I can't believe it....

[Stefan Bruda]

At 16:02 -0400 on 2004-5-5 Robert Lyons wrote:
 >
 > I was hoping I would hear about someone that was using Gentoo. I
 > have downloaded the iso, can you tell me what the pro's and con's
 > are verses YDL?

Gentoo is super, I am very happy with it indeed.  Here are some
advantages of Gentoo over YDL:

o  Newness is probably the biggest one.  You can be as cutting edge as
   you like, but even the stable tree is newer than YDL.  Gentoo is a
   source distribution (meta-distribution I believe is their term), so
   anything that can be compiled from sources is available in its most
   recent incarnation.  This is a permanent feature, as opposed to any
   binary distribution you are directly connected to the developper of
   the package you install and thus you do not have to wait for a
   third party to catch up.

o  The portage system is really flexible (I am really enthusiastic
   about it), RPM does not even come close.  This is an inherent
   advantage since portage works with sources whereas RPM works with
   pre-built binaries.  You have full control over the look of your
   system.

o  Once you get used with the way a Gentoo system is configured, you
   will find it very convenient (though you have to get used with it
   first).

This being said, there are four downsides I can think of:

o  Probably the most immediate is the time it takes to build a usable
   system.  I started from a stage 1 (non-bootstrapped GCC), it took
   me one full day to just build the compiler and utilities.  Emerging
   the system took another significant amount of time, and so on.  In
   all, I believe I spent about a week building the system.

   I actually built the Gentoo distribution on a live system, thing
   that I heartily recommend if you have some spare disk space given
   the time it takes for all of this (you would not want to lock your
   machine for weeks, eh?).

   On the bright side, this is a one-timer.  Besides, this is not an
   issue if you start from stage 3 (which is probably the best thing
   to do unless you want a lot of optimizations, you want something
   special, or are just adventurous).

o  Gentoo does not have a GUI installer or something, so you will have
   to edit text files to configure your system and afterwards get used
   with the configuration tools and structure.  At times the whole
   thing is poorly documented, a Web connection and some initial spare
   time are recommended.

   I am myself used to dig into text files to configure things but
   this may not apply to others.

o  The PPC portage tree is not that well maintained as the x86 one, so
   you may encounter problems.  I believe that no problems will appear
   if you stick to the stable version (GCC 3.2.3), but things may new
   tweaks for ddevelopment packages.  The best combination that I
   found is to install the stable version except for development
   packages chosen by hand.  How to do this is not documented as far
   as I know but it is relatively simple once you know it (contact me
   privately and I will send you the related configuration).

   With some amount of trouble, I am now running GCC 3.3 (did not have
   the nerve to try GCC 3.4 since some applications have not really
   been ported to it, but 3.4 is available for the adventurous),
   kernel 2.6.5, and many other such goodies.

o  One thing that I found really annoying is the documentation, which
   at times is missing and a few times downright misleading.  This is
   pertinent especially if you want to bootstrap the system yourself
   including development packages.  I was lucky in this respect as we
   have a strong group of Gentoo users here at Bishop's University
   (and some hard core fans too) and I had assistance.

   This is probably a non-issue for a stage 3 or even stage 2 install.
   Such problems are localized as far as I remember in the
   bootstrapping process.

In all, you should set aside time (coffee and beer too) for the
installation, and you should climb the steep learning curve of a
configuration process dramatically different from Red Hat-like systems
(including a lot of Web searches for information; given the local
support I did not try yet the mailing lists, but they may be
helpful).  Once the system is installed though, you will smile--at
least I definitely do.

In any case, this is kind of off-topic for this list, contact me
privately if you need more information.

Stefan

-- 
If it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as
it isn't, it ain't. That's logic.
    --Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass