"John Indra" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > In FreeBSD, there are -STABLE branch and -CURRENT branch. Whenever I > want to install the latest -STABLE branch
Gentoo is FreeBSD on S T E R O I D S. My NAT / IPFW2 (DMZ) box is a FreeBSD-4.8-PRERELEASE with 47 make worlds / kernel compiles :). I never used Linux while being satisfied with the experience until I used Gentoo Linux. My first shot @ Linux was last year going from Redhat to Debian to Slackware to Gentoo on a test machine (my trusty e-machines) and was not fully satisfied with the experience and always kept on using FreeBSD. My whole internal network was FreeBSD and Windows, with "0" Linux boxes. Now all those boxes are running Gentoo Linux and the only box with FreeBSD is my NAT. I dont know how the hell that happened, but it did. You can compare STABLE with the default Gentoo Linux installation you get right off the LiveCD, except you have a choice of building the whole system from scratch. You can then compare CURRENT with the ARCH="~86" branch when using Gentoo Linux. I never used Gentoo 1.2, but I'm going to assume it to be the RELEASE equivalent (since I've never used 1.2 before). A few differences between Gentoo Linux and FreeBSD are as follows: - You pretty much build *everything* from source while using Gentoo Linux, while having an option of installing a (pkg_add -r ) pre-compiled package or compiling a package from source using the ports system. Also, FreeBSD has the stand/sysinstall option as to where Gentoo Linux takes a more "hands on" approach to the situation. I have not found a stand/sysinstall equivalent, but I have not needed it as of yet :) - You can start off from stage1-stage3 on Gentoo Linux which leaves you @ the equivalent of a FreeBSD system with the kernel-developer (no X) option. It also seems to me that one is *forced* to have portage installed on Gentoo since you must compile everything from source, whereas you have the option of installing the FreeBSD ports system or not. Once again, you can choose to NOT install the ports system on FreeBSD as you can just download and install pre- compiled packages from the internet and have them automatically installed with dependencies being taken care of ala Debian GNU/Linux. - FreeBSD-RELEASE is *S O L I D* and they work VERY hard on having EVERYTHING within the RELEASE section working as it is intended. Gentoo Linux, on the otherhand is rather bleeding edge, so some of the packages sometimes end up having quirks and bugs in them... what this means is sometimes some packages will compile, and sometimes they wont. As you know, there are NO GUARANTEES of your system working / not working when using the STABLE branch of FreeBSD... as it is STABLE, but not RELEASE quality. Hence, why we are still @ 1.4_rc3... FreeBSD-CURRENT is reminiscent of ARCH="~86" as it will work / or not work... in other words, you're on your own and should have some intermediate / advanced skills to fix your own problems and come up with your own solutions developer style. - FreeBSD has been around since before I was born... Gentoo has been around for a few years. - You can fully optimize your system and use any of the available filesystems and linux kernel technologies that are out now, while FreeBSD takes a more traditional approach in the matter. One of the major things that drove me away from Linux in the past was the: "ewwww... you use an RPM distro?"... I didnt get it... you are not happy with someone using WIndows and want them using Linux, and when they finally convert you start bitching @ them because they are using an RPM distro over a source based distro? That always drove me away from Linux as I found it childish. I never found that problem when using FreeBSD... cuz what can you say... its FreeBSD! Or even the "ew you use Corel Linux or Elx Linux?.. you suck!"... No one can really say anything but, "wow, you're using Gentoo huh?" because even intermediate users are rather intimidated by the installation guide be- cause they actually have to *think* and plan what they want to do ahead of time because you dont want to really install and then re-install a gentoo system over and over again... it takes sooo much of a very precious resource: TIME. So, it teaches you how *NOT* to break things and how to fix things before taking the easy way out and re-installing. Once again, I used *FreeBSD* exclusively... until Gentoo Linux. It's kind of sad how I've abandoned FreeBSD for Gentoo Linux actually. Heh, and to think Gentoo Linux has taken over my p4-1600... a place where FreeBSD once sat. Only time I use FreeBSD now is to make changes to my firewall ruleset when I want to allow someone into my network, or when I want to open up certain ports for certain applications within my LAN. I even switched my servers over to Gentoo Linux as I am putting a lot of faith in this distribution (so dont let me down). I must say I had 0% downtime on FreeBSD-RELEASE, whereas I've had 5%-10% downtime with Gentoo 1.4_rc*... some of this being due to compile time and to some ebuilds working / not working as they are intended. FreeBSD you install a minimal system (10-15 minutes) and pkg_add -r PACKAGES (10 minutes) you need and you are off within 30 minutes, whereas Gentoo takes a bit more time and patience if you are new to this semi automated Linux From Scratch business. etc-update is the same as mergemaster after doing a "make world" on FreeBSD. You will smile when you get there, heh. The Linux kernel (@ first) seems a bit harder to configure, as it has many more options and toys to tinker with. But you should pretty much be comfy with compiling if you are commin' from FreeBSD anyways ;). Gentoo and FreeBSD are similar in regards to your *hunt for certain programs to install* is OVER... no more hunting down and scroungin' through sourceforge or freshmeat for something you need... its all right there in portage! Ive had to hunt *one* thing down this whole time, and that was gnusound. Seriously, I always kind of chuckled @ Linux as FreeBSD was my favorite as you get *VERY* comfy with the command line from the start of the experiment. You wanna get comfy with a command line? Try out a Gentoo Linux install from stage1 and you end up learning quite a lot that is automated in other systems (FreeBSD and other Linux Distros). Gentoo install is hands-on, where FreeBSD install is similar to a Slackware install with a curses based install system (stand/sysinstall). Anyways, I've rewritten the bible... if you have more questions please feel free to ask. Last words: Try Gentoo and you might not go back to FreeBSD. ;) > I am looking for simplified instruction to do the FreeBSD analogy for > Gentoo Linux. Can anyone help? > > Thank you -- Louis C. Candell -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list
