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Old 03-13-2006, 12:55 PM   #1
LiquidSlumber
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Is it possible to install Red Hat's Package manager on Gentoo?


This is probably a pretty stupid question, but I was wondering if it's possible to install rpms in Gentoo. I've been thinking of switching form Fedora to Gentoo, but I don't want to have to compile everything on my computer.
 
Old 03-13-2006, 01:47 PM   #2
nadroj
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this is my guess.

i would say you could, but it would defeat the whole purpose of using gentoo... which its main difference from other distros is the portage system, as you probably know about.
 
Old 03-13-2006, 08:57 PM   #3
cs-cam
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LiquidSlumber
This is probably a pretty stupid question, but I was wondering if it's possible to install rpms in Gentoo. I've been thinking of switching form Fedora to Gentoo, but I don't want to have to compile everything on my computer.
You don't want to compile everything, but you want to use Gentoo. See, aren't contradictions fun?

That is the whole point of Gentoo, the zomg optimisation attraction, other than that is's just another minimal distrobution with some fancy CLI scripts that do things for you. There are plenty of minimal distros out there that use binary packages, try them. Installing multiple package managers in a distrobution is a nice way to stuff things up. Non-standard paths, one manager not recognising the packages the other one installed. Ick, messy stuff...
 
Old 03-13-2006, 10:21 PM   #4
LiquidSlumber
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Smile

I was afraid that installing multiple package managers would be a bad idea, but I just thought I'd ask. I was considering using Gentoo for several reasons: I first wanted to try something new, I've been using fedora for about a year now; It's the only distro I've known. I also liked the idea of compiling certain programs using emerge; I was hoping that it would be easier to make Gentoo instillation files than RPMs. I still can't quite figure them out. Compiling from source would also make my computer more effeint. Also according to Gentoo's web page, one doesn't have to keep reinstalling new distribution versions every few months. Finally, If I had access to multiple package distribution methods, I'd be able to install a larger variety of package types. I also read that gentoo is beginning to make their own binary files so maybe I'll try it out. I really don't want my computer to go down for a few days every time I want to update the thing. Well in any case, thanks for the info!
 
Old 03-13-2006, 10:34 PM   #5
cs-cam
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A few things to point out.
Quote:
I also liked the idea of compiling certain programs using emerge
You don't need to use Gentoo to compile certain apps for yourself. Even in Fedora this shouldn't be a problem, just use source RPMs. I've never used a RPM distro for an extended period so I'm not sure how it works, you'll need to Google that one.

Quote:
Compiling from source would also make my computer more effeint.
Says who? Compiling from source is overrated, sure people say it results in a much faster package but can you blame them? If you just spent the last x hours compiling KDE I bet you'd be wanting to validate that time to yourself as well lol. I came from Gentoo to Arch and if anything I felt that Arch was quicker. That's a pretty subjective opinion though so take it or leave it. Most credible benchmarks do prove that compiling for your specific system results in quicker packages however the time deficite is measure in milliseconds. If you believe you could notice the difference when X loads 0.02 seconds quicker then by all means, Gentoo is for you!

Quote:
Also according to Gentoo's web page, one doesn't have to keep reinstalling new distribution versions every few months.
Yeah, rolling versions are awesome! However Gentoo is not the only distro that works in this way, Arch is the same via pacman -Syu, Debian/Ubuntu/assorted others are the same via apt-get dist-upgrade. I'm sure many other distros operate the same, I just covered a few majors.

Quote:
Finally, If I had access to multiple package distribution methods, I'd be able to install a larger variety of package types.
In all distros you can build a native package for your app and it's usually not a major hassle however if you choose to use Debian or co. they have a tool called alien that converts between a large number of package formats to .deb which can then be installed.

Quote:
I really don't want my computer to go down for a few days every time I want to update the thing.
Check up on the Gentoo forums, many people have worked out nice settings etc that lower the CPU time given to portage which allows you to use your system and compile updates in the background without a major slowdown.

There's some info for you at any rate

Last edited by cs-cam; 03-13-2006 at 10:36 PM.
 
  


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