Gentoo Linux 2004.0 Released

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Posted by Hemos on Monday March 1, 2004 @04:45AM from the rolling-it-out dept.

Quique writes "Gentoo Linux is proud to announce the release of Gentoo Linux 2004.0 for the x86, AMD64, PowerPC, Sun SPARC, and SGI MIPS architectures. Additionally, the Gentoo Hardened team is announcing the inaugural release of a security-enhanced Gentoo platform for the x86 architecture. Installation stages, LiveCDs, and GRP sets can be found on the mirrors. More information about the Gentoo Hardened project can be found on its project page. For more information, please consult the documentation, mailing lists, user forums and official IRC channels. The new Gentoo Store has also been announced." I've put more of the release notes below - might also be worth checking out the tutorial for LPI certification done by the President/CEO of Gentoo; there's also a note about Gentoo's newest meta-release tool, Catalyst below as well. Looks like it's not out yet - stay tuned for more information. " In addition to many bugfixes and security updates since the 1.4 release, Gentoo Linux 2004.0 contains a cutting-edge development toolchain and user environment including, but not limited to, Linux kernel 2.6.3, GCC 3.3.2, GLIBC 2.3.2, KDE 3.2, GNOME 2.4.2, and xfce4.

Gentoo Linux 2004.0 marks the debut of Catalyst, the new Gentoo release meta-tool. Using Catalyst, developers and users can create and customize every aspect of their Gentoo Linux system; from installation stages, to bootable LiveCDs, to customized binary packages for the Gentoo Reference Platform (GRP). For more information on Catalyst, please see the Catalyst project page and online documentation."

34 of 489 comments (clear)

Almost there... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-03-01 04:46 · Score: 5, Funny

Cool! So if I start the stage1 compile on my P90 it should be ready by Easter.
Very well. by Krapangor · 2004-03-01 04:47 · Score: 0, Funny

6 days later I will have a newly compiled system. Honestly, what's the point when you can have binary packages. Sourcecode distribution is so 1980ies...

--
Owner of a Mensa membership card.
Great! by cies · 2004-03-01 04:47 · Score: 4, Funny

luckily i download this 4 hours ago...

now all you guys can enjoy the fleed :)
1. Re:Great! by Anonymous Coward · 2004-03-01 05:06 · Score: 1, Funny
  
  #@%$@#! Crud! I downloaded 1.4 on Friday!
2. Re:Great! by Lobo_Louie · 2004-03-01 06:24 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  The only way you could allieviate the Gentoo servers is to announce a LOTR download site. :-)
Wow... by NeoGeo64 · 2004-03-01 04:47 · Score: 5, Funny

That has to be the *biggest* version jump in history! From 1.4 to 2004.0!
1. Re:Wow... by somethinghollow · 2004-03-01 04:53 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I think 2000 to XP is a pretty big one. It indicates they ran out of numbers (versioning in long integer) and had to move to letters... Or maybe that they just used a two number versioning system and realized that Windows [19]00 was less than [19]98. Damn 2K Bug.
2. Re:Wow... by ndogg · 2004-03-01 05:31 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Yeah, I was like, "Alright! Linux has finally caught up with Windows! W00t!"
  
  --
  // file: mice.h
  #include "frickin_lasers.h"
3. Re:Wow... by jd · 2004-03-01 06:06 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Depends on the base used. Assuming base 36 (so as to include all the letters of the English alphabet), then Windows 2000 is version 91312, (compared to Windows 98 at only version 324). Windows NT, CE, ME and XP are only marginally further on than 98. Which explains a lot.
  
  --
  It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
It's here: the Gentoo Zealot Translator! by Anonymous Coward · 2004-03-01 04:48 · Score: 4, Funny

