is some guidance on choosing the best .tar.xz image for download. When choosing an image:

Pick 1.4-release-std.: This is release 1.4 of Funtoo Linux, our current release.

Pick the subarch for the CPU family of the system you are installing on.: This will provide the best performance.

Choose stage3 for...: The stage3 is a more traditional, minimal and non-graphical installation of Funtoo. You will then build your system up to your desired state using emerge.

Choose gnome for...: The gnome installation image, if available, includes the full GNOME environment as well as Firefox already optimized for your hardware. You can then continue to further customize your system after installation.

The lxd image for...: The lxd image is for use with LXD, and is not used for installing directly on a desktop or laptop, so you should not select this option for regular installs.

Download the Stage3

Once you have found the stage3 that you would like to download, use wget to download the Stage 3 tarball you have chosen to use as the basis for your new Funtoo Linux system. It should be saved to the /mnt/funtoo directory as follows:

root # cd /mnt/funtoo
root # wget https://build.funtoo.org/1.4-release-std/x86-64bit/generic_64/stage3-latest.tar.xz

Verify downloaded tarball

Funtoo Linux stage tarballs are signed using GPG by the build server they are built on. It's a good practice to verify authenticity and integrity of downloaded files when possible. For instructions how to import and trust GPG keys check our wiki page about GPG signatures.

Then, you can download the stage3's GPG signature and use the gpg --verify command in order to verify your tarball:

root # wget https://build.funtoo.org/1.4-release-std/x86-64bit/generic_64/stage3-latest.tar.xz.gpg
root # gpg --verify stage3-latest.tar.xz.gpg stage3-latest.tar.xz

Once the stage is downloaded and verified, extract the contents with the following command, substituting in the actual name of your Stage 3 tarball:

root # tar --numeric-owner --xattrs --xattrs-include='*' -xpf stage3-latest.tar.xz

Important

It is very important to use all the options included above. See below for details.

Here are what the options to tar do:

--numeric-owner: Without this option, tar will map ownership and group ownership based on the UID to user and GID to group mappings as defined on the LiveCD. We don't want this -- we want the numeric values of the UIDs and GIDs in the tarball to be preserved on disk, so when your Funtoo Linux system boots, the UIDs and GIDs are set correctly for Funtoo. That is what this option tells tar to do.
--xattrs --xattrs-include='*': Funtoo Linux uses filesystem extended attributes to set Linux capabilities, which allow for certain programs such as ping to have enhanced privileges without having to be fully 'suid root'. Even with the -p option, tar will not restore extended attributes we need unless these two options are specified.
-xpf: This instructs tar to extract (x), preserve regular permissions and ownership (p), and use the filename (f) specified.

Chroot into Funtoo

To install Funtoo Linux, the chroot command is first used. The chroot command will "switch into" the new Funtoo Linux system, so the commands you execute after running "chroot" will run within your newly-extracted Funtoo Linux system.

Before chrooting, there are a few things that need to be done to set up the chroot environment. You will need to mount /proc, /sys and /dev inside your new system. Use the following commands to do so:

root # cd /mnt/funtoo
root # mount -t proc none proc
root # mount --rbind /sys sys
root # mount --rbind /dev dev

You'll also want to copy over resolv.conf in order to have proper resolution of Internet hostnames from inside the chroot:

root # cp /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/funtoo/etc/

Now you can chroot into your new system. Use env before chroot to ensure that no environment settings from the installation media are pulled in to your new system:

root # env -i HOME=/root TERM=$TERM /bin/chroot . bash -l
chroot #

Note

For users of live CDs with 64-bit kernels installing 32-bit systems: Some software may use uname -r to check whether the system is 32 or 64-bit. You may want to append linux32 to the chroot command as a workaround, but it's generally not needed.

Important

If you receive the error "chroot: failed to run command `/bin/bash': Exec format error", it is most likely because you are running a 32-bit kernel and trying to execute 64-bit code. Make sure that you have selected the proper type of kernel when booting SystemRescueCD.

It's also a good idea to change the default command prompt while inside the chroot. This will avoid confusion if you have to change terminals. Use this command:

chroot # export PS1="(chroot) $PS1"

Test internet name resolution from within the chroot:

chroot # ping -c 5 google.com

If you can't ping, make sure that /etc/resolv.conf specifies a valid IP address for a reachable nameserver in its nameserver setting.

