Why are you using Gentoo?

Hello,

I am aware of previous topics (I think), but they're not exactly like this one. I am still considering moving to Gentoo, but thought I'd ask why OTHERS are using Gentoo, so I can make an easier decision.

This is not a discussion about the merits or flaws of other distributions, nor am I requesting advice on what distribution to use. Please also don't turn this into a flame war of why software X is better then Y or Z.

I just want to know why you are using Gentoo Linux. Thanks.

I use Gentoo because it, in my opinions, allows to research Linux more deeply.
Also it has, unlike other distributions, a convenient package management system. The system allows to configure a build of packages to turn off/on some packages features.
But this system is more appropriate for personal use. In production it is better to use Linux distributions with binary package management systems, so time to install packages is minimal (cons: in such systems packages are compiled with all possible features).

I'm quite sure many people will say: I'm using Gentoo because I like choice. And I agree, Gentoo offers more choice than the average Linux distribution. Maybe LFS offers even more but there is also the question of how much time are you willing to spend on a fully working system that matches your needs. For me personally Gentoo hits that sweet spot just right.

But that's not the main reason. I strongly agree with trunikov. I started when Gentoo was still called Enoch (1999). The installation was a complete disaster because I had no idea what I was doing. Then in 2004 Gentoo was already alive and I gave it a second shot. Things went wrong again. But I realised there was a (steep) learning curve. If you are prepared to read and learn, then Gentoo might be the right choice for you. If you just want to copy/paste commands from an installation handbook into your terminal window, then don't bother with Gentoo at all. I made a print of the handbook and tried a third time, a fourth time and eventually I had a working system!

A third reason to recommend Gentoo is its active community (Gentoo forum). I'm sure other distributions have a vibrant community too, but if you have a question, other Gentoo users will gladly help you when they can.

TL;DR
1) Choice
2) Learned a lot (and I mean a lot)
3) Community

My two cents on why I'm not using Gentoo. I did use it for a while, largely because I wanted to see if I could actually install and run it. But I soon gave it up because I simply did not have the necessary energy.

If you like choice, Gentoo has more choices than any other distro. A huge range of packages and nothing is installed by default. Also the use flag system gives you maximum control over how the software is actually built. But it's bleeding edge with a vengeance. Everything is constantly being patched and repatched. You need to sync and update every day. If that's the kind of thing you like, good luck to you!

One more pros.
Gentoo has an utility (eselect) which allows, among other things, easily change default versions of 'python' and 'java' implementations. The default versions can be selected on system level and/or on user account level. It could be useful if you are developer. Also the package management allows simultaneous installation of the same package but with different versions.

Gentoo allows you to tailor everything easily. Ease of use, in my concrete case, is the killer feature here.

In every single distro under the sun, you have to install lots of dev packages to recompile a 100 kb window manager to add a patch or whatever.

Using multiple versions of a given lib or tool is also much easier, and changing between implementations of this or that piece is also easy, in correlation with the eselect tool which someone mentioned above.

That, and the fact that, at this stage, I am too lazy and have too little time to spend my free time learning a new GUI configuration tool on every release.

That little black screen with white text works always, everywhere, you know.

choice.

useflags.


i could elaborate on that, and add lots more, but that's the main thrust of why.

Why I use Gentoo? Because it give me options. When I first tried to install Gentoo I fell flat on my face. After a few years I decided to give it a go again and this time things went a lot smoother. You will need to invest time to get the system up and running the way you like. Like others have said it comes pre-installed with nothing. That's another reason I like Gentoo it only installs what I want not what someone else wants.

Right, I'm a heavy Windows user. Never bought into all this "wow, free software, there's so much choice omg!" thing as large amounts of software are still exclusive to Windows.

Gentoo, however, offers a real advantage: it pulls source code and compiles it as customized for your hardware as possible. As a result, it doesn't run, it flies. Not to mention it can be installed on a 486 computer. Currently I'm toying with it on Pentium computers, at 83 and 133 MHz. Their install live disc requires 256 MB, but once you have it, everything's fine.

Seriously, I believe a lot of Windows experts are competent enough to run any Linux or BSD but they don't get why. If you move to the supposedly super customizable and mega efficient world of Linux, you expect to be able to do really awesome things with it. Then you get dependency hell and recompiling kernels. And remember, most of the software you need is on the other side, for Windows.

Gentoo, at least, demands all that from you, but it's exceptionally fast and quite compatible with a lot of hardware. And I get the feeling it's more friendly to software that's quirky to install. In other words, real advantages over Windows and the actual freedom advertised by Linux enthusiasts.

I am using gentoo for over 11 years because It was more flexible as ARCH Linux.

Linux Mint screwed up by destroying the boot "section" by overwriting grub.cfg without asking the user, without parsing its contents. Very very bad coding style.
Linux Mint does not find it repositories, files to download after a few months, e.g. 8 months, linux mint only notebook. connect it to the net, it'S impossible to update that box

opensuse had no direct rendering and networking was broken for wifi and or ethernet. without networking the distro is useless.

arch linux destroyed the X server on my old asus g70sg, dual boot arch linux / gentoo notebook. a lot of issues with the package manager unable to update, to revert. arch linux seeems flexible enough but when its screwed its screwed

gentoo is a decent choice. Except the user base is worse and the developers have their attitude. bugs do not get fixed, bugs are still open for years. tree cleaners do not do their job. What's the point on offering outdated client software for games, when the game servers are closed source and do not allow connection from those outdated clients. They are unable to write ebuilds for such games, but are also too proud to just hardmask and than drop it after 30 days.

gentoo is a decent choice, if you have 20 years on linux experience and you are able to fix things yourself.

gentoo software is also dated, and so the frustrated users create their own overlays instead. so you have the offical gentoo repository and lots of user created overlays which makes things worse. overlay ebuilds are barely tested and causes issues, becuase the user can only test it to their own setup. this is caused because of cocky developers, bugs are not beeing worked on and such. I have over 20 different ebuilds in my head which are not currently worked on.

Gentoo is at least easier to revert to an older state, which many binary distros do not really offer, are barely able to handle.

Gentoo ships a working toolchain, which is also a benefit, when you build software from git.

When you want a windows 3.11, 95 like user interface, you better stick to linux mint for example.

I do most of my things in i3wm.org desctop environment, midnight commander, google-chrome, k3b, caja, gimp.
I do mount my drives by hand, setup networking by hand and such.

those autoscripts for grub, networkmanager and such, mounters are heavily broken. Kinda annoying that software does not respect the FHS.

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I think for these days linux mint is the better choice for windows 95 guys. For the MS-DOS 286 guys its gentoo, and these are dying out by the time goes on

edit: Gentoo ebuilds lack dependencies and are barely tested. Kinda often that some gnome / kde related ebuilds fail to build, so they created those meta ebuilds. the lazy developers just declared, you need everything else you can not build k3b for example. k3b does not really need everything. i did once my custom ebuild on my box, and saw a third of the packages are not really needed. qt related packages have lots of issues when you update, as portage hangs itself up with lots of blocker messages, this got fixed recently, but i am not quite convinced it is resolved forever. there is a dirty workaround.

the gentoo package manager portage is kinda limited, it screws up quite easily if you want to. progress has stopped 10 years ago.

updating any installation over 3 months not updated means kinda reinstall or a lots of hassle. I did it several times. Gentoo needs at least once a week to be updated for the @system set. World is not that important in my point of view. If you can't use linux mint, and reinstall like suggested by linux mint every 6 months.