Stage3 is the best way to go. I don't have time to tell you why I think that is....
As for the options you mentioned, they are in /etc/make.conf. USE flags. They are the key to gentoo, and are described in the files /usr/portage/profiles/use.desc and use.local.desc.
Here's mine:
# Copyright 1999-2004 Gentoo Foundation
# Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
# $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo-src/portage/cnf/make.conf.amd64,v 1.5 2004/10/10 23:27:28 carpaski Exp $
# Contains local system settings for Portage system
# Please review 'man make.conf' for more information.
# Build-time functionality
# ========================
#
# The USE variable is used to enable optional build-time functionality. For
# example, quite a few packages have optional X, gtk or GNOME functionality
# that can only be enabled or disabled at compile-time. Gentoo Linux has a
# very extensive set of USE variables described in our USE variable HOWTO at
# http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=2&chap=1
#
# The available list of use flags with descriptions is in your portage tree.
# Use 'less' to view them: --> less /usr/portage/profiles/use.desc <--
#
# 'ufed' is an ncurses/dialog interface available in portage to make handling
# useflags for you. 'emerge app-portage/ufed'
#
# Example:
USE="X 3dnow 3xnowex a52 aac alsa avi apache2 berkdb browserplugin effects encode \
extensions cdr crypt cups directfb divx4linux dts dvd dvdr dvdread -eds -evo fam fbcon \
f77 fftw ffmpeg flac foomaticdb gif gb gd gdbm gstreamer gtk2 gtkhtml gnome \
gnutls hal i8x0 inkjar insecure-savers -ipv6 ithreads java jce jpg gif \
-ldap lirc live libgda logitech-mouse logrotate maildir mjpeg mmx \
mozilla mozcalendar mozsvg moznomail moznocompose moznoirc mpeg mpi \
mpqc multilib mysql mythtv netcdf network new-login nptl nsplugin \
nvidia offensive opengl oggvorbis pam -pda plotutils plugin png pnp ppds \
rtc sasl sdl sse spell ssl smp startup-notification svg svga tcltk tcpd \
tetex threads tiff toolbar truetype usb v4l v4l2 wmf xinetd xv xml2 xvid -xmms \
xprint xchattext no_wxgtk1 -wxwindows -arts -qt -kde"
# Host Setting
# ============
#
CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"
# Host and optimization settings
# ==============================
#
# For optimal performance, enable a CFLAGS setting appropriate for your CPU.
#
# Please note that if you experience strange issues with a package, it may be
# due to gcc's optimizations interacting in a strange way. Please test the
# package (and in some cases the libraries it uses) at default optimizations
# before reporting errors to developers.
#
# -mcpu=<cpu-type> means optimize code for the particular type of CPU without
# breaking compatibility with other CPUs. GCC 3.4 has deprecated support for
# -mcpu, so use -mtune instead if using this compiler.
#
# -march=<cpu-type> means to take full advantage of the ABI and instructions
# for the particular CPU; this will break compatibility with older CPUs (for
# example, -march=athlon-xp code will not run on a regular Athlon, and
# -march=i686 code will not run on a Pentium Classic.)
#
# CPU types supported in gcc-3.2 and higher: athlon-xp, athlon-mp,
# athlon-tbird, athlon, k6, k6-2, k6-3, i386, i486, i586 (Pentium), i686
# (PentiumPro), pentium, pentium-mmx, pentiumpro, pentium2 (Celeron),
# pentium3, and pentium4.
#
# Note that Gentoo Linux 1.4 and higher include at least gcc-3.2.
#
# amd64 CPU types supported in gcc-3.4: athlon64, opteron, k8
#
# CRITICAL WARNINGS: ************************************************** **** #
# K6 markings are deceptive. Avoid setting -march for them. See Bug #24379. #
# Pentium-M CPU's should not enable sse2 until at least gcc-3.4. Bug 50616. #
# GCC 3.3 doesnt support an amd64 specific -march setting, use 3.4. #
# ************************************************** *********************** #
#
# Decent examples:
#
#CFLAGS="-mtune=k8 -O2 -pipe"
CFLAGS="-march=opteron -mtune=opteron -fomit-frame-pointer -Os -pipe"
#CFLAGS="-march=k8 -O2 -pipe"
