Re: [tlug] Looking for advice on the best way to rebuild a gentoo box

[Romans Malinovskis <romaninsh@example.com>]

> I am tempted to try doing a :
>
> emerge -Duave world

I'd suggest you

1) download latest stage3 and unpack into new partition mounted as / 
gentoo-new/
2) chroot into /gentoo-new (you may also mount --bind few directories  
before that)
3) set up everything in the chroot properly, copy configuration from  
your main box
4) if you want you may try starting services in chroot with different  
port numbers
5) shut down services on a main box and start them in chroot
6) when you are happy with how everything works in chroot, make new  
partition bootable, reboot. (doublecheck network config and sshd  
being in default group before you do)
also it's smart to do "only once" option for lilo when you change  
default partition. So in case your boot fails - you just reboot the  
box again and it's back to previous partition/services

7) now when you are on a new partition, if any services experience  
problems, you can start them from your previous partition.
8) when everything is tested - just get rid of old gentoo installation.


For a box over 1y old without updates i would be scared myself to do  
regular upgrade, however gentoo is much nicer than binary  
distributions when it comes to upgrades.

Good luck,
romans