Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Gentoo Announces OpenSolaris Port

Posted by Hemos on from the what-will-happen-here dept.

A reader writes:"According to this week's Gentoo Weekly Newsletter, Gentoo is planning a port to Sun's partially-announced OpenSolaris. Something interesting to look out for, or just more hype from a developer often criticized even by Gentoo people for not looking before he leaps?"

9 of 209 comments (clear)

  1. Why back Sun? Why back Solaris? by UnderScan · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I use Gentoo. I have even donated money toward Gentoo? Why should I be interested in Sun/Solaris? Is Sun's execs still slamming Linux in their blogs? Is today "We sell Linux." or is today "Linux is no good, Solaris is better."

    1. Re:Why back Sun? Why back Solaris? by PornMaster · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Gentoo's not the kind of thing you run on production servers, Solaris is. They're not really in the same "space", as the marketdroids would say.

      If you're asking, "Why would I switch from Gentoo to Solaris?" then you probably wouldn't benefit.

      (and for the record, I don't see portage as being a large benefit to Solaris over pkgadd for the typical server, either)

      --
      500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo
    2. Re:Why back Sun? Why back Solaris? by I+confirm+I'm+not+a · · Score: 4, Interesting

      (and for the record, I don't see portage as being a large benefit to Solaris over pkgadd for the typical server, either)

      I prefer pkg-get, which seemed to be quite like Gentoo's "emerge". I last deployed a Solaris box before I first installed Gentoo, so I can't recall how similar they are. Does pkg-get resolve dependencies? Reason I ask is, I'm gradually falling in love with "emerge" - it's a superb tool.

      Then again, I had no end of trouble convincing the owners of the last Solaris box I touched that I should be allowed to install various GNU tools, so I don't know how much of an advantage Portaris will really bring - unless it becomes accepted as "part" of Solaris.

      --
      This is where the serious fun begins.
    3. Re:Why back Sun? Why back Solaris? by tomstdenis · · Score: 3, Interesting

      " Gentoo's not the kind of thing you run on production servers, Solaris is."

      Why not? Or is this yet another empty "marketting-statement?"

      Tom

      --
      Someday, I'll have a real sig.
    4. Re:Why back Sun? Why back Solaris? by noblesse+oblige · · Score: 5, Interesting
      Gentoo's not the kind of thing you run on production servers, Solaris is.

      You knew such a statement would be countered with real life people. Allow me to be the first (if I post this fast enough).

      Our company runs Gentoo on our domain controllers, which handle everything from Directory Services to Email. For a while our file servers ran Gentoo kernels, until Marcello added XFS and a few other items to the main 2.4 kernel.

      In that example you have a very crafted and complex server, running some of the latest features Open Source has materialized. I go to a promotional lunch at a Sun vendor occasionaly, and the fellow moochers are constantly amazed at not only what services we provide, but the volume we provide them at.

      If that is not enough big iron experience with Solaris, I happen to know that Sony's online game division does not run Solaris -- they run RedHat. Even compared to deep-pocket heavy hardware, they get better Oracle performance on Linux with Dell servers.

      While there are many things I like about Solaris, (I still administer our legacy Solaris *workstations*) I have to say that the "Solaris is for production" mantra is not something this decade will say very much at all. Though I admit pkg-add is good, it is only as good as a binary package manager can be.

      --
      Some will always be above others. Destroy the equality today, and it will appear again tomorrow. --Ralph Waldo Emerson
    5. Re:Why back Sun? Why back Solaris? by tomstdenis · · Score: 2, Interesting

      ...setup....your....own...mirrors....

      e.g. you have a dozen "Comp-u-matic 1000s" in your server room. You take one and build binary packages on it, even optimized and USE flaged for your environment.

      then you...get this... this part is the kicker

      MAKE THE OTHER BOXES USE IT AS A PACKAGE SOURCE.

      Tom

      --
      Someday, I'll have a real sig.
  2. No problem with a little competition. by barryman_5000 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Isn't it all about being free and open anyhow? Solaris will be a great addition and we can try out yet another *nix. Some people cry that solaris is nothing good at all but I'd say its a step up from freebsd on the server side of things. It was the "best" commericial unix anyhow. Idea swapping will be the best thing about the 2 platforms. If only we did the same with bsd's.

  3. FreeBSD port?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    When will someone port Gentoo's portage to FreeBSD?

  4. Overambitious developer? by pvdabeel · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I wrote a response to this article in my blog