Install/Configuration Files

Install Guide, Chapter 11

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As is expected from a Linux distribution, Funtoo Linux has its share of configuration files. The one file you are absolutely required to edit in order to ensure that Funtoo Linux boots successfully is /etc/fstab. The others are optional.

Using Nano

The default editor included in the chroot environment is called nano. To edit one of the files below, run nano as follows:

(chroot) # nano -w /etc/fstab

When in the editor, you can use arrow keys to move the cursor, and common keys like backspace and delete will work as expected. To save the file, press Control-X, and answer y when prompted to save the modified buffer if you would like to save your changes.

Configuration Files

Here are a full list of files that you may want to edit, depending on your needs:

File	Do I need to change it?	Description
/etc/fstab	YES - required	Mount points for all filesystems to be used at boot time. This file must reflect your disk partition setup. We'll guide you through modifying this file below.
/etc/localtime	Maybe - recommended	Your timezone, which will default to UTC if not set. This should be a symbolic link to something located under /usr/share/zoneinfo (e.g. /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Montreal)
/etc/portage/make.conf	Maybe - recommended	Parameters used by gcc (compiler), portage, and make. Note that it is normal for this file to be empty in Funtoo Linux, as many settings have been migrated to our enhanced profile system.
/etc/conf.d/hostname	Maybe - recommended	Used to set system hostname. Set the hostname variable to the fully-qualified (with dots, ie. foo.funtoo.org) name if you have one. Otherwise, set to the local system hostname (without dots, ie. foo). Defaults to localhost if not set.
/etc/hosts	No	You no longer need to manually set the hostname in this file. This file is automatically generated by /etc/init.d/hostname.
/etc/conf.d/keymaps	Optional	Keyboard mapping configuration file (for console pseudo-terminals). Set if you have a non-US keyboard. See Funtoo Linux Localization.
/etc/conf.d/hwclock	Optional	How the time of the battery-backed hardware clock of the system is interpreted (UTC or local time). Linux uses the battery-backed hardware clock to initialize the system clock when the system is booted.
/etc/conf.d/modules	Optional	Kernel modules to load automatically at system startup. Typically not required. See Additional Kernel Resources for more info.
/etc/conf.d/consolefont	Optional	Allows you to specify the default console font. To apply this font, enable the consolefont service by running rc-update add consolefont.
profiles	Optional	Some useful portage settings that may help speed up intial configuration.

If you're installing an English version of Funtoo Linux, you're in luck, as most of the configuration files can be used as-is. If you're installing for another locale, don't worry. We will walk you through the necessary configuration steps on the Funtoo Linux Localization page, and if needed, there's always plenty of friendly, helpful support available. (See Getting Help)

Let's go ahead and see what we have to do. Use nano -w <name_of_file> to edit files -- the "-w" argument disables word-wrapping, which is handy when editing configuration files. You can copy and paste from the examples.

   Warning

It's important to edit your /etc/fstab file before you reboot! You will need to modify both the "fs" and "type" columns to match the settings for your partitions and filesystems that you created with gdisk or fdisk. Skipping this step may prevent Funtoo Linux from booting successfully.

/etc/fstab

/etc/fstab is used by the mount command which is run when your system boots. Lines in this file inform mount about filesystems to be mounted and how they should be mounted. In order for the system to boot properly, you must edit /etc/fstab and ensure that it reflects the partition configuration you used earlier in the install process. If you can't remember the partition configuration that you used earlier, the lsblk command may be of help to you:

(chroot) # nano -w /etc/fstab

   /etc/fstab - An example fstab file

# The root filesystem should have a pass number of either 0 or 1.
# All other filesystems should have a pass number of 0 or greater than 1.
#
# NOTE: If your BOOT partition is ReiserFS, add the notail option to opts.
#
# See the manpage fstab(5) for more information.
#
# <fs>	     <mountpoint>  <type>  <opts>         <dump/pass>

/dev/sda1    /boot         ext2    noauto,noatime 1 2
/dev/sda2    none          swap    sw             0 0
/dev/sda3    /             ext4    noatime        0 1
#/dev/cdrom  /mnt/cdrom    auto    noauto,ro      0 0

   Note

If you're using UEFI to boot, change the /dev/sda1 line so that it says vfat instead of ext2. Similarly, make sure that the /dev/sda3 line specifies either xfs or ext4, depending on which filesystem you chose earlier on in the installation process when you created filesystems.

/etc/localtime

/etc/localtime is used to specify the timezone that your machine is in, and defaults to UTC. If you would like your Funtoo Linux system to use local time, you should replace /etc/localtime with a symbolic link to the timezone that you wish to use.

(chroot) # ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/MST7MDT /etc/localtime

The above sets the timezone to Mountain Standard Time (with daylight savings). Type ls /usr/share/zoneinfo to list available timezones. There are also sub-directories containing timezones described by location.

/etc/portage/make.conf

USE flags define what functionality is enabled when packages are built. It is not recommended to add a lot of USE flags during installation; you should wait until you have a working, bootable system before changing your USE flags. A USE flag prefixed with a minus ("-") sign tells Portage not to use the flag when compiling. A Funtoo guide to USE flags will be available in the future. For now, you can find out more information about USE flags in the Gentoo Handbook.

/etc/conf.d/hwclock

If you dual-boot with Windows, you'll need to edit this file and change the value of clock from UTC to local, because Windows will set your hardware clock to local time every time you boot Windows. Otherwise you normally wouldn't need to edit this file.

(chroot) # nano -w /etc/conf.d/hwclock

Localization

By default, Funtoo Linux is configured with Unicode (UTF-8) enabled, and for the US English locale and keyboard. If you would like to configure your system to use a non-English locale or keyboard, see Funtoo Linux Localization.