What separates Gentoo from other GNU/Linux distributions? It isn't really a distribution. It's more of a meta-distribution, a collection of tools that manage the "from scratch" approach. It doesn't have any packages per se, just ebuilds that describe where the source packages can be downloaded, and how to include your specified compilation preferences in the process. Installation of any part of the system consists in issuing the command emerge packagename, and then sitting back while Portage, the packaging system based on BSD Ports, downloads the sources, unpacks, configures, and compiles them, and finally installs your shiny new software. There is another feature of Gentoo's meta-distribution approach that appeals to me. With many distributions, you are stuck in their release cycle, which means backing your data up and upgrading in a sometimes not-so-seamless way. You can, of course, continually update packages in the meantime, but in my experience with SUSE (which I confess may be out of date) it doesn't match the simplicity of emerge sync && emerge -u world. With those two commands I can sync my local package database with the up-to-date online version, and then update every package on my system that has an available upgrade. I can do this weekly, if I'm obsessive, or once every few months, or when a major new release of KDE comes out. I can even fine-tune which package versions I want, opting for more unstable packages where I need the features, and blocking supposedly stable packages I have problems with, in a way that doesn't just get overwritten with the next upgrade command. All of this brings me to the first reason why I use Gentoo for my workstation: the package management is easy, leaving me to get on with my work. I don't have to bother with dependencies, missing libraries, out-of-date binaries (often because the packager lost interest or is taking too long to release the code), crazy configuration systems, or any of the other problems I've had with other distributions. Of course Gentoo isn't all sugar and spice; there are downsides. The first and most obvious is that if you compile everything from source code, you're condemned to wait. Getting Gentoo up and running is likely to take you a few days, unless you don't sleep, and from then on major upgrades can set you back a similar amount of time. For those who don't feel like learning the ins and outs of their software before they can configure it, the lack of tools like SUSE's YaST and Mandrake's Control Centre will grate. Using your new USB key drive for the first time, which on other distributions would often be a matter of plugging it in, can require kernel recompiles and long searches on the forums and Google before you work it out. Of course the flip side is that when the flashy tools of other distributions might fail you, leaving you digging through their crazy configuration system, the Gentoo user is working with the system the developers documented. So to summarise: Why do I use Gentoo? Not because it is more optimised, nor particularly because it is customised and takes up less hard drive space. I appreciate the simple, solid package and configuration management systems that keep out of my way; I appreciate the helpful documentation; I find the user forums indispensable; and I appreciate the community approach enshrined in Gentoo's social contract. At the end of the day, as the Gentoo Web site says, "the Gentoo developer and user community is undoubtedly Gentoo's strongest value."
_______________________________________________ Que Osler, MSIT "A smile can open a heart quicker than a key can open a door."
