Install/Download and Extract Stage3

Install Guide: Download and Extract Stage3

Install Guide, Chapter 8

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Now that filesystems are created and your hardware and system clock are set, the next step is downloading the initial Stage 3 tarball. The Stage 3 is a pre-compiled system used as a starting point to install Funtoo Linux.

To download the correct build of Funtoo Linux for your system, head over to the Subarches page. Subarches are builds of Funtoo Linux that are designed to run on a particular type of CPU, to offer the best possible performance. They also take advantage of the instruction sets available for each CPU.

What Subarch?

From the subarch list at Subarches, choose your desired level of optimization. A system built specifically for your CPU will run faster than a less-optimized system. For a modern Intel or AMD system, it is safe to pick the exact optimization level for your particular family of CPU. This will offer the best possible performance.

If you are using a virtualization technology to run Funtoo Linux and your VM may be used on different types of hardware, then it's recommended that you use a stage3 that is optimized for the oldest CPU instruction set that your VM will run on, or a more generic image if it may run on both AMD and Intel processors.

Once you have found the appropriate subarch at Subarches, you will likely have a few installation images to choose from. This next section will help you understand which one to pick.

Which Image?

You can always manually choose an installation image via https://build.funtoo.org as well as using the Subarches page. Here is some guidance on choosing the best .tar.xz image for download. When choosing an image:

Pick 1.4-release-std.

This is release 1.4 of Funtoo Linux, our current release.

Pick the subarch for the CPU family of the system you are installing on.

This will provide the best performance.

Choose stage3 for...

The stage3 is a more traditional, minimal and non-graphical installation of Funtoo. You will then build your system up to your desired state using emerge.

Choose gnome for...

The gnome installation image, if available, includes the full GNOME environment as well as Firefox already optimized for your hardware. You can then continue to further customize your system after installation.

The lxd image for...

The lxd image is for use with LXD, and is not used for installing directly on a desktop or laptop, so you should not select this option for regular installs.

Download the Stage3

Once you have found the stage3 that you would like to download, use wget to download the Stage 3 tarball you have chosen to use as the basis for your new Funtoo Linux system. It should be saved to the /mnt/funtoo directory as follows:

root # cd /mnt/funtoo
root # wget https://build.funtoo.org/1.4-release-std/x86-64bit/generic_64/stage3-latest.tar.xz

Verify downloaded tarball

Funtoo Linux stage tarballs are signed using GPG by the build server they are built on. It's a good practice to verify authenticity and integrity of downloaded files when possible. For instructions how to import and trust GPG keys check our wiki page about GPG signatures.

Then, you can download the stage3's GPG signature and use the gpg --verify command in order to verify your tarball:

root # wget https://build.funtoo.org/1.4-release-std/x86-64bit/generic_64/stage3-latest.tar.xz.gpg
root # gpg --verify stage3-latest.tar.xz.gpg stage3-latest.tar.xz

Once the stage is downloaded and verified, extract the contents with the following command, substituting in the actual name of your Stage 3 tarball:

root # tar --numeric-owner --xattrs --xattrs-include='*' -xpf stage3-latest.tar.xz

   Important

It is very important to use all the options included above. See below for details.

Here are what the options to tar do:

--numeric-owner

Without this option, tar will map ownership and group ownership based on the UID to user and GID to group mappings as defined on the LiveCD. We don't want this -- we want the numeric values of the UIDs and GIDs in the tarball to be preserved on disk, so when your Funtoo Linux system boots, the UIDs and GIDs are set correctly for Funtoo. That is what this option tells tar to do.

--xattrs --xattrs-include='*'

Funtoo Linux uses filesystem extended attributes to set Linux capabilities, which allow for certain programs such as ping to have enhanced privileges without having to be fully 'suid root'. Even with the -p option, tar will not restore extended attributes we need unless these two options are specified.

-xpf

This instructs tar to extract (x), preserve regular permissions and ownership (p), and use the filename (f) specified.

Install Guide, Chapter 8

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