# If you set a CFLAGS above, then this line will set your default C++ flags to
# the same settings.
CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
# Advanced Masking
# ================
#
# Gentoo is using a new masking system to allow for easier stability testing
# on packages. KEYWORDS are used in ebuilds to mask and unmask packages based
# on the platform they are set for. A special form has been added that
# indicates packages and revisions that are expected to work, but have not yet
# been approved for the stable set. '~arch' is a superset of 'arch' which
# includes the unstable, in testing, packages. Users of the 'x86' architecture
# would add '~x86' to ACCEPT_KEYWORDS to enable unstable/testing packages.
# '~ppc', '~sparc' are the unstable KEYWORDS for their respective platforms.
#
# Please note that this is not for development, alpha, beta, nor cvs release
# packages. "Broken" packages will not be added to testing and should not be
# requested to be added. Alternative routes are available to developers
# for experimental packages, and it is at their discretion to use them.
#
# DO NOT PUT ANYTHING BUT YOUR SPECIFIC ~ARCHITECTURE IN THE LIST.
# IF YOU ARE UNSURE OF YOUR ARCH, OR THE IMPLICATIONS, DO NOT MODIFY THIS.
#
#ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~amd64"
# Portage Directories
# ===================
#
# Each of these settings controls an aspect of portage's storage and file
# system usage. If you change any of these, be sure it is available when
# you try to use portage. *** DO NOT INCLUDE A TRAILING "/" ***
#
# PORTAGE_TMPDIR is the location portage will use for compilations and
# temporary storage of data. This can get VERY large depending upon
# the application being installed.
#PORTAGE_TMPDIR=/var/tmp
#
# PORTDIR is the location of the portage tree. This is the repository
# for all profile information as well as all ebuilds. This directory
# itself can reach 200M. WE DO NOT RECOMMEND that you change this.
#PORTDIR=/usr/portage
#
# DISTDIR is where all of the source code tarballs will be placed for
# emerges. The source code is maintained here unless you delete
# it. The entire repository of tarballs for gentoo is 9G. This is
# considerably more than any user will ever download. 2-3G is
# a large DISTDIR.
#DISTDIR=${PORTDIR}/distfiles
#
# PKGDIR is the location of binary packages that you can have created
# with '--buildpkg' or '-b' while emerging a package. This can get
# upto several hundred megs, or even a few gigs.
#PKGDIR=${PORTDIR}/packages
#
# PORT_LOGDIR is the location where portage will store all the logs it
# creates from each individual merge. They are stored as NNNN-$PF.log
# in the directory specified. This is disabled until you enable it by
# providing a directory. Permissions will be modified as needed IF the
# directory exists, otherwise logging will be disabled. NNNN is the
# increment at the time the log is created. Logs are thus sequential.
#PORT_LOGDIR=/var/log/portage
#
# PORTDIR_OVERLAY is a directory where local ebuilds may be stored without
# concern that they will be deleted by rsync updates. Default is not
# defined.
PORTDIR_OVERLAY=/usr/local/portage
# Fetching files
# ==============
#
# If you need to set a proxy for wget or lukemftp, add the appropriate "export
# ftp_proxy=<proxy>" and "export http_proxy=<proxy>" lines to /etc/profile if
# all users on your system should use them.
#
# Portage uses wget by default. Here are some settings for some alternate
# downloaders -- note that you need to merge these programs first before they
# will be available.
#
# Default fetch command (5 tries, passive ftp for firewall compatibility)
#FETCHCOMMAND="/usr/bin/wget -t 5 --passive-ftp \${URI} -P \${DISTDIR}"
#RESUMECOMMAND="/usr/bin/wget -c -t 5 --passive-ftp \${URI} -P \${DISTDIR}"
#
# Using wget, ratelimiting downloads
#FETCHCOMMAND="/usr/bin/wget -t 5 --passive-ftp --limit-rate=200k \${URI} -P \${DISTDIR}"
#RESUMECOMMAND="/usr/bin/wget -c -t 5 --passive-ftp --limit-rate=200k \${URI} -P \${DISTDIR}"
#
# Lukemftp (BSD ftp):
#FETCHCOMMAND="/usr/bin/lukemftp -s -a -o \${DISTDIR}/\${FILE} \${URI}"
#RESUMECOMMAND="/usr/bin/lukemftp -s -a -R -o \${DISTDIR}/\${FILE} \${URI}"
#
# Prozilla (turbo downloader)
#FETCHCOMMAND='/usr/bin/proz --no-getch -s ${URI} -P ${DISTDIR}'
