ok let me start off by saying that it takes FOREVER to compile X, KDE, and Gnome! It took me 2 days to compile and install to get a good working desktop, but oooh is it fast


Having said that, anyone who uses Gentoo has probably noticed the build up of package files in /usr/portage/distfiles

My question is whether it's safe to go ahead and delete these stored files, as they occupy a good chuck of HD space and they have already been installed/compiled? Also are there tmp directories that would need clearing out where the compiling took place? Isn't there a command to take care of all this (ie emerge -?)

Also is their an ftp server or something I can reference emerge to for software i dont wish to compile...a server that has actual installable binaries on it?

Im new to gentoo if you cant tell

Thanks

You can delete them, but if you need to re-build it, it will be downloaded again. There are several threads on the gentoo forum dealing with removing old/stale distfiles.

Thanks, the Gentoo forums are great (stupid me didnt even see them of course)

Oh btw

do you htink it's worth the effort to recompile my entire system to upgrade to gcc 3.x (i have 2.95 now) I installed using the v1.2 ISO, so all of my base files are not as current. Would you say it's worth the many hours and effort?

gcc 3.2 is even slower than 2.95 - the binaries are supposed to be faster but I don't really see that.
When I upgraded from 2.95 to 3.2 I had a fun time without any compiler for a while because of a bug in the way it was linked - don't know if this is fixed by now (should be - it's been a while).
When you clean out your distfiles it is a good idea to keep averything you need to connect to the internet in there or back it up somewhere - not that I screwed up and couldn't connect anymore once.

lol im glad you swayed me from that road.

gcc 3.2 is working fine now.

but is it worth recompiling an entire system?

You should do regular updates with gentoo anyway.If you do nothing for two or three weeks and then update it will install a lot. If something breaks after that it is much harder to find out what the problem is.
You could try to just start with a new compiler and base,xfree and kdebase and then install things as you need them.But I wouldn't bet on apps that have been compiled with gcc2.xx working in an 3.xx environment.