Congratulations! You are now chrooted inside a Funtoo Linux system. Now it's time to get Funtoo Linux properly configured so that Funtoo Linux will start successfully, without any manual assistance, when your system is restarted.

Download Portage Tree

Now it's time to install the Portage repository, which contains package scripts (ebuilds) that tell portage how to build and install thousands of different software packages. To create the Portage repository, simply run ego sync from within the chroot. This will automatically clone the portage tree from GitHub and all kits:

chroot # install -d /var/git -o 250 -g 250
chroot # ego sync

Configuration Files

As is expected from a Linux distribution, Funtoo Linux has its share of configuration files. The one file you are absolutely required to edit in order to ensure that Funtoo Linux boots successfully is /etc/fstab. The others are optional.

Using Nano

The default editor included in the chroot environment is called nano. To edit one of the files below, run nano as follows:

chroot # nano -w /etc/fstab

When in the editor, you can use arrow keys to move the cursor, and common keys like backspace and delete will work as expected. To save the file, press Control-X, and answer y when prompted to save the modified buffer if you would like to save your changes.

Configuration Files

Here are a full list of files that you may want to edit, depending on your needs:

File	Do I need to change it?	Description
`/etc/fstab`	YES - required	Mount points for all filesystems to be used at boot time. This file must reflect your disk partition setup. We'll guide you through modifying this file below.
`/etc/localtime`	Maybe - recommended	Your timezone, which will default to UTC if not set. This should be a symbolic link to something located under /usr/share/zoneinfo (e.g. /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Montreal)
`/etc/portage/make.conf`	Maybe - recommended	Parameters used by gcc (compiler), portage, and make. Note that it is normal for this file to be empty in Funtoo Linux, as many settings have been migrated to our enhanced profile system.
`/etc/conf.d/hostname`	Maybe - recommended	Used to set system hostname. Set the `hostname` variable to the fully-qualified (with dots, ie. `foo.funtoo.org`) name if you have one. Otherwise, set to the local system hostname (without dots, ie. `foo`). Defaults to `localhost` if not set.
`/etc/hosts`	No	You no longer need to manually set the hostname in this file. This file is automatically generated by `/etc/init.d/hostname`.
`/etc/conf.d/keymaps`	Optional	Keyboard mapping configuration file (for console pseudo-terminals). Set if you have a non-US keyboard. See Funtoo Linux Localization.
`/etc/conf.d/hwclock`	Optional	How the time of the battery-backed hardware clock of the system is interpreted (UTC or local time). Linux uses the battery-backed hardware clock to initialize the system clock when the system is booted.
`/etc/conf.d/modules`	Optional	Kernel modules to load automatically at system startup. Typically not required. See Additional Kernel Resources for more info.
`/etc/conf.d/consolefont`	Optional	Allows you to specify the default console font. To apply this font, enable the consolefont service by running rc-update add consolefont.
`profiles`	Optional	Some useful portage settings that may help speed up intial configuration.

If you're installing an English version of Funtoo Linux, you're in luck, as most of the configuration files can be used as-is. If you're installing for another locale, don't worry. We will walk you through the necessary configuration steps on the Funtoo Linux Localization page, and if needed, there's always plenty of friendly, helpful support available. (See Getting Help)

Let's go ahead and see what we have to do. Use nano -w <name_of_file> to edit files -- the "-w" argument disables word-wrapping, which is handy when editing configuration files. You can copy and paste from the examples.

Warning

It's important to edit your /etc/fstab file before you reboot! You will need to modify both the "fs" and "type" columns to match the settings for your partitions and filesystems that you created with gdisk or fdisk. Skipping this step may prevent Funtoo Linux from booting successfully.

/etc/fstab

/etc/fstab is used by the mount command which is run when your system boots. Lines in this file inform mount about filesystems to be mounted and how they should be mounted. In order for the system to boot properly, you must edit /etc/fstab and ensure that it reflects the partition configuration you used earlier in the install process. If you can't remember the partition configuration that you used earlier, the lsblk command may be of help to you:

chroot # nano -w /etc/fstab

/etc/fstab - An example fstab file

# The root filesystem should have a pass number of either 0 or 1.
# All other filesystems should have a pass number of 0 or greater than 1.
#
# NOTE: If your BOOT partition is ReiserFS, add the notail option to opts.
#
# See the manpage fstab(5) for more information.
#
# <fs>	     <mountpoint>  <type>  <opts>         <dump/pass>

/dev/sda1    /boot         ext2    noauto,noatime 1 2
/dev/sda2    none          swap    sw             0 0
/dev/sda3    /             ext4    noatime        0 1
#/dev/cdrom  /mnt/cdrom    auto    noauto,ro      0 0

Note

If you're using UEFI to boot, change the /dev/sda1 line so that it says vfat instead of ext2. Similarly, make sure that the /dev/sda3 line specifies either xfs or ext4, depending on which filesystem you chose earlier on in the installation process when you created filesystems.