Official Gentoo-Linux-Zealot translator-o-matic
By M, version 1.0
Gentoo Linux is an interesting new distribution with some great features. Unfortunately, it has attracted a large number of clueless wannabes and leprotards who absolutely MUST advocate Gentoo at every opportunity. Let's look at the language of these zealots, and find out what it really means...
"Gentoo makes me so much more productive."
"Although I can't use the box at the moment because it's compiling something, as it will be for the next five days, it gives me more time to check out the latest USE flags and potentially unstable optimisation settings."
"Gentoo is more in the spirit of open source!"
"Apart from Hello World in Pascal at school, I've never written a single program in my life or contributed to an open source project, yet staring at endless streams of GCC output whizzing by somehow helps me contribute to international freedom."
"I use Gentoo because it's more like the BSDs."
"Last month I tried to install FreeBSD on a well-supported machine, but the text-based installer scared me off. I've never used a BSD, but the guys on Slashdot say that it's l33t though, so surely I must be for using Gentoo."
"Heh, my system is soooo much faster after installing Gentoo."
"I've spent hours recompiling Fetchmail, X-Chat, gEdit and thousands of other programs which spend 99% of their time waiting for user input. Even though only the kernel and glibc make a significant difference with optimisations, and RPMs and .debs can be rebuilt with a handful of commands (AND Red Hat supplies i686 kernel and glibc packages), my box MUST be faster. It's nothing to do with the fact that I've disabled all startup services and I'm running BlackBox instead of GNOME or KDE."
"...my Gentoo Linux workstation..."
"...my overclocked AMD eMachines box from PC World, and apart from the third-grade made-to-break components and dodgy fan..."
"You Red Hat guys must get sick of dependency hell..."
"I'm too stupid to understand that circular dependencies can be resolved by specifying BOTH .rpms together on the command line, and that problems hardly ever occur if one uses proper Red Hat packages instead of mixing SuSE, Mandrake and Joe's Linux packages together (which the system wasn't designed for)."
"All the other distros are soooo out of date."
"Constantly upgrading to the latest bleeding-edge untested software makes me more productive. Never mind the extensive testing and patching that Debian and Red Hat perform on their packages; I've just emerged the latest GNOME beta snapshot and compiled with -O9 -fomit-instructions, and it only crashes once every few hours."
"Let's face it, Gentoo is the future."
"OK, so no serious business is going to even consider Gentoo in the near future, and even with proper support and QA in place, it'll still eat up far too much of a company's valuable time. But this guy I met on #animepr0n is now using it, so it must be growing!"
-
1. Re:It's here: the Gentoo Zealot Translator! by Anonymous Coward · 2004-03-01 05:00 · Score: 1, Funny
  
  I've got a great life! Dating supermodels, driving fast cars...
  
  Oh wait, I'm sitting here eating crisps and writing a WAP/IRC gateway...
  
  Oh dear.
2. Re:It's here: the Gentoo Zealot Translator! by Anonymous Coward · 2004-03-01 05:25 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  What version of GCC are you using? Mine doesn't understand the -fomit-instructions flag and I would like to try it. Is it some kind of an experimental fork? I say it's high time someone took positive action to cut down on the bloat of modern-day software. I'm sure my computer is running millions of useless instructions right now and it's really bugging me that there has been nothing that I can do about it so PLEASE tell me where you got that -fomit-instruction support, okay?
3. Re:It's here: the Gentoo Zealot Translator! by supun · 2004-03-01 05:26 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  emerge -C "Anonymous Coward"
  
  --
  :w!
4. Re:It's here: the Gentoo Zealot Translator! by Sloppy · 2004-03-01 05:46 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Although I can't use the box at the moment because it's compiling something...
  I guess one of the reasons that Gentoo has appealed to me, as a former Amiga user, is that a long time ago, I became accustomed to the idea that my personal computer can do more than one thing at a time. In my case, I installed X, so I'm able to have multiple aterm windows open at once!
  I realize that some Linux users came from the MS-DOS background, so they do not run X or screen, and they have modified their kernel to disable virtual consoles. They're from the camp that thinks that whenever you type a command, you should wait for it to finish before you use your computer for anything else. I can understand why they would find Gentoo to be frustrating, and I would not recommend Gentoo to them. I think they would be happier with FreeDOS.
  
  --
  As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
5. Re:It's here: the Gentoo Zealot Translator! by jd · 2004-03-01 06:10 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Hmmm... Actually, this shouldn't be too difficult to write. All you need to do is tell the assembler to drop instructions at random, padding with NOOPs so that the jumps still worked.
  
  --
  It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Yea! by stateofmind · 2004-03-01 04:51 · Score: 3, Funny

My P-III 450 and I will let you know what we think of it in about a week.

Josh
But.. by stateofmind · 2004-03-01 04:55 · Score: 3, Funny

But I'm still compiling the last version!
Re:Easy upgrade by HuggybearVT · 2004-03-01 04:57 · Score: 2, Funny

True re: binary packages. If GEntoo offered a --binary option, it would be perfect. I meant "supposed to work" in that packages are available almost immediately after release. Debian is synonymous with slow. As in "Your Camry is sooo D3b1an. My Civic is l33t."
Re:Ultra-Sparc, not SunSparc. by ultrabot · 2004-03-01 05:00 · Score: 4, Funny

I'm going to try it on one of the Ultra5's I have sitting around and see how it goes.

Considering the blazing performance of SPARC chips, it might have completed the compilation process by the time Sarge is released. So you might as well wait for sarge.