#
# Portage uses GENTOO_MIRRORS to specify mirrors to use for source retrieval.
# The list is a space separated list which is read left to right. If you use
# another mirror we highly recommend leaving the default mirror at the end of
# the list so that portage will fall back to it if the files cannot be found
# on your specified mirror. We _HIGHLY_ recommend that you change this setting
# to a nearby mirror by merging and using the 'mirrorselect' tool.
GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://mirror.phy.olemiss.edu/mirror/gentoo http://mirrors.tds.net/gentoo ftp://gentoo.ccccom.com http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/distributions/gentoo http://gentoo.osuosl.org"
#
# Portage uses PORTAGE_BINHOST to specify mirrors for prebuilt-binary packages.
# The list is a single entry specifying the full address of the directory
# serving the tbz2's for your system. Running emerge with either '--getbinpkg'
# or '--getbinpkgonly' will cause portage to retrieve the metadata from all
# packages in the directory specified, and use that data to determine what will
# be downloaded and merged. '-g' or '-gK' are the recommend parameters. Please
# consult the man pages and 'emerge --help' for more information. For FTP, the
# default connection is passive -- If you require an active connection, affix
# an asterisk (*) to the end of the host:port string before the path.
#PORTAGE_BINHOST="http://grp.mirror.site/gentoo/grp/1.4/i686/athlon-xp/"
# This ftp connection is passive ftp.
#PORTAGE_BINHOST="ftp://login:pass@grp.mirror.site/pub/grp/i686/athlon-xp/"
# This ftp connection is active ftp.
#PORTAGE_BINHOST="ftp://login:pass@grp.mirror.site:21*/pub/grp/i686/athlon-xp/"
# Synchronizing Portage
# =====================
#
# Each of these settings affects how Gentoo synchronizes your Portage tree.
# Synchronization is handled by rsync and these settings allow some control
# over how it is done.
#
#
# SYNC is the server used by rsync to retrieve a localized rsync mirror
# rotation. This allows you to select servers that are geographically
# close to you, yet still distribute the load over a number of servers.
# Please do not single out specific rsync mirrors. Doing so places undue
# stress on particular mirrors. Instead you may use one of the following
# continent specific rotations:
#
# Default: "rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"
# North America: "rsync://rsync.namerica.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"
# South America: "rsync://rsync.samerica.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"
# Europe: "rsync://rsync.europe.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"
# Asia: "rsync://rsync.asia.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"
# Australia: "rsync://rsync.au.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"
SYNC="rsync://rsync.namerica.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"
# SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"
#
# RSYNC_RETRIES sets the number of times portage will attempt to retrieve
# a current portage tree before it exits with an error. This allows
# for a more successful retrieval without user intervention most times.
#RSYNC_RETRIES="3"
#
# RSYNC_TIMEOUT sets the length of time rsync will wait before it times out
# on a connection. Most users will benefit from this setting as it will
# reduce the amount of 'dead air' they experience when they run across
# the occasional, unreachable mirror. Dialup users might want to set this
# value up around the 300 second mark.
#RSYNC_TIMEOUT=180
# Advanced Features
# =================
#
# MAKEOPTS provides extra options that may be passed to 'make' when a
# program is compiled. Presently the only use is for specifying
# the number of parallel makes (-j) to perform. The suggested number
# for parallel makes is CPUs+1.
MAKEOPTS="-j3"
