So far, I see these benefits of Portage over Apt: 1) no repository issues
"I really want X! Wait, it's not in my repositories. Which one do I add? Will this repository conflict with this one?" On the other hand, repositories could be used cleverly to allow someone access to security fixes, but not new and unstable packages. Gentoo hasn't yet found a way to do that. 2) simpler syntax Isn't "apt-get install" redundant? I would rather just say "apt-get package" and leave the other stuff to other commands. In this regard, "emerge" isn't perfect. To install a package you say, "emerge package". Nice and simple. But to update package information, you say "emerge --sync". I wish operations related to the portage tree were handled with a "portage" command. Especially since "emerge" is a verb related closely to what you do to packages, and not to the tree. Still, it's better than with apt. 3) simple build scripts Jeff Dooley already mentioned this, but it really is one of my favorite features of Portage. It kind of goes hand in hand with the source based nature of Portage, but it works for binaries as well. I like that I can see what happens when I install any given program, and I like the feeling that I could write one of my own, which I've attempted. It gives more flexibility with adding things like security-hardening or special filesystem setups. -todd, still working with apt -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
