Currently, it is exceptionally hard for desktop users to find out about a "recommended", "stable". "working" auto-mount system; as well as any information on how to tailor this system to their needs: Setting fixed mount-points for certain volumes or devices, to name but one common obstacle. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Install gentoo, the older the worse - the system I'm writing this from started life in February 2004. 2. Update gentoo regularly. 3. At some point in time, try to use automounting. After googling a ton of non-specific information, arrive at the conclusion that you need to install hal and ivman. 4. After googling some more non-specific information, fiddle with hal and ivman config for a whole night to get some semblance of "working". 5. Update gentoo. 6. Discover ivman is broken in a way that is eminently hard for a mere mortal to diagnose, see bug #257058. 7. After lots more non-specific googling, find that halevt currently appears to be a "working" replacement for ivman. 8. Install halevt, migrate config from ivman, better not forget to turn off ivman for good in the process. Actual Results: A gentoo system with a media automounter, which happens to work some of the time and "creatively breaks" every once in a while; with little to no support from "official" gentoo sources (Documentation, Wiki, Forums, ...) on the subject. Expected Results: A gentoo system with a media automounter that Just Works(TM). By "non-specific" googling above I mean googling for information which is not gentoo-specific, but rather intended for different distributions - ubuntu, Debian, Arch Linux in the majority of the results. Adapting this information to gentoo often is non-trivial, as a lot of hal and ivman configurations relies on "how it is conventionally done" in the respective distribution. Exactly for this "how it is conventionally done", I cannot see a clear picture pertaining to gentoo. I'm sorry if this report comes over as a provocative rant, I've just been bitten by "auto-mounting no longer works after updating", ... again. I'd be happy to write up my experiences / current working config / whatever in the form of documentation or a wiki article; if ANYONE has bits of information especially of the "I always thought the known-good combination of packages and configuration was ..." sort PLEASE send these bits to me, so I may acquire a comprehensive view.
Use a fresh install, not an old release -- old releases are anything from 2008 and older. There's no special configuration required. You may want to visit http://gentoo-wiki.com and check the articles there for content, or even write your own and add it to their database.
