Gentoo system/kernel update procedure

Hongyi Lu (jwnhy) Jul 07, 2023

Due to the forgetfulness of myself, I write this article to record the procedure of updating my Gentoo system (kernel).

System update

This is not that complicated.

sudo emerge --ask --update --deep --newuse @world # update everything
sudo emerge --depclean                            # clean unneeded packages

The following notification is NOT real conflict but simple lagged packages.

WARNING: One or more updates/rebuilds have been skipped due to a dependency conflict

Kernel update

Mount /boot partition

I have a seperated partition for /boot (only 100M), so mount it first before installing the kernel.

sudo mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /boot

Before building the kernel

You may want to copy the .config and symbollink linux to the newer linux kernel (but this seems optional).

sudo cp linux/.config <new-kernel>/.config
sudo rm linux
sudo ln -s <new-kernel> linux

Building the kernel

sudo make -j21 && sudo make install && sudo make modules_install

After building the kernel

You probably need to update the grub configuration to use the new kernel. Don’t forget to install the nvidia-driver, otherwise the graphic card won’t work. (Fuck you Nvidia)

sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
sudo emerge -av nvidia-drivers