Hello,

I currently have a gentoo install, which functions just fine. However, as can be expected, it's not 100% perfect; So I decided: what about changing to another distribution.

Systemd is out, so that elimenates quite a lot of distributions.
I do like rolling release.
I do like to have a fast boot.
And I like to get my hands dirty.

Void Linux seems to fit the bill quite nicely. Seemed. Of course there's something not 100% perfect and my mind tends to focus on those not perfect things. And that seemed to be the package manager. There are no catagories or tags (although xbps does have support for tags).

Also, gentoo does have a lot of creature comforts (eselect, openrc stuff, genkernel, etc.).

However, void seems to be frendlier to the tweaker in me and runit boots quite fast and is really simple.

So, I'm uncertain where to go. Gentoo or Void? Can anyone help me out here? I've already put a chroot void install on my box and like it.

I could also opt for two installs.

Any thoughts?

Why not both? I mean, try to run both of them in Virtualbox for a few weeks and decide which one you like more.

FYI, Slackware also doesn't have systemd.

1 members found this post helpful.

Have you considered CRUX?

I don't really see the point of the question. It takes a matter of minutes to get a VM or bare metal, install or live boot going. Try it, you might like it.

I've personally had pretty good luck with Void, the fastest package manager I think I've used. Pretty stable too. I like how minimal it is from the install. It eliminates unused software that needs to be downloaded and installed every time there's a new update for it.

Let us know what you think when you've tried it.

No, I have not and will not. It's not rolling release (as far as I understand of it). I had distributions break on me while upgrading them to the next release. Never again a fixed release distribution.

Ah, gotcha. Well, that narrows it down quite a bit, so maybe:

* Funtoo (not much of a departure from Gentoo, though)
* Obarun, Artix, Parabola, Hyperbola (Arch-based without systemd)
* Exherbo
* Source Mage (apparently still active, but does anyone actually use it?)

If you want rolling release and no systemd, why not PCLinuxOS? On my AMD A6 system with a SSD it boots in 10 seconds. So far I've not had to get my hands dirty though, unless you count getting Xfce to use my custom keyboard.