Bug 57176

Summary:	Need warning added to installation guide
Product:	[OLD] Docs-user	Reporter:	Mike ConradMike Conrad <silverdirk>
Component:	Gentoo Linux x86 Installation Guide	Assignee:	Docs Team <docs-team>
Status:	RESOLVED WONTFIX
Severity:	normal
Priority:	High
Version:	unspecified
Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Package list:		Runtime testing required:	---

Description Mike ConradMike Conrad 2004-07-15 06:35:57 UTC

I have just spent an entire week ****ing around with the installation of a new system and it turns out that all of my problems are a direct result of Non-Bug 55620, which basically says that Gentoo doesn't support /usr or /var being symlinks.  I would like a nice warning added to the installation guide saying that IF YOU TRY SYMLINKING /USR IT WILL HOSE EVERYTHING HALFWAY THROUGH YOUR "emerge system".

I am calling this a documentation bug because Debian never had any trouble with this setup, so it is reasonable for users switching to gentoo to expect this to work.  (and should be warned otherwise)  A mention of mount --bind might also be helpful.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1. Use live CD to create new system.
2. Choose to put /usr in /mnt/hd2, and 'ln -s /mnt/hd2/usr /usr
3. emerge system

Actual Results:  
Coreutils fails to emerge.  Aggrevated gentoo newbie spends 1 week hacking 
around with the portage scripts trying to figure out why unlink is throwing 
access violations.

Comment 1 Xavier Neys (RETIRED) gentoo-dev

2004-07-16 02:19:18 UTC

Sorry but this falls into the odd-scheme-scenario category.
The handbook tries to keep the right balance between information, ease of use, choices. Even the partitioning scheme is kept simple enough for all users to manage.
IMHO, most users would not benefit from, or even understand, such a warning.
Besides, the handbook should not become a list of not-to-do things.