are there any ways to get updates and patches like Red Hat's up2date?
Yes, the "emerge" tool does this. For example, "emerge -uv system" will only update core packages, though I don't know what all's included in that. Files like the ones listed under sys-* on this page, http://www.gentoo.org/dyn/pkgs/index.xml ?? Or "emerge -uv world" will update ALL installed packages on your machine.
How does Gentoo compare to other distros? Are there any special advantages in it being source-based as opposed to being RPM-based?
I think the biggest thing is the "all of the packages are compiled from source, according to *your* options" instead of someone else's choices.
It sounds a lot like Apt to me.
It's very similar. I used Debian for 3 years or so and APT was a godsend compared to RPM ! :-)
Hall
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