/etc/localtime

/etc/localtime is used to specify the timezone that your machine is in, and defaults to UTC. If you would like your Funtoo Linux system to use local time, you should replace /etc/localtime with a symbolic link to the timezone that you wish to use.

chroot # ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/MST7MDT /etc/localtime

The above sets the timezone to Mountain Standard Time (with daylight savings). Type ls /usr/share/zoneinfo to list available timezones. There are also sub-directories containing timezones described by location.

/etc/portage/make.conf

USE flags define what functionality is enabled when packages are built. It is not recommended to add a lot of USE flags during installation; you should wait until you have a working, bootable system before changing your USE flags. A USE flag prefixed with a minus ("-") sign tells Portage not to use the flag when compiling. A Funtoo guide to USE flags will be available in the future. For now, you can find out more information about USE flags in the Gentoo Handbook.

/etc/conf.d/hwclock

If you dual-boot with Windows, you'll need to edit this file and change the value of clock from UTC to local, because Windows will set your hardware clock to local time every time you boot Windows. Otherwise you normally wouldn't need to edit this file.

chroot # nano -w /etc/conf.d/hwclock

Localization

By default, Funtoo Linux is configured with Unicode (UTF-8) enabled, and for the US English locale and keyboard. If you would like to configure your system to use a non-English locale or keyboard, see Funtoo Linux Localization.

Introducing Portage

Portage, the Funtoo Linux package manager has a command called emerge which is used to build and install packages from source. It also takes care of installing all of the package's dependencies. You call emerge like this:

chroot # emerge packagename

When you install a package by specifying its name in the command-line, Portage records its name in the /var/lib/portage/world file. It does so because it assumes that, since you have installed it by name, you want to consider it part of your system and want to keep the package updated in the future. This is a handy feature, since when packages are being added to the world set, we can update our entire system by typing:

chroot # ego sync
chroot # emerge -auDN @world

This is the "official" way to update your Funtoo Linux system. Above, we first update our Portage tree using git to grab the latest ebuilds (scripts), and then run an emerge command to update the world set of packages. The options specified tell emerge to:

a - show us what will be emerged, and ask us if we want to proceed
u - update the packages we specify -- don't emerge them again if they are already emerged.
D - Consider the entire dependency tree of packages when looking for updates. In other words, do a deep update.
N - Update any packages that have changed (new) USE settings.

You should also consider passing --with-bdeps=y when emerging @world, at least once in a while. This will update build dependencies as well.

Of course, sometimes we want to install a package but not add it to the world file. This is often done because you only want the package installed temporarily or because you know the package in question is a dependency of another package. If this behavior is desired, you call emerge like this:

chroot # emerge -1 packagename

Advanced users may be interested in the Emerge wiki page.

Updating World

Certain packages in the Funtoo stage3 tarball are compiled with the bindist USE flag enabled by default. (The bindist flag controls enabling or disabling of options for proprietary and/or patented parts of code which is not allowed to be distributed in images due to licensing issues). You may notice a dependency resolution problem with bindist USE flags during updating packages after initial system setup. To avoid potential problems, update the system before first boot or any other package installation as shown below:

chroot # ego sync
chroot # emerge -auDN @world

Important

Make sure you read any post emerge messages and follow their instructions. This is especially true if you have upgraded perl or python.

Important

If you choose different file systems then the ones in this guide such as JFS or Btrfs, please remember to install any necessary packages so that your system can perform a file system check at boot. The package is jsfutils for JFS. Similar packages exist for all file systems.

