Gentoo desktop?

Kristian Erik Hermansen kristian.hermansen-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org
Sun Jan 20 16:04:54 UTC 2008


On Jan 20, 2008 5:37 AM, Christopher Friedt <cfriedt-u6hQ6WWl8Q3d1t4wvoaeXtBPR1lH4CV8 at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> I give gentoo a thumbs up and have used it for everything from laptops
> to servers. It's also very easy to set up a cross-compiler and
> cross-compile easily extractable tar.bz2 packages using gentoo.

Gentoo really is a great distro.  I used it for many years before
switching to Debian-based systems for good.  The problem comes when
you need to get something done immediately, and your Gentoo breaks.
You are SOL, especially if you installed stage1 ~amd64 like me :-)  I
enjoy the fine-tuned ability of setting my USE flags, but after a
while, I got sick of it and just wanted my system to install a package
and be done.  I didn't like planning my meals around 'emerge'
sessions!  So, there is a trade-off of getting what you need
immediately and having to wait for long compile times...

> The packaging system allows for both binary packages and packages built
> form source (giving you quasi-automatic, fine-grained control over
> dependencies, library usage, etc)
>
> On the downside, there is no central binary package repository (some
> unnoffical ones), but you can easily create your own. With that in mind,
> if you count the number of cycles that gentoo's entire userbase has used
> to build packages from scratch, that must take some toll on power
> consumption.

Now, some would say that binaries solve the compilation of large
packages like Gnome, KDE, OO.org, etc.  However, these packages are
not in a main repository, as you say, and could be a security
vulnerability (trojaned).  I would never use Gentoo binary packages on
a machine that needed to be secured...

> Also, gentoo has probably the most extensive forum / mailing list /
> online documentation support base that i've ever seen, so it's easy to
> get the answers you need fast.

Yes, Gentoo still has the best documentation ever ... period.  Even
though I am now an Ubuntu user, whenever I am looking for a howto or
docs on some configuration, I google 'gentoo' + the search term.  I
know the gentoo wiki must have an entry on it somewhere and will be
well written by experts.  Ubuntu users are usually very n00bish, so I
don't really trust what they say.  I am not a n00b, and I trust gentoo
documentation :-)  Sometimes I even edit the Gentoo wiki even though I
am now an Ubuntu user...heh
-- 
Kristian Erik Hermansen
"Know something about everything and everything about something."
--
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