Gentoo/Opteron On The Way

An anonymous reader writes "From the latest Gentoo Weekly Newsletter: '(SCI) will be helping the Gentoo Linux development team to create a 64-bit version of Gentoo Linux for the AMD Opteron processor. SCI will initiate this relationship by providing the Gentoo Linux development team with a dual Opteron workstation as well as any other assistance required to officially support for the AMD Opteron platform. In cooperation with RackSaver, SCI will arrange for early access to future enterprise-class hardware. RackSaver has joined SCI in its efforts to support the continued development of Gentoo Linux into an enterprise-level operating system.'"

Comments

Supported Already (Sorta I Think)

[MBCook]

Since Gentoo is a source based distro and x86-64 PCs can boot/run 32bit code, Gentoo can already do this unofficially. You should be able to boot off a regular x86 disk and install gentoo if you just set the compiler right and such. I'm pretty sure it's been done before, but it will be great to see it be official. That said, I'm glad to see one of my two favorite distros (Debian is the other) supporting the Opteron. Yeah Gentoo!

Re:Supported Already (Sorta I Think)

[Neon Spiral Injector]

Why do people continue to spread this myth? Have you ever compiled code on a 64-bit arch.? Have you ever even touched a 64-bit machine? I have an Alpha, which is an even stranger platform than x86-64, and *EVERYTHING* I've ever built has worked flawlessly. I'll have a Opteron machine here soon, and I don't expect anything less from it.

Re:Supported Already (Sorta I Think)

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do people continue to spread this myth?

Invalid question.

Have you ever compiled code on a 64-bit arch.?

Yes.

Have you ever even touched a 64-bit machine?

I don't know how you define touch, but I use them over the networks. I can't remember if I actually touched the machine, but I've seen it. Or at least the case.

I have an Alpha, which is an even stranger platform than x86-64, and *EVERYTHING* I've ever built has worked flawlessly.

I guess you haven't built much, or your compiler is producing 32 bit code (i.e. sizeof(int) == 32 and sizeof(*char) == 32).

It's no myth that much of the source out there makes assumptions about the size of ints and pointers.

Re:What's in a name

[handsomepete]

What, you mean SuSE doesn't just roll off your tongue (Soo-see? Ess-you-ess-ee? Suzy?)?

Gentoo's claim to fame is that it's source based, like LFS, but it's done in a way where it's really easy to maintain and install. It doesn't hurt they have a very friendly community to back them up. The big downsides include (but are not limited to) long compile times to install packages and a quasi-steep learning curve for some of the install/maintenance stuff that's been taken care of automagically by other distros as of recent (but really, it just requires reading directions). I use it at home and it suits me just fine, but as with all things arbitrary, it's not for everyone. Installing it is a good way to kill a couple days if you have the time, give it a shot if you get the urge.

Re:What's in a name

[GimmeFuel]

With Gentoo, everything on your system is compiled from source. You have total control over your system and what's installed on it.

Gentoo uses a system called Portage (based on BSD's ports) for downloading and installing software. A program called 'emerge' deals with the Portage tree. You run 'emerge package', and emerge will download the source tarballs (including all dependencies), unpack them, then run ./configure, make, and make install for you. The program is compiled using your CFLAGS (options used for optimizing compiled code) and USE flags (Gentoo-specific feature that allows you to specify options for including or excluding features from packages). The local compilation allows for customization not possible in binary-based distros; I can have GCC optimize a compiled program for my P3, as opposed to other distros which usually have their programs only compiled for generic i586.

Emerge has a ton of other features, as well. 'emerge sync' uses rsync to download the latest Portage tree to your system. 'emerge -u world' checks every program you have installed and upgrades any of them with newer versions.

We also have a well-deserved reputation for user support - from the install guide to the Gentoo forums, our IRC channel (#gentoo on irc.freenode.net) and newsgroup (alt.os.linux.gentoo). If you have any other questions, please come by one of these places and someone will be happy to help you.

BTW, according to the FAQ, Gentoo comes from the name of a species of small, fast penguin - a very appropriate name.

(And no, I have no affiliation with Gentoo other than as a very satisfied user)

Re:What's in a name

[superjaded]

As another poster said, Portage isn't a simple port of ports (would a "port" really be *needed*? ports isn't that complicated from the surface), but really another package system entirely, only based aroudn the same idea of ports:

you have a /usr/portage dir much like you would have a /usr/src/ports (I think.. been a while since I used *BSD :)), and instead of "make"ing ports like you do in *BSD, you have an actual Python script called emerge -- that takes info from an ebuild (which simply gives info about the program you're attempting to build).. I forget how ports handled dependancies, but if needed, emerge will automatically upgrade libraries seemlessly (it also detects weird version things.. like how KDE2 programs won't be able to work with KDE3.. so it'll change its behavior accordingly)

One of the best features of Portage is the "pretend" switch -- emerge -p will show you what it will have to install in order to get that package to install. ie; if you emerge kmail as one of your first emerges, you'll end up installing about 50 different packages because of kmail's KDE dependancy.

Something I vaguely remember about ports was that it installed the libs in non-standard locations (or rather used non-standard lib names), so if you need/want to compile something directly from the source, you'll have to figure out where exactly X lib is.. but with gentoo, I don't have that problem.. I suppose it's possible ports might not have that problem anymore either. :P

I guess in essence there's really not all *that* much difference between the two, but while it may just be me talking as the Gotten-Used-to-Gentoo guy I am, but Portage just feels more streamlined and not as (pardon the blasphemy) slapped together when compared to ports.

Both do the job though, there's no real need to switch to Gentoo *just* because of Portage.. but for what it's worth, Portage is *the* reason I use Gentoo over any other linux distro.