Prepare Disk

Funtoo Linux stage3's include a pre-built debian-sources-lts kernel to make installation faster and easier. To see what kernel version is pre-installed, type:

chroot # emerge -s debian-sources-lts
Searching...    
[ Results for search key : debian-sources-lts ]
[ Applications found : 1 ]

*  sys-kernel/debian-sources-lts
      Latest version available: 4.9.130
      Latest version installed: 4.9.130
      Size of files: 95,022 kB
      Homepage:      https://packages.debian.org/stable/kernel/linux-image-4.9.0-6-amd64
      Description:   Debian Sources (and optional binary kernel)
      License:       GPL-2

Firmware

At this point it is wise to emerge the latest sys-kernel/linux-firmware package, because various drivers rely on firmware blobs and instructions. Hardware like Wi-Fi cards, graphic cards, network cards, and others will not work properly or at all if firmware is not available. If using the stage3 image, perform the following to install it. linux-firmware will be already installed if using the gnome image:

chroot # emerge -av linux-firmware

Modern Intel Chipsets

If you have a modern Intel system (Skylake, Coffee Lake or newer) then you may be better served by the newer debian-sources kernel as it will have support for more modern Intel WiFi and integrated graphics chipsets. To use this kernel, you will want to perform the following steps:

chroot # echo "sys-kernel/debian-sources binary" > /etc/portage/package.use
chroot # emerge -av debian-sources

Then, when you configure /etc/boot.conf in the next section, you will want to ensure that debian-sources (not debian-sources-lts) is selected as your default kernel.

Bootloader

boot.conf Configuration

These install instructions show you how to use GRUB to boot using BIOS (legacy) or UEFI.

ego boot update (ego boot) is installed by default, but GRUB is not, as it is not required for all Funtoo Linux systems (such as containers, for example.) But for booting on bare metal, it is the recommended and best-supported boot loader, so you will need to emerge it:

chroot # emerge -av grub

boot.conf

/etc/boot.conf controls boot loader configuration in Funtoo. Here is what is in the file by default:

/etc/boot.conf

boot {
	generate grub
	default "Funtoo Linux"
	timeout 3
}

"Funtoo Linux" {
	kernel kernel[-v]
	initrd initramfs[-v]
	params += real_root=auto rootfstype=auto
}

"Funtoo Linux (nomodeset)" {
	kernel kernel[-v]
	initrd initramfs[-v]
	params += real_root=auto rootfstype=auto nomodeset
}

If you are booting a custom or non-default kernel, please read man boot.conf for information on the various options available to you.

nomodeset

You will notice after booting that you there will be a boot option in the GRUB menu for a "nomodeset" mode. We don't recommend you use this mode by default but it is available to you for a couple of good reasons:

For users with HiDPI (4K+) displays, especially laptops: If you have not set up a graphical environment, when the kernel automatically changes graphics modes, the console font can be tiny and unreadable.
For users with incompatible graphics cards: Some graphics cards don't handle mode setting properly and this can result in a blank screen after reboot. Use this boot option as a temporary workaround.

To use the nomodeset option, simply select that option from the GRUB menu when your system boots.

Intel Microcode

ego boot will ensure that you have the most recent Intel CPU microcode installed on your system if you emerge the following packages:

chroot # emerge intel-microcode iucode_tool

This is not necessary for AMD systems.

Old School (BIOS) MBR

When using "old school" BIOS booting, run the following command to install GRUB to your MBR, and generate the /boot/grub/grub.cfg configuration file that GRUB will use for booting:

chroot # grub-install --target=i386-pc --no-floppy /dev/sdX
chroot # ego boot update

New School (UEFI) Boot Entry

If you're using "new school" UEFI booting, run of the following sets of commands, depending on whether you are installing a 64-bit or 32-bit system. This will add GRUB as a UEFI boot entry.

For x86-64bit systems:

chroot # mount -o remount,rw /sys/firmware/efi/efivars
chroot # grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id="Funtoo Linux [GRUB]" --recheck /dev/sda
chroot # ego boot update

For x86-32bit systems:

chroot # mount -o remount,rw /sys/firmware/efi/efivars
chroot # grub-install --target=i386-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id="Funtoo Linux [GRUB]" --recheck /dev/sda
chroot # ego boot update

First Boot, and in the future...

OK -- you are almost ready to boot!

You only need to run grub-install when you first install Funtoo Linux, but you need to re-run ego boot update every time you modify your /etc/boot.conf file or add new kernels to your system. This will regenerate /boot/grub/grub.cfg so that you will have new kernels available in your GRUB boot menu upon your next reboot.

