On Friday 05 January 2007 09:39, Jeremy Fowler wrote:
I also am a gentoo user, exclusively. Gentoo just rocks, plain and simple. It sucks using a distro that uses lowest common denominator hardware i686 binaries and bloated packages built will all the options turned on.
Yet the performance and space requirements aren't significantly different given today's hardware capabilities. The main advantage is the knowledge that you've tweaked that last microsecond out out of the system.
Then there is the problem with waiting for someone to build a new package to fix a bug, security vulnerability, or add a new feature.
True whether the package is in portage or RPM. Just as easy (or hard) to fix yourself either way.
Gentoo package patches are available at a much faster rate....
I would agree, if you include the patches/fixes for bonehead packaging mistakes that I encounter regularly. Otherwise, if you know where to get them you can do as well with Mandriva, and probably with *buntu.
, and you build it yourself so no waiting for someone to build it for you.
You don't actually build it yourself, from the original source tarball. 99% of the people who run gentoo simply do "emerge <package>". That doesn't require, or generate any knowledge that "urpmi <package>" doesn't. If the package in portage is screwed up, it's no different than if an RPM has a problem - most people wait for the fix to be packaged and distributed.
Gentoo is also a fluid distro, meaning you always have the latest version,
Binary distros are getting better and better at updating and backporting, but the price you pay with Gentoo is that you have to spend significant time every few days updating everything, and you have to constantly tweak and check things, work out the bugs when they change something like the init system or devfs, or just do clean installs like you would with another distro.
My last two Mandriva updates were simply a matter of pointing to the new repository and doing an update. A few issues to work out, but nothing like the weekly hair-pulling Gentoo causes.
As far as Gentoo breaking your system or bringing you down with a broken package, if that package is part of the base system it sure will. I've seen more than one system knocked off-line by a failed update to part of the networking system. Once you're off-line, it's a real challenge to fix.
I've only once had a problem with an RPM killing something by not handling the config files correctly. They intelligently save existing and new config files by default. Gentoo requires intervention for EACH updated config file if you're not going to risk something taking you off line.
Just wait a few days and resync portage and a new package is usually available to fix the problem.
At first glance, this seems like a real asset to a gentoo system. After a few experiences with it though, you realize that other distros don't release the broken package in the first place.
No system is perfect, but for me, Gentoo's qualities far out weight its weaknesses.
Not for me. For me, gentoo requires too much time be spent tinkering, and not enough time available to get work done with the system.