In order to create a lean and mean hosting environment, I decided to migrate to uClibc based vservers, using SysCP as Control Panel.
First off all, prepare the environment as described in the BusyBox and uClibc preboot environment document. The SysCP installation and configuration is covered below.
Gentoo:
ROOT=/uSYSCP/ \
USE="minimal apache2 mysql cli mod_php ssl embedded bzip2 gzip inifile
sasl sockets zip xml xslt berkdb snmp crypt hardened gnutls gd
jpeg png geoip vhosts authdaemond
-no-htdocs -unicode -postgres -java -ncurses -nls -pam -opengl
-gtk -gpm -gdbms -ipv6 -tcpd -kde -qt -gnome -X -cups" \
emerge postfix =dev-lang/php-4.4.2 maildrop clamav webalizer pure-ftpd pdns
If the build environment does not contain gettext, prepare the gd build to barf an autoconf error!
emerge --nodeps gettext
to make the problem go away.
This document is based on Gentoo Wiki SysCP HowTo.