Post reboot UEFI troubleshooting

In case UEFI NVRAM boot entry is missing in BIOS and grub does not start you can try moving an already installed GRUB EFI executable to the default/fallback path

chroot # mv -v '/boot/EFI/Funtoo Linux [GRUB]' /boot/EFI/BOOT
chroot # mv -v /boot/EFI/BOOT/grubx64.efi /boot/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI

Network

It's important to ensure that you will be able to connect to your local-area network after you reboot into Funtoo Linux. There are three approaches you can use for configuring your network: NetworkManager, dhcpcd, and the Funtoo Linux Networking scripts. Here's how to choose which one to use based on the type of network you want to set up.

Wi-Fi

Note

If using the gnome install image, linux-firmware and NetworkManager are already installed and available. You can use nmtui to get Wi-Fi going if you need network connectivity prior to getting X and GNOME fully up and running. In addition, ZeroConf/Bonjour multicast DNS lookups are enabled by default. Both these things will not be set up yet if you are using the stage3 image.

For laptop/mobile systems where you will be using Wi-Fi, roaming, and connecting to various networks, NetworkManager is strongly recommended. Since Wi-Fi cards require firmware to operate, it is also recommended that you emerge the linux-firmware ebuild if you have not done so already:

chroot # emerge linux-firmware networkmanager
chroot # rc-update add NetworkManager default

The above command will ensure that NetworkManager starts after you boot into Funtoo Linux. Once you've completed these installation steps and have booted into Funtoo Linux, you can use the nmtui command (which has an easy-to-use console-based interface) to configure NetworkManager so that it will connect (and automatically reconnect, after reboot) to a Wi-Fi access point:

chroot # nmtui

For more information about NetworkManager, see the NetworkManager package page.

Desktop (Wired DHCP)

For a home desktop or workstation with wired Ethernet that will use DHCP, the simplest and most effective option to enable network connectivity is to simply add dhcpcd to the default runlevel:

chroot # rc-update add dhcpcd default

When you reboot, dhcpcd will run in the background and manage all network interfaces and use DHCP to acquire network addresses from a DHCP server.

If your upstream DHCP server is dnsmasq, it can be configured to assign addresses via mac address to make servers on DHCP feasible.

Server (Static IP)

For servers, the Funtoo Linux Networking scripts are the supported option for network configuration, and they have their own documentation. They are optimized for static configurations and things like virtual Ethernet bridging for virtualization setups. See Funtoo Linux Networking for information on how to use Funtoo Linux's template-based network configuration system.

Hostname

By default Funtoo uses "localhost" as hostname. Although the system will work perfectly fine using this name, some ebuilds refuse to install when detecting localhost as hostname. It also may create confusion if several systems use the same hostname. Therefore, it is advised to change it to a more meaningful name. The hostname itself is arbitrary, meaning you can choose almost any combination of characters, as long as it makes sense to the system administrator. To change the hostname, edit

chroot # nano /etc/conf.d/hostname

Look for the line starting with hostname and change the entry between the quotes. Save the file, on the next boot Funtoo will use the new hostname.

Warning

Hostnames can be up to 63 characters long and may use the following characters: a-z, 0-9 and hyphens (-). However, the hyphen may not be the first or last character.

Finishing Up

Set your root password

It's imperative that you set your root password before rebooting so that you can log in.

chroot # passwd
New password: **********
Retype new password: **********
passwd: password updated successfully

Create a Regular User

It's also a good idea to create a regular user for daily use. If you're using GNOME, this is a requirement as you cannot log in to GDM (The GNOME Display Manager) as root. This can be accomplished as follows:

chroot # useradd -m drobbins

You will also likely want to add your primary user to one or more supplemental groups. Here is a list of important groups and their effect:

Group	Description
`wheel`	Allows your user account to '`su`' to root. Recommended on your primary user account for easy maintenance. Also used with `sudo`.
`audio`	Allows your user account to directly access audio devices. Required if using ALSA; otherwise optional.
`plugdev`	Allows your user account work with various removable devices. Allows adding of a WiFi network in GNOME without providing root password. Recommended for desktop users.
`portage`	Allows extended use of Portage as regular user. Recommended.