#
# PORTAGE_NICENESS provides a default increment to emerge's niceness level.
# Note: This is an increment. Running emerge in a niced environment will
# reduce it further. Default is unset.
#PORTAGE_NICENESS=3
#
# AUTOCLEAN enables portage to automatically clean out older or overlapping
# packages from the system after every successful merge. This is the
# same as running 'emerge -c' after every merge. Set with: "yes" or "no".
# This does not affect the unpacked source. See 'noclean' below.
AUTOCLEAN="yes"
#
# FEATURES are settings that affect the functionality of portage. Most of
# these settings are for developer use, but some are available to non-
# developers as well.
#
# 'autoaddcvs' causes portage to automatically try to add files to cvs
# that will have to be added later. Done at generation times
# and only has an effect when 'cvs' is also set.
# 'buildpkg' causes binary packages to be created of all packages that
# are being merged.
# 'ccache' enables ccache support via CC.
# 'collision-protect'
# prevents packages from overwriting files that are owned by
# another package or by no package at all.
# 'cvs' causes portage to enable all cvs features (commits, adds),
# and to apply all USE flags in SRC_URI for digests -- for
# developers only.
# 'digest' causes digests to be generated for all packages being merged.
# 'distcc' enables distcc support via CC.
# 'distlocks' enables distfiles locking using fcntl or hardlinks. This
# is enabled by default. Tools exist to help clean the locks
# after crashes: /usr/lib/portage/bin/clean_locks.
# 'fixpackages' allows portage to fix binary packages that are stored in
# PKGDIR. This can consume a lot of time. 'fixpackages' is
# also a script that can be run at any given time to force
# the same actions.
# 'gpg' enables basic verification of Manifest files using gpg.
# This features is UNDER DEVELOPMENT and reacts to features
# of strict and severe. Heavy use of gpg sigs is coming.
# 'keeptemp' prevents the clean phase from deleting the temp files ($T)
# from a merge.
# 'keepwork' prevents the clean phase from deleting the WORKDIR.
# 'maketest' causes ebuilds to perform testing phases if they are capable
# of it. Some packages support this automaticaly via makefiles.
# 'noauto' causes ebuild to perform only the action requested and
# not any other required actions like clean or unpack -- for
# debugging purposes only.
# 'noclean' prevents portage from removing the source and temporary files
# after a merge -- for debugging purposes only.
# 'nostrip' prevents the stripping of binaries.
# 'notitles' disables xterm titlebar updates (which contain status info).
# 'sandbox' enables sandboxing when running emerge and ebuild.
# 'strict' causes portage to react strongly to conditions that are
# potentially dangerous, like missing/incorrect Manifest files.
# 'userpriv' allows portage to drop root privileges while it is compiling,
# as a security measure. As a side effect this can remove
# sandbox access violations for users.
# 'usersandbox' enables sandboxing while portage is running under userpriv.
#FEATURES="sandbox buildpkg ccache distcc userpriv usersandbox notitles noclean noauto cvs keeptemp keepwork autoaddcvs"
#FEATURES="sandbox ccache distcc distlocks autoaddcvs"
# FEATURES="-sandbox"
# CCACHE_SIZE sets the space use limitations for ccache. The default size is
# 2G, and will be set if not defined otherwise and ccache is in features.
# Portage will set the default ccache dir if it is not present in the
# user's environment, for userpriv it sets: ${PORTAGE_TMPDIR}/ccache
# (/var/tmp/ccache), and for regular use the default is /root/.ccache.
# Sizes are specified with 'G' 'M' or 'K'.
# '2G' for 2 gigabytes, '2048M' for 2048 megabytes (same as 2G).
#CCACHE_SIZE="512M"
#
# DISTCC_DIR sets the temporary space used by distcc.
#DISTCC_DIR="${PORTAGE_TMPDIR}/.distcc"
#
# RSYNC_EXCLUDEFROM is a file that portage will pass to rsync when it updates
# the portage tree. Specific chunks of the tree may be excluded from
# consideration. This may cause dependency failures if you are not careful.
# The file format is one pattern per line, blanks and ';' or '#' lines are
# comments. See 'man rsync' for more details on the exclude-from format.
#RSYNC_EXCLUDEFROM=/etc/portage/rsync_excludes
# These settings were set by the catalyst build script that automatically built this stage
# Please consult /etc/make.conf.example for a more detailed example
LIRC_OPTS="--with-driver=hauppauge"