Gentoo Installation Scripts

A collection of automated Bash scripts for installing Gentoo Linux with different desktop environments or as a minimal console-only server.

🎯 Project Goal

The main intention of this project is to simplify the Gentoo installation process, which is traditionally tedious. With these scripts, you can have a fully functional Gentoo system ready with just a single file to execute.

⏳ Patience Required: Be prepared for a long installation process. Gentoo compiles almost everything from source, so the installation can take several hours depending on your hardware. The only precompiled packages used are:

• Kernel: gentoo-kernel-bin (precompiled kernel)
• Firefox: www-client/firefox-bin (binary version)

Everything else will be compiled on your machine, which ensures optimal performance for your specific hardware but requires patience.

🧩 Minimal Desktop Experience: The desktop environments installed by these scripts are intentionally rustic and minimal. They don't include all the applications that typically come bundled with a full desktop installation. This is by design — it gives you a more modular system and the freedom to install only what you actually need, without bloating your system with components you'll never use.

The scripts include a curated selection of tools that I personally find useful for managing technical aspects of the system (terminal, file manager, text editor, partition manager, system monitors, etc.) — yes, Gentoo can be that modular. Consider this a starting point to build your own tailored system — add what you need, remove what you don't.

🚀 Available Scripts

Script	Environment	Display Manager	Description
GentooInstall-KDE.sh	KDE Plasma	SDDM	Full-featured KDE Plasma desktop with Wayland support
GentooInstall-XFCE.sh	XFCE	LightDM	Lightweight GTK-based desktop environment
GentooInstall-GNOME.sh	GNOME	GDM	Modern GNOME desktop with Wayland support
GentooInstall-Console.sh	Console Only	-	Minimal server installation without GUI

📸 Screenshots

KDE Plasma

XFCE

GNOME

✨ Features

• Fully automated installation - Minimal user interaction required
• UEFI and BIOS support - Works with both boot modes
• ext4 and Btrfs filesystems - Choose your preferred filesystem
  • Btrfs includes automatic subvolume creation (@, @home, @var, @tmp, @snapshots)
• OpenRC init system - Lightweight and fast init system
• Precompiled kernel - Uses gentoo-kernel-bin for faster installation
• Automatic GRUB configuration - Bootloader installed and configured automatically
• GPU support - AMD, NVIDIA*, and Intel graphics drivers
  • ⚠️ NVIDIA support has not been tested yet
• Network configuration - NetworkManager (desktop) or netifrc (console)
• User creation - Automatic user and password setup

📋 Requirements

Live Environment

Run these scripts from a Gentoo Live USB/CD or any Linux live environment with the following tools:

• parted
• mkfs.ext4 / mkfs.btrfs
• mkswap
• wget
• curl
• tar
• chroot

🛠️ Usage

1. Boot into a Live Environment

Boot from a Gentoo Live USB or any Linux live environment.

2. Download the Scripts

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Alexdaz/GentooInstall.git
cd GentooInstall

# Or download a specific script
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Alexdaz/GentooInstall/main/GentooInstall-KDE.sh

3. Make the Script Executable

chmod +x GentooInstall-KDE.sh

4. Run as Root

./GentooInstall-KDE.sh

5. Follow the Prompts

The script will ask for:

• Boot type: uefi or bios
• Filesystem: ext4 or btrfs
• Target disk: e.g., /dev/sda or /dev/nvme0n1
• Root partition size: Size in GB (remaining space goes to SWAP)
• Hostname: Your system's hostname
• Username: Non-root user to create
• Passwords: For root and the new user
• GPU: amdgpu, nvidia*, intel, or modesetting

⚠️ Note: NVIDIA driver support has not been tested yet. Use at your own risk.