To add your user to multiple groups, use the usermod command, specifying a complete group list:

chroot # usermod -G wheel,audio,plugdev,portage drobbins

As with your root account, don't forget to set a password:

chroot # passwd drobbins
New password: **********
Retype new password: **********
passwd: password updated successfully

Install an Entropy Generator

The Linux kernel uses various sources such as user input to generate entropy, which is in turn used for generating random numbers. Encrypted communications can use a lot of entropy, and often the amount of entropy generated by your system will not be sufficient. This is commonly an issue on headless server systems, which can also include ARM systems such as Raspberry Pi, and can result in slower than normal ssh connections among other issues.

To compensate for this, a user-space entropy generator can be emerged and enabled at boot time. We will use haveged in this example, although others are available, such as rng-tools.

chroot # emerge haveged
chroot # rc-update add haveged default

Haveged will now start at boot and will augment the Linux kernel's entropy pool.

Restart your system

Now is the time to leave chroot, to unmount Funtoo Linux partitions and files and to restart your computer. When you restart, the GRUB boot loader will start, load the Linux kernel and initramfs, and your system will begin booting.

Leave the chroot, change directory to /mnt, unmount your Funtoo partitions, and reboot.

chroot # exit
root # cd /mnt
root # umount -lR funtoo
root # reboot

Note

The Funtoo LiveCD will gracefully unmount your new Funtoo filesystems as part of its normal shutdown sequence.

You should now see your system reboot, the GRUB boot loader appear for a few seconds, and then see the Linux kernel and initramfs loading. After this, you should see Funtoo Linux itself start to boot, and you should be greeted with a login: prompt. Funtoo Linux has been successfully installed!

Profiles

Once you have rebooted into Funtoo Linux, you can further customize your system to your needs by using Funtoo Profiles. A quick introduction to profiles is included below -- consult the Funtoo Profiles page for more detailed information. There are five basic profile types: arch, build, subarch, flavors and mix-ins:

Sub-Profile Type	Description
`arch`	Typically `x86-32bit` or `x86-64bit`, this defines the processor type and support of your system. This is defined when your stage was built and should not be changed.
`build`	Defines whether your system is a `current`, `stable` or `experimental` build. At the moment, all Funtoo Linux builds use the `funtoo-current` build profile.
`subarch`	Defines CPU optimizations for your system. The subarch is set at the time the stage3 is built, but can be changed later to better settings if necessary. Be sure to pick a setting that is compatible with your CPU.
`flavor`	Defines the general type of system, such as `server` or `desktop`, and will set default USE flags appropriate for your needs.
`mix-ins`	Defines various optional settings that you may be interested in enabling.

One arch, build and flavor must be set for each Funtoo Linux system, while mix-ins are optional and you can enable more than one if desired. Often, flavors and mix-ins inherit settings from other sub-profiles. Use epro show to view your current profile settings, in addition to any inheritance information.

Note

It's recommended that your run this command now, particularly if you are using the gnome install image, in order to familiarize yourself with the current profile settings on your system.

root # epro show

=== Enabled Profiles: ===

        arch:  x86-64bit
       build:  current
     subarch:  intel64-haswell
      flavor:  desktop
     mix-ins:  gnome


=== All inherited flavors from desktop flavor: ===

                     workstation (from desktop flavor)
                            core (from workstation flavor)
                         minimal (from core flavor)

=== All inherited mix-ins from desktop flavor: ===

                               X (from workstation flavor)
                           audio (from workstation flavor)
                             dvd (from workstation flavor)
                           media (from workstation flavor)
      mediadevice-audio-consumer (from media mix-in)
                mediadevice-base (from mediadevice-audio-consumer mix-in)
      mediadevice-video-consumer (from media mix-in)
                mediadevice-base (from mediadevice-video-consumer mix-in)
        mediaformat-audio-common (from media mix-in)
          mediaformat-gfx-common (from media mix-in)
        mediaformat-video-common (from media mix-in)
                  console-extras (from workstation flavor)
                           print (from desktop flavor)

Here are some basic examples of epro usage:

Description	Command
View available profiles. Enabled profiles will be highlighted in cyan. Directly enabled profiles will be in bold and have a `*` appended.	`epro list`
Change the system flavor.	`epro flavor desktop`
Add a mix-in.	`epro mix-in +gnome`

Graphics Settings

Note

The gnome install image will have additional graphic support already enabled for you, but you will still need to set up X and your display manager (covered in the next section.)

