Alba-Experiment

Alba-Experiment is a powerful implementation of Gentoo over Solaris or Portage for Solaris. It offers more than a simple package management system, with the ambition of transforming a Solaris system into a full GNU-based development, build, and desktop environment.

However, there are some issues to be aware of with the Stage1.5 Release 2006.04.06. One of the issues is a problem with zlib, where /usr/lib/libz.so is a GNU ld script that should be a link.

To install Alba-Experiment, it is necessary to have a working installation of Solaris, and some minimal package requirements need to be met. These requirements are listed in the docs/Solaris-base-packages.txt file. For those with a non-core installation of Solaris, some files may be overwritten. To avoid this issue, it is recommended to use the Solaris package method (pkgadd) to install the stage1.5, enabling you to find conflicting files.

To ensure that portage does not overwrite any unwanted files, the FEATURE='collision-protect' parameter needs to be added to /etc/make.conf. Furthermore, the portage user and group should be added to the system. This can be achieved by running the following commands:

```
# groupadd -g 250 portage
# useradd -u 250 -g portage -G portage -d /var/tmp/portage -m -s /bin/false portage
```

Installation is straightforward, and involves installing the stage1.5 file using the command:

```
# pkgadd -d < STAGEFILE >
```

The official portage tree can then be obtained by either downloading a portage snapshot and untar it or using rsync. An unofficial portage tree for Solaris can be obtained through subversion as well.

After obtaining the portage tree, it's important to create a link to the profile by running:

```
# ln -sf ../opt/portage-x86-sunos/profiles/default-sunos/x86/5.11/ /etc/make.profile
```

The make.conf file also needs to be configured with the PORTDIR_OVERLAY=/opt/portage-x86-sunos parameter. It can be edited, or you can copy the make.conf.example file instead.

Lastly, you need to add the new architecture to the default architecture list by running the following command:

```
# echo x86-sunos >> /usr/portage/profiles/arch.list
```

To update the environment and create the library cache, run the following commands:

```
# binutils-config i386-pc-solaris2.11-2.16.1
# gcc-config i386-pc-solaris2.11-4.1.0
# ldconfig
```

Overall, Alba-Experiment is a great software package for those looking to transform their Solaris system into a full GNU-based development, build, and desktop environment. With some minor issues, it is still a highly recommended option.