# General Setup ## Follow the Gentoo Handbook for installing Gentoo [Gentoo Handbook](http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/) Generally, you can just use the amd64 version of Gentoo, as most servers now are 64-bit compatible [amd64 handbook](http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-amd64.xml) Here are some general shortcuts/guidelines in the process. * When getting the two tarballs for stage3 and portage, I recommend first retrieving the tarball, then retrieving portage, before extracting either. This way you only have to use links once. 1. run `links http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/mirrors.xml` 2. Go to releases -> amd64 -> autobuilds and select an appropriate stage3. Hardened is recommended for a server. 3. Go up until you reach the first mirror directory. Go to the `snapshots` folder and download `portage-latest.tar.bz2` 4. Extract the stage3 tarball : `tar xvjpf stage3-*.tar.bz2` 5. Extract portage `tar xvjf /mnt/gentoo/portage-latest.tar.bz2 -C /mnt/gentoo/usr` * In your `/etc/make.conf` file, I recommend the following for [compile options](http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-amd64.xml?part=1&chap=5#doc_chap4): * `CFLAGS="-0s -pipe -march=native -pthread""` * Set the MAKEOPTS property to 2x the number of processors/cores, eg, dual core would be `MAKEOPTS="-j4"` * [Set your profile](http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-amd64.xml?part=1&chap=6#doc_chap2) to a server profile, optionally, set it to a hardened server profile. * Compile the kernel using [genkernel](http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-amd64.xml?part=1&chap=7#doc_chap4), as it's less involved than manually configuring everything for the kernel. * Set the [hostname](http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-amd64.xml?part=1&chap=8#doc_chap2) to the name of the server ### Install LLVM/Clang (Optional) Clang is a faster compiler than the default GCC. It produces binary as fast, or faster than GCC. To set up clang, run `emerge llvm clang` and add these to lines to the top of your `/etc/make.conf` file CC=/usr/bin/clang CXX=/usr/bin/clang++ If a package fails to compile with clang, you can comment out those lines, and recompile the package with GCC.