📦 Included Packages

KDE Plasma (GentooInstall-KDE.sh)

• KDE Plasma Desktop
• Konsole (terminal)
• Dolphin (file manager)
• KWrite (text editor)
• Firefox
• Partition Manager
• fastfetch
• htop

XFCE (GentooInstall-XFCE.sh)

• XFCE Desktop
• XFCE Terminal
• Thunar (file manager)
• Mousepad (text editor)
• Firefox
• GParted
• Various XFCE plugins (pulseaudio, battery, whiskermenu, etc.)
• fastfetch
• htop

GNOME (GentooInstall-GNOME.sh)

• GNOME Desktop (gnome-light)
• GNOME Terminal
• Nautilus (file manager)
• gedit (text editor)
• Firefox
• GNOME Disk Utility
• Various GNOME apps (Calendar, Weather, Calculator, etc.)
• fastfetch
• htop

Console (GentooInstall-Console.sh)

• Minimal base system
• OpenSSH server (enabled by default)
• btop (resource monitor)
• netifrc + dhcpcd (networking)
• fastfetch
• htop

⚠️ Hardcoded Settings

The following settings are hardcoded in the scripts and may need to be changed manually according to your preferences:

Setting	KDE/XFCE/GNOME	Console
Timezone	America/New_York	UTC
Keyboard	us (US English)	us (US English)
Locales	en_US.UTF-8, C.UTF-8	C.UTF-8
Default LANG	en_US.UTF-8	C.UTF-8
LINGUAS	en	en

To change these settings, edit the script before running or modify the system files after installation:

• Timezone: ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/YOUR/TIMEZONE /etc/localtime
• Keyboard: Edit /etc/conf.d/keymaps → KEYMAP="your_keymap"
• Locales: Edit /etc/locale.gen, run locale-gen, then eselect locale set <locale>

📝 Note: These settings may become interactive prompts in future versions, but this is not a priority at the moment.

⚙️ Configuration Details

Filesystem Layout

ext4

/dev/sdX1 - EFI (1GB, UEFI only)
/dev/sdX2 - Root (user-defined size)
/dev/sdX3 - Swap (remaining space)

Btrfs Subvolumes

@           -> /
@home       -> /home
@var        -> /var
@tmp        -> /tmp
@snapshots  -> /.snapshots

USE Flags by Environment

Environment	Key USE Flags
KDE	X wayland kde plasma sddm pipewire pulseaudio udev elogind dbus policykit bluetooth networkmanager opengl vulkan -systemd qt6 qt5
XFCE	X xfce gtk gtk3 pulseaudio udev elogind dbus policykit bluetooth networkmanager opengl vulkan -systemd -kde -plasma -qt5 -qt6 -sddm
GNOME	X gnome gtk gtk3 pulseaudio udev elogind dbus policykit bluetooth networkmanager opengl vulkan introspection wayland -systemd -kde -plasma -qt5 -qt6 -xfce -sysprof
Console	-dbus -systemd -X -wayland -gtk -qt -pulseaudio -alsa -gdk -opengl

🔧 Post-Installation

After the script completes:

1. Review the configuration files:

   cat /mnt/gentoo/etc/fstab
   cat /mnt/gentoo/etc/portage/make.conf

2. Unmount and reboot:

   umount -l /mnt/gentoo/dev{/shm,/pts,} 2>/dev/null || true
   umount -R /mnt/gentoo
   swapoff -a
   reboot

3. First boot: The system should boot into your chosen display manager (or console for the server variant).

⚠️ Troubleshooting

Boot Issues

• Verify kernel exists: ls /mnt/gentoo/boot/vmlinuz*
• Verify initramfs exists: ls /mnt/gentoo/boot/initramfs*
• Check GRUB config: cat /mnt/gentoo/boot/grub/grub.cfg
• Verify fstab: cat /mnt/gentoo/etc/fstab

Display Manager Not Starting

• Check service status: rc-update show default | grep display-manager
• Verify configuration: cat /etc/conf.d/display-manager
• Check logs: cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log or journalctl equivalent for OpenRC

Network Issues (Console variant)

• Check interface name: ip link show
• Verify netifrc config: cat /etc/conf.d/net
• Restart network: rc-service net.<interface> restart

⭕ Disclaimer

• These scripts are not perfect. They may contain redundancies, especially in the KDE variant where some packages might overlap.
• Many configurations reflect personal preferences. Timezone, keyboard layout, locales, USE flags, and package selection are based on what works for the author — not universal standards.
• This is not the definitive way to install Gentoo. The official Gentoo Handbook remains the authoritative guide. These scripts are simply a convenience tool.
• Use at your own risk. Always review the scripts before running them and ensure you have backups of any important data.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to:

• Open issues for bugs
• Submit pull requests with improvements
• Share your experience and suggestions