Amen, Que. I've got Gentoo running on my laptop now and agree with just about everything you say.
There are some GUI tools to help install ebuilds (similar to YaST). I haven't used them, but I've seen them out there. On 3/8/06, Que Osler <[email protected]> wrote: > > 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 out-of-date binaries (often because the packager lost interest or is taking 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."* > > _______________________________________________ > 909linux mailing list > [email protected] > http://909linux.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/909linux > > >
