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Gentoo's Bugzilla – Attachment 35629 Details for
Bug 57000
"About Gentoo Linux" Reworded
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"About Gentoo Linux" Draft 2
Intro6.txt (text/plain), 3.16 KB, created by
Ivar Ylvisaker
on 2004-07-17 03:53:46 UTC
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Description:
"About Gentoo Linux" Draft 2
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Creator:
Ivar Ylvisaker
Created:
2004-07-17 03:53:46 UTC
Size:
3.16 KB
patch
obsolete
>Linux can be difficult. You find some great software package on the >web, you download it to your Linux computer, you run it, and it crashes. >There can be lots of reasons but, commonly, the problem is something >called "dependency hell." Linux applications depend on one another; >they rely on shared libraries, for example. If all this software was not >compiled with the same Linux kernel and the same compiler, you can get >"hell." Linux distributions like Susie and Debian work to get around >this problem but there is a price. Part of the price is that the newest >software can be old by the time that they get everything working >together and deliver the solution to you. Another price is that the >solutions are designed for the average user and, hence, will not be >optimized and customized for your needs. > >There is solution: download source code and compile everything on the >user's computer. This is the Gentoo approach. Gentoo is software and >people and a worldwide array of servers organized to make this easy. >The core of the Gentoo software is called Portage. > >Suppose you have a Gentoo-enabled computer and you want to add a >software package, a "mysql" database, for example. You connect to the >Internet and type in the command "emerge mysql". The Gentoo software >on your computer then connects to one of the Gentoo servers on the >Internet, downloads the necessary software, compiles it to conform to >your specifications for your system, and installs it in appropriate >directories. In most cases, the process is completely automatic after >the initial command. > >To make this work, your local computer has to know what software >packages are available on the servers. In the Gentoo system, this >information is called the "Portage Tree," so-called because similar >packages are grouped together into a tree of directories. The software >packages on the servers are updated frequently; hence, you must be able >to update your Portage Tree. The Gentoo "emerge sync" command does >this. > >If the Gentoo approach is to be practical, there must a wide array of >software packages available from the Gentoo servers. There is. At this >writing, there are about 7000 packages in the Portage system with new >ones being added all the time. Packages include Linux kernels, the >usual libraries, window managers like KDE, office software, web >browsers, compilers, games, audio and video players, and, of course, >updated versions of the Portage software. Several different versions >of Linux kernels are available: some optimized for stability, some for >security, some for speed (e.g., for games), and some for advanced >(i.e., bleeding-edge) features. With Gentoo, you get lots of choices. > >To be honest, the Gentoo approach has some disadvantages. Compiling >software on the user's computer takes time, especially on old and slow >computers. Storing source code takes disk space. And, source code >takes longer to download than compiled binary code. The issue for each >individual is whether the advantages of Gentoo outweigh the >disadvantages. > >You can learn more about Gentoo by exploring this web site >(www.gentoo.org). > >Incidentally, a gentoo is a kind of penguin. But the Gentoo mascot >isn't a penguin; it's a cow. >
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