It seems like showing a more well versed partition layout only to use the intital setup of /boot / and swap, is couter intutive. Mutlipul partitions allow for more security, as well as easier fixes if a partition gets corrupt for some reason. It also might be a good idea to include what each root directory is used for in gentoo, since most distros are not 100% FHS compliant. On a related note, uses ext2 by default, I am not familiar with all the advantages/disadvantages of ext3/4 but most distros suggest using one of them.
Hi Nicholas The partitioning of a system is one of those things that is very individualistic. Like the choice of window manager or text editor, the partitioning layout will differ from person to person. It is not Gentoo's intention to provide a full-fledged partitioning guide (yet) as there are many of those around nowadays. Yet it doesn't mean we are not checking this out at all - as a matter of fact, on the gentoo-dev mailinglist, a discussion was started recently to verify if having a separate /usr is still worth it and what the consequences are. Still, I don't think we need to alter the installation instructions on this right now. The documentation isn't wrong, and if you're interested in security, then gentoo's security handbook at http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/security/security-handbook.xml already talks about partitioning schemes. Your second suggestion on describing the root partitions - I'm not sure what you would suggest here. Although Gentoo isn't fully FHS compliant (most distributions aren't nowadays, but there are changes on FHS pending that should help out) the purpose of the directories are generally the same. If anything, I think the best option would be to refer to the FHS for more information (or just "man hier" on a Linux system). The third suggestion is already pending (there's another bug for this in the queue).
Unless you disagree with the above, I will be marking this one as WONTFIX
Agreed with Sven. -> WONTFIX.
