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FAQ

The questions newcomers ask most. For more detailed install steps, see the official Gentoo Handbook.

I’m new here. Where do I start? Official Gentoo or the community Live ISO?
  • Want to build everything from scratch and really understand it: following the official Gentoo Handbook is the safest bet.
  • Want to get going fast and skip the hassle: grab the community’s KDE desktop Live ISO — out-of-the-box, with a Chinese environment already set up.
  • Once your system is up, add the gentoo-zh overlay to pull in packages the official tree doesn’t carry, like Chinese / CJK software.
How does the gentoo-zh overlay relate to the official Portage tree?

An overlay is an extra package source layered on top of the official Portage tree — anything the official tree doesn’t ship (Chinese input methods, fonts, dictionaries, plus newer or patched versions of packages) lives here. One catch: gentoo-zh packages are all keyworded ~arch (testing), never stable, so you can’t install them straight onto a stable system. To accept the testing keyword before installing, see the Overlay page.

Downloading or syncing is too slow. What can I do?

When a direct connection to GitHub / the official distfiles is slow, point the overlay sync source and distfiles at a mirror inside mainland China (Chongqing University, Nanjing University, and others — all tested and working). For the exact addresses, see the Overlay page and the mirror list.

Where do I go when I run into trouble?
I want to pitch in. How do I get started?

Two tracks: send packages / fix bugs for the overlay (that’s where the contributors wall comes from), or write articles / help with translations for the website. The full workflow is in the contributing guide.