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Working as root on a Unix/Linux system is dangerous and should be avoided as much as possible. Therefore it is strongly recommended to add a user for day-to-day use.
The groups the user is member of define what activities the user can perform. The following table lists a number of important groups:
Group Description audio Be able to access the audio devices. cdrom Be able to directly access optical devices. floppy Be able to directly access floppy devices. games Be able to play games. portage Be able to access portage restricted resources. usb Be able to access USB devices. video Be able to access video capturing hardware and doing hardware acceleration. wheel Be able to use su.
For instance, to create a user called larry who is member of the wheel, users, and audio groups, log in as root first (only root can create users) and run useradd:
useradd -m -G users,wheel,audio -s /bin/bash larry passwd larry Password: (Enter the password for larry) Re-enter password: (Re-enter the password to verify)
If a user ever needs to perform some task as root, they can use su - to temporarily receive root privileges. Another way is to use the sudo (app-admin/sudo) or doas (app-admin/doas) utilities which are, if correctly configured, very secure.
With the Gentoo installation finished and the system rebooted, if everything has gone well, we can now remove the downloaded stage3 tarball from the hard disk. Remember that they were downloaded to the / directory.
rm /stage3-*.tar.*
Not sure where to go from here? There are many paths to explore... Gentoo provides its users with lots of possibilities and therefore has lots of documented (and less documented) features to explore here on the wiki and on other Gentoo related sub-domains (see the Gentoo online section below).
It is important to note that, due to the number of choices available in Gentoo, the documentation provided by the handbook is limited in scope - it mainly focuses on the basics of getting a Gentoo system up and running and basic system management activities. The handbook intentionally excludes instructions on graphical environments, details on hardening, and other important administrative tasks. That being stated, there are more sections of the handbook to assist readers with more basic functions.
Readers should definitely take a look at the next part of the handbook entitled Working with Gentoo which explains how to keep the software up to date, install additional software packages, details on USE flags, the OpenRC init system, and various other informative topics relating to managing a Gentoo system post-installation.
Apart from the handbook, readers should also feel encouraged to explore other corners of the Gentoo wiki to find additional, community-provided documentation. The Gentoo wiki team also offers a documentation topic overview which lists a selection of wiki articles by category. For instance, it refers to the localization guide to make a system feel more at home (particularly useful for users who speak English as a second language).
The majority of users with desktop use cases will setup graphical environments in which to work natively. There are many community maintained 'meta' articles for supported desktop environments (DEs) and window managers (WMs). Readers should be aware that each DE will require slightly different setup steps, which will lengthen add complexity to bootstrapping.
Many other Meta articles exist to provide our readers with high level overviews of available software within Gentoo.
❗ Important
Readers should note that all official Gentoo sites online are governed by Gentoo's code of conduct. Being active in the Gentoo community is a privilege, not a right, and users should be aware that the code of conduct exists for a reason.
With the exception of the Libera.Chat hosted internet relay chat (IRC) network and the mailing lists, most Gentoo websites require an account on a per site basis in order to ask questions, open a discussion, or enter a bug.
Every user is welcome on our Gentoo forums or on one of our internet relay chat channels. It is easy to search for the forums to see if an issue experienced on a fresh Gentoo install has been discovered in the past and resolved after some feedback. The likelihood of other users experiencing the installation issues by first-time Gentoo can be surprising. It is advised users search the forums and the wiki before asking for assistance in Gentoo support channels.
Several mailing lists are available to the community members who prefer to ask for support or feedback over email rather than create a user account on the forums or IRC. Users will need to follow the instructions in order to subscribe to specific mailing lists.
Sometimes after reviewing the wiki, searching the forums, and seeking support in the IRC channel or mailing lists there is no known solution to a problem. Generally this is a sign to open a bug on Gentoo's Bugzilla site.
Readers who desire to learn more about developing Gentoo can take a look at the Development guide. This guide provides instructions on writing ebuilds, working with eclasses, and provides definitions for many general concepts behind Gentoo development.
Gentoo is a robust, flexible, and excellently maintained distribution. The developer community is happy to hear feedback on how to make Gentoo an even better distribution.
As a reminder, any feedback for this handbook should follow the guidelines detailed in the How do I improve the Handbook? section at the beginning of the handbook.
We look forward to seeing how our users will choose to implement Gentoo to fit their unique use cases and needs.