The Success of Gentoo [LWN.net]

The Success of Gentoo

Posted Nov 20, 2003 22:34 UTC (Thu) by ordonnateur (guest, #6652)
Parent article: The Success of Gentoo

I have been using Linux since '97 and Gentoo since the spring of '01; it is by far the easiest
distribution to install: the documentation is exemplary in its clarity and any problems can
usually be solved by searching the ever helpful forums.
But I sometime wonder where it is going as a distribution. I chose it because it was, and so
far remains ideal for my purposes: I only need the minimum of Xwindow functions to
manage a small network, my servers are minimalist LAMPs. But every update of the portage
tree does bring an ever greater variety of packages I really do not need, and the install CD
and instructions have grown alarmingly. It seems much of the original simplicity (LFS
without the effort) has been obscured. 'Creeping Featurism' is the phrase that comes to
mind.

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The Success of Gentoo

Posted Dec 2, 2003 17:18 UTC (Tue) by bc90021 (guest, #17401) [Link]

Ah, but the beauty of Gentoo is that while your portage tree may have grown, that doesn't mean that you have to take advantage of it.

It's like buying a car... it used to be that you could buy a car with no AC, no radio, and no power-anything. Nowadays, those things are just standard. Why? Because they're so popular, and don't detract in any way. If you want extras (navigation, DVD, etc.) those are available too. The concept is choice, and having a "bigger minimum" doesn't detract from that at all.

Gentoo is that car, only today you can still get it without AC. (Try getting that from Ford or Chevy!) If you want minimal, install minimal, and run with it. If you prefer otherwise, that's your choice too. Your portage tree being bigger only means that "emerge sync" is going to take a tiny bit longer, but there may come a time when you want some obscure piece of software, and that larger portage tree might not seem so bad... ;)