--
Save your wrists today - switch to Dvorak
oh joy by towaz · 2004-03-01 05:03 · Score: 2, Funny

And i just finished boot straping and emerging an hour ago.

all well a few more hours wont hurt :)

---

--
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - Voltaire
time to have fun! by pair-a-noyd · 2004-03-01 05:07 · Score: 5, Funny

I've got about 50 Compaq Deskpro 4000's that are begging for something to do.

Why not? Support your local electric company I say!
Re:How to upgrade by LnxAddct · 2004-03-01 05:09 · Score: 4, Funny

Isn't there some automatic way to do it?

yes, this new innovation called cron ;)
-Steve
Re:Gentoo has it's place by Anonymous Coward · 2004-03-01 05:16 · Score: 1, Funny

yes, "not as easy" is surly part of the Linux spirit.
Re:Gentoo never ceases to amaze.. by amembleton · 2004-03-01 05:17 · Score: 4, Funny

Portage 2.1 to adopt RPM format for LSB compliance

It's a shame they had to put a disclaimer on it.
I'll save myself some time by Apreche · 2004-03-01 05:31 · Score: 1, Funny

/* Insert Insane rant about how gentoo is the greatest thing since sliced bread here */

--
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
Re:Wow. by Anonymous Coward · 2004-03-01 05:35 · Score: 2, Funny

So you don't deny the fact that you are a poseur?

Not at all. I only pretend to maintain the 140 or so Gentoo machines in my department. My users are so in awe of my l33t status that they feel unworthy to ask me to do anything.
Re:Oh no, by Drantin · 2004-03-01 05:44 · Score: 2, Funny

on a side note, 'emerge -lskfa file' only returns:
$ sudo emerge -lskfa file
>>> --changelog implies --pretend... adding --pretend to options.
>>> --pretend disables --ask... removing --ask from options.
Searching...
[ Results for search key : file ]
[ Applications found : 46 ]

* app-admin/pam_dotfile
Latest version available: 0.7
Latest version installed: [ Not Installed ]
Size of downloaded files: 223 kB
Homepage: http://www.stud.uni-hamburg.de/users/lennart/proje cts/pam_dotfile/
Description: pam module to allow password-storing in $HOME/dotfiles
License: GPL-2

...plus lots more results, 45 to be exact...

--
Actio personalis moritur cum persona. (Dead men don't sue)
Re:Live CDs by Chainsaw · 2004-03-01 05:59 · Score: 4, Funny

Oh boy, a Gentoo Live-CD... So you just have to boot it, wait for glibc+KDE to compile and THEN you can use it?

--
War is one of the most horrible things a human can be exposed to. And one of the worlds largest industries.
Re:2004.0? by SoTuA · 2004-03-01 06:50 · Score: 3, Funny

If your operating system has a year on its name, it's obsolete! :D
I wonder... by Zyblor · 2004-03-01 07:02 · Score: 3, Funny

I've been wondering... How much electric power has been used over the years in compiling Gentoo?
1. Re:I wonder... by djeca · 2004-03-01 09:10 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  OK, here's a quick calculation.
  
  $ genlop -t -s ".*" | grep total
  merged totally 2191 ebuilds in 9 days, 14 hours, 52 minutes, and 40 seconds.
  $ head -n 1 /var/log/emerge.log
  1059351074: Started emerge on: Jul 28, 2003 00:11:14
  
  10 days in 7 months - that's 5% of available machine time spent compiling.
  
  Assume the power used is 250W when compiling, 50W idling: 5% of (250W-50W) is 10W: that's a maximum of 20% extra power for a Gentoo machine over a Slackware box.
  
  Some power will be saved by optimisations, but I doubt it'll be much.
  
  counter.li.org estimates 18m Linux users. Say 1m Gentoo users have run Gentoo an average of 2 years. As is well known, one year is \pi*10^7seconds.
  1 machine/user * 1*10^6 users * 2 years * 3.14*10^7 seconds/year * 10W/machine / 3.6*10^6kWh/W/s
  equals 2*10^7 kWh, or 20,000MWh
  
  In comparison, Sizewell (a medium-sized nuclear power station near London) produces 1188 MW, or 30,000 MWh/day.
Re:Tanooki Mario? by B3ryllium · 2004-03-01 07:31 · Score: 3, Funny

Well duh. :P

I just thought it would be funny to make a Linux distro that turns into a solid rock statue when you look at it the wrong way.
Re:Mods - Get a sense of humor! by beekr · 2004-03-01 08:48 · Score: 5, Funny

Good post, I modded you +1, Informative. Oh, wait...
Version number inflation by vegetasaiyajin · 2004-03-01 16:23 · Score: 2, Funny

They went from, IIRC, 1.4 to 2004.0. Now that's version number inflation ;)

--

My heart is pure, but make no mistake, it's pure evil