Gentoo Linux AMD64 Handbook

Choosing the Right
Installation Medium
the official installation method uses the stage3 tarball. If you are interested in performing a Gentoo
installation using a stage1 or stage2 tarball, please read the Gentoo FAQ on How do I Install Gentoo
Using a Stage1 or Stage2 Tarball [/doc/en/faq.xml#stage12]
Stage3 tarballs can be downloaded from releases/amd64/autobuilds/currentstage3/
on any of the Official Gentoo Mirrors [/main/en/mirrors.xml] and are not provided on the
LiveCD.
Download, Burn and Boot a Gentoo
Installation CD
Downloading and Burning the Installation CDs
You have chosen to use a Gentoo Installation CD. We'll first start by downloading and burning the
chosen Installation CD. We previously discussed the several available Installation CDs, but where
can you find them
You can download any of the Installation CDs from one of our mirrors [/main/en/mirrors.xml]. The
Installation CDs are located in the releases/amd64/autobuilds/current-iso/ directory.
Inside that directory you'll find ISO files. Those are full CD images which you can write on a CD-R.
In case you wonder if your downloaded file is corrupted or not, you can check its SHA-2 checksum
and compare it with the SHA-2 checksum we provide (such as install-amd64-minimal-
.iso.DIGESTS). You can check the SHA-2 checksum with the sha512sum tool under
Linux/Unix or File Checksum Tool [http://www.krylack.com/file-checksum-tool/] for Windows.
Another way to check the validity of the downloaded file is to use GnuPG to verify the cryptographic
signature that we provide (the file ending with .asc). Download the signature file and obtain the
public keys whose key ids can be found on the release engineering project site [/proj/en/releng/
index.xml].
Example 2.1. Obtaining the public key
(... Substitute the key ids with those mentioned on the release engineering site
$ gpg --keyserver subkeys.pgp.net --recv-keys 96D8BF6D 2D182910 17072058
Now verify the signature:
Example 2.2. Verify the files
(Verify the cryptographic signature)
$ gpg --verify
(Verify the checksum)
$ sha1sum -c
To burn the downloaded ISO(s), you have to select raw-burning. How you do this is highly programdependent.
We will discuss cdrecord and K3B here; more information can be found in our Gentoo
FAQ [/doc/en/faq.xml#isoburning].
• With cdrecord, you simply type cdrecord dev=/dev/hdc (replace /dev/
hdc with your CD-RW drive's device path).
• With K3B, select Tools > Burn CD Image. Then you can locate your ISO file within the 'Image
to Burn' area. Finally click Start.
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