Gentoo now unofficially supports both the Munt core library and ALSA daemon. (Underworld penguins everywhere sullenly unite.) To install the latest versions as of this posting (v1.4.0):

* Find and download the files "MT32_CONTROL.ROM" and "MT32_PCM.ROM". Since hosting or even linking to such files tends to provoke the vomitorious wrath of the Elder Roland Has-Been-Gods, I'm afraid I both can't and won't provide a link here. (That said, googling "Munt_roms.zip" may assist you in your onerous quest.)

* Create a new empty directory "/usr/share/mt32-rom-data". (Don't look at me like that. I don't make the MT-32 law; I just apathetically enforce it.)

1mkdir -p /usr/share/mt32-rom-data

* Move the downloaded ROM files to "/usr/share/mt32-rom-data".

1mv MT32_CONTROL.ROM MT32_PCM.ROM /usr/share/mt32-rom-data

* Add the third-party Gentoo overlay raiagent.

1layman -a raiagent

* Unmask both ebuilds.

1echo ">=media-libs/mt32emu-1.4.0\n>=media-libs/mt32emu-alsa-1.4.0" >> /etc/portage/package.accept_keywords

* Install both ebuilds. (Note: there are currently no USE flags to configure. Isn't that nice?)

1emerge media-libs/mt32emu-alsa

* (Optional) Verify that everything's worky by running "/usr/bin/mt32d" manually at the CLI. Assuming you see no grevious errors, just hit <Ctrl-C> to kill the ALSA daemon. (Linux D&D terminology for the win.)

1/usr/bin/mt32d

* Add mt32emu-alsa, the ALSA daemon, to the default runlevel.

1rc-update add mt32emu-alsa default

* Start mt32emu-alsa.

1rc-service mt32emu-alsa start

* (Optional) Generate a user-local DOSBox configuration, if you haven't already, by running "dosbox" and then the following command at the DOS CLI:

1config -writeconf dosbox.conf

* (Optional) Configure DOSBox to use mt32emu-alsa as its MIDI provider by replacing the line reading config= in the "[midi]" section to read midiconfig=128:0. A typical configuration for this section resembles:

1[midi]
2mpu401=intelligent
3mididevice=alsa
4midiconfig=128:0

Notable Caveats

• The "mt32emu-alsa" initscript currently fails to print anything in the event of fatal errors. (Yes, this is terrible.) Hence, the recommendation above to run "/usr/bin/mt32d" manually before adding mt32emu-alsa to the default runlevel.
• This does not patch DOSBox with the Munt MT-32 patch. That said, given that the ALSA daemon cleanly interfaces with vanilla DOSBox already, there's not necessarily a demonstrable reason to patch DOSBox. (That said, I'm sure we'd all prefer the patch to just be accepted into the mainline tree already.)

Enjoy blissful hours of MT-32-enhanced underworlding. In the rank darkness, nostalgia-ridden adventuring looms!