Gentoo.

[Jeremy Fowler]

> Could someone please help clarify something for me?

Sure.
 
> I am considering installing Gentoo PPC on a machine at home 
> and would really
> like to understand the install process better.

No problem. Never installed Gentoo on a Mac before, but I'll see if I can help.
 
> I realize that most of the issue is my lack of knowledge 
> about Linux, but I
> was hoping that maybe someone here would be willing to 
> explain a few keys to
> the install process.
> 
> First of all, what is chroot and do I have to do it if I 
> install the stage3
> tarball?

Chroot stands for change root. As you may or may not know, the UNIX/Linux filesystem all stems from 
root, or '/'. When you chroot you basically launch a program and tell it to make a certain 
directory the new root directory. This is useful when your installing a new system onto a new 
partition like in your Gentoo example. It's also a way to secure certain high risk applications 
from accessing certain parts of your filesystem. This is called a chroot jail.

 
> The docs said that you didn't need to do an emerge rsync with 
> the install
> since the stage3 tarball included the portage tree, whatever 
> that is. I
> guessed that it was the directory structure, but wasn't 
> completely clear on
> that. 

Well, stage1 has just the bare essentials and contains the directory structure and the essential 
apps that are required for building a new system from scratch. You have to download the portage 
tree, which is a listing of all the possible gentoo packages available to install. You do this by 
rsyncing with a gentoo portage mirror with the emerge application. Then you bootstrap and build the 
basic system which is basically downloading, compiling, and installing all the package in portage 
that are required to build, boot and run a functional Linux installation. Finally you have to 
download and build your Linux kernel and configure all you settings. Stage2 contains everything in 
stage1 plus the bootstrap. You still have to emerge the system and kernel. Stage3 has everything 
from 1 and 2, plus the basic system and a kernel already built for your system. This is why you 
must make sure to select the right stage3 that is built for your system. You still have to `emerge 
sync` your syst!
 em so that your portage tree is up to date. Then you can download, build, and install all the 
latest package by doing a `emerge -u world`. 
 
> I tried to follow the directions verbatim, but there just seemed to be
> something that I wasn't following right. The docs took you through the
> stage1 and stage2 installs, but I got lost in what was 
> supposed to be done
> for the stage3. 

You have to do everything exactly the same up until you get to the part of installing the stagex 
tarball. Don't skip any steps until told to do so. Read the document all the way thru even the 
parts that only apply to the other stages as this will give you some insight on how everything 
works together. Don't take any shortcuts!