Funtoo Linux 1.4 features the following mix-ins to allow simplified configuration of your graphics settings. It's recommended to use these mix-ins rather than manually placing USE and VIDEO_CARDS settings in /etc/make.conf. You can learn more about Funtoo's graphics configuration and the design approach of these settings at the make.conf/VIDEO_CARDS page.

Funtoo Graphics Mix-Ins

gfxcard-intel: This mix-in enables all DRI-based Intel integrated graphics, including support for Vulkan and video acceleration where available. Do an emerge libva-intel-driver afterwards to ensure you have full video acceleration support.
gfxcard-amdgpu: This mix-in enables support for modern Radeon cards, Southern Islands -- GFX Core 6 (see this x.org reference) and greater. Includes Vulkan and video acceleration where available. Drivers are built for both the Gallium framework (modern replacement for DRI framework) and DRI framework. Glamor is used to accelerate 2D operations.
gfxcard-radeon: This mix-in enables support for modern Radeon cards, R600 through Northern Islands -- GFX Core 4 and 5 (see this x.org reference). Drivers are built for the Gallium framework (modern replacement for DRI framework) as well as DRI framework. Glamor is used to accelerate 2D operations.
gfxcard-older-ati: Use this mix-in to enable support for R300 up to (but not including) R600 Radeon cards -- -- GFX Core 3 (see this x.org reference). DRI as well as Gallium-based drivers are enabled.
gfxcard-ancient-ati: Use this mix-in to enable support pre-R300 cards -- GFX Core 1 and 2 (see this x.org reference). These drivers are DRI-based.
gfxcard-nvidia: Use this to enable support for proprietary NVIDIA drivers. You will also need to emerge nvidia-kernel-modules, blacklist nouveau and add yourself to the video group. See this documentation for more details. Note that Funtoo now has two catpkgs for NVIDIA proprietary graphics -- nvidia-drivers and nvidia-kernel-modules -- to aid the use of NVIDIA acceleration on containers.
gfxcard-nvidia-legacy: Proprietary NVIDIA drivers like above, but the legacy version of the driver that supports older hardware. See https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/unix/ and browse the specific driver version that emerge is installing to get detailed compatibility information.
gfxcard-nouveau: Use this mix-in to enable support for Open Source nouveau drivers.

Enable the appropriate graphics options for your hardware as follows:

root # epro mix-in +gfxcard-intel

Once this has been done, proceed to set up X, KDE, GNOME or another desktop environment on your system, as desired. See the next section for more information on this.

All Done!

If you are brand new to Funtoo Linux and Gentoo Linux, please check out Funtoo Linux First Steps, which will help get you acquainted with your new system.

Important

If you are using the gnome install image, please see the "A few finishing touches" section of the GNOME setup docs in order to continue setting up your graphical environment.

You may also be interested in the following resources:

Security - tips for securing your system
Btrfs - a simple guide for setting up btrfs on your new Funtoo Linux system.
official documentation, which includes all docs that we officially maintain for installation and operation of Funtoo Linux.

We also have a number of pages dedicated to setting up your system. See the First Steps Category for a list of these pages.

If your system did not boot correctly, see Installation Troubleshooting for steps you can take to resolve the problem.

Funtoo Linux Installation Guide

Introduction

Installation Overview

Download LiveCD

Network Access

Remote Install

Prepare Disk

But First...

MBR Partitioning

Legacy (BIOS/MBR) Method

GPT Partitioning

UEFI/GPT Method

Creating Filesystems

Root Filesystem

Additional Filesystems

Mounting Filesystems

Setting the Date

Download and Extract Stage3

What Subarch?

Which Image?

Download the Stage3

Verify downloaded tarball

Chroot into Funtoo

Download Portage Tree

Configuration Files

Using Nano

Configuration Files

/etc/fstab

/etc/localtime

/etc/portage/make.conf

/etc/conf.d/hwclock

Localization

Introducing Portage

Updating World

Prepare Disk

Firmware

Modern Intel Chipsets

Bootloader

boot.conf Configuration

boot.conf

nomodeset

Intel Microcode

Old School (BIOS) MBR

New School (UEFI) Boot Entry

First Boot, and in the future...

Post reboot UEFI troubleshooting

Network

Wi-Fi

Desktop (Wired DHCP)

Server (Static IP)

Hostname

Finishing Up

Set your root password

Create a Regular User

Install an Entropy Generator

Restart your system

Profiles

Graphics Settings

Funtoo Graphics Mix-Ins

All Done!

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