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Gentoo 1.0 Released
Spider[DAC] writes: "Gentoo Linux 1.0 is finally released. see their homepage for more details, or skip directly to the installation instructions. Gentoo is a up-to-date distribution that uses 'portage' (a system similar to the BSD ports) to download, compile and configure the installation process."
in FreeBSD, if I wanna install apache for instance, I cd to /usr/ports/www/apache13 and type "make install clean" .. freebsd downloads apache, if patching the code is required for it to run under bsd it does that too. mostly the patches are just path changes.. just to make all the apps install to /usr/local/bin and conf goto /usr/local/etc
Common sense is not so common.
# cd /usr/ports/editors/vim
# make install clean
It then fetches the sources (and dependancies if they aren't met yet) and compiles and installs them automagically.
Oh, you can also make packages this way (with the 'package' makefile target). BSD also has a package system btw, but that's too oftopic :)
I've been using Gentoo for the last 6 months or so and I've been very impressed. The speed is simply amazing - no other distro is this fast and clean. Gentoo is also very well documented! Daniel Robbins, the main man behind Gentoo has written some excellent tutorials which can be found here. I suggest you go and have a look. I have learned a lot by reading his tutorials. BTW, do you know where that name "Gentoo" comes from? Gentoo is a species of a small and fast penguins ;)
I'm not familiar with FreeBSD's mergemaster, but Gentoo has a nice utility named "etc-update". I think it's in the gentoolkit package. It'll find the config files that need updating, show you a diff between them and choose to keep your old one, use the new one, more merge them together.
"People that quote themselves in their signatures bother me" - athakur999
I became interested in Gentoo when a source distribution sounded like an interesting challenge, and just different from the usual binary distros. I chose it over Sorceror because at that point the Sorceror world was falling apart (some ex-Sorcerors have found their homes with Gentoo, btw). I found the Gentoo documentation to be right on course, and the install was comfortable and informative if you're used to Linux/BSD (it's not for the newbies, but it would make a good learning experience). The portage system is wonderful, it has all the graces of APT and more, is amazingly current, and can do "fake" installs ala OpenBSD (one my favorite *nixices). Getting your system going may take a few hours while stuff compiles, but everything runs smoothly.
If I didn't have to use a wireless card, I'd be writing this from inside a Gentoo install right now. However, getting my 802.11b card operable proved to be a trial, though the kind folks on the Gentoo mailing lists were beyond helpful. Ultimately I went back to RedHat, as I had lost too much time trying to get wireless support, but this wasn't a fault of the distro, just my crunch for time (note to kernel and pcmcia-cs folks: standardize your functions and modules together!).
If you're looking for a distro that's very active and, above all, enjoyable, I reccomend Gentoo. It does take some work, and the performance benefits of source vs binary are debatable, but what matters is the pleasantness and effectiveness of the Gentoo community. Daniel Robbins, the project's architect, is really a neat, smart guy, and the other folks involved are helpful and motivated. Using a Gentoo system is great for experienced folks who want serious control while retaining more community than a "Linux from Scratch" build. It's also a great way for a less experienced user to get familiar with Linux, or a good bridge from Linux to *BSD (if you need one). I don't think the folks out there saying "yet another distro?" understand that the beauty of the open community is choice. If you don't like it , ignore it, but good things are happening around Gentoo.
use Google to look for Penguins and skip over all that Linux stuff. You'll get to things like Pete and Barbara's Penguin Pages
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Yes, it is like Sorceror, and the two projects began around the same time. However, I would venture to say that Gentoo is less of a "hobbyist" effort, with an eye more towards production servers. They have the support of some cool companies, and generally feel more "professional" than Sorcerer without loosing geekiness. And, of course, the Sorcerer community recently split, so those looking for a long-term commitment on their distro might feel safer with Gentoo.
Anyways, one day the boss decided to change the name, and we had a meeting ... and the patron saint of linux is obviosuly the penguin... So I found some sites about penguins that said that the "Gentoo" penguin was the fastest and best swimmer ... and it stuck ;)
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
To install Gentoo, you first download a base system that you bot from. This system includes the compiler & necessary utilities to install the system, all in binary form. Then, as part of the install process, all of the binaries are then re-compiled from the latest sources. Once you reboot, all of the binaries are gone & you're running from the newly compiled versions.
This simplifies things a bit, but the install process is actually quite easy. I've been running Gento for ~2 months now, and I don't think I've ever been as pleased with a Linux distribution. It requires a bit more knowledge then, for example, Mandrake, but it's not difficult, and it's very well documented. I highly recommend you try it out.
Before installing Gentoo, I tried Sorcerer. They are very similar, and Sorcerer sdoes have some nice touches (for example, I like that you can make symlinks that will automatically install a package the first time it's called).
The problem I had with Sorcerer, however, is that it lacked any real documentation. It had a great installer, but if -anything- went wrong, you were on your own (for example, there is basically no info on setting up your network connection, even though a network connection is absolutely vital to the install process).
Gentoo, on the other hand has a less automated install, but it is VERY well docemented. If you follow the instructions, you will get the install done, even if you don't have much Unix knowledge. I still wouldn't recommend Gentoo to a beginner (The install may be simple, but once it's installed, you're back on your own), but even a moderately experienced and moderately adventerous user will have no problems.
The portage system surprised me just as much as apt did when moving from an RPM based distribution. I haven't gotten around to trying any of the *BSDs, so I had no idea what they were referring to when describing it as a ports-like system.
If you haven't even tried it, why are you deriding it?
-chuckx
The Filsystem Hierarchy Standard has a good explaination on what /var and /tmp should be used for. You can pickup a copy at http://www.pathname.com/fhs/.
/tmp should be disappear when the app is shut down. Put files in /var if you need them between instances of the app.
Files in
It doesn't make much differance when there is only one user but is very important when there are many users.
You bring up good points. I'll work on a "New to Sorcerer" FAQ section for the site. We've just reorganized after the leader of the project went awall. He just took off without helping to ensure continued development. So we have reorganized a new team and have been trying to get the website together with some better documentation. This FAQ is from the old Sorcerer site, which is back up after being taken down by Kyle, the former leader of the project. We'll probably have more on the new site soon.
"I told you a million times not to exaggerate!"
This thing is smart, and it works! I am not a programmer, nor linux guru, but their documentation to get you up and running is flawless. I built up a desktop system and have installed all the applications I need and they are all working great. I've avoided KDE completely and run blackbox as a wm. I've successfully gotten my DVD player, CDR, TV Tuner card and sound card working great. Also, MPlayer (which doesn't allow binary installations like RPM) compiled and runs great. (Much better than Windows Media Player)
When I first read about Gentoo, I was afraid that if software I used wasn't in their portage list, I would be SOL. But, the list of applications available is very comprehensive...There haven't been any applications I've needed that aren't available via their Portage system. As I am not familiar with C, I have always had problems installing programs from source. If the makefile has problems, I usually can't figure out what to change in order to get it working...But, I haven't had any installations fail in Gentoo. The automatic configuration and dependencies calculation works and works well...
I can't imagine ever running Red Hat again. My Gentoo system is stable, fast and lean.
Check out the mailing lists first. The upgrade
procedure will damage your system. New installs
are ok.
Dan Robbins has posted to the Gentoo mailing lists
with the message not to upgrade until the
developers resolve the problem.