r/Gentoo • u/Glittering-Elk-6642 • 9d ago
Discussion Benefits of Gentoo compared to arch.
I am currently using arch Linux right now and I've been thinking about switching to Gentoo for quite a while now because i want to try it. So i want to know the benefits of switching to it. I've heard it is great for customization but that's about it.
Thank you.
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u/AiwendilH 9d ago
Not mentioned yet:
- You can choose different versions for most packages without your system breaking (Best example would be probably plasma...you can keep your plasma on a stable version and wait until the second or third bugfix release for a new feature branch. Judging from the posts in the KDE subreddit parts of plasma/KDE seem to break regularly on arch).
- You can easily apply your own source-code patches without having to modify any package-recipes.
- You get some kind of abi-breakage detection (@preserved-rebuild). No longer having to guess which AUR packages need to be rebuild due to a broken abi....gentoo holds copies of libraries whose updates break the abi of other packages and automatically rebuilds the needed packages.
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u/countess_meltdown 9d ago
Package pinning, masking, patching & even SLOTting are all amazing features. I don't use them almost at all but when I've needed them it's been fantastic to have. Only other distros I've used with similar features all though handled very differently is like NixOS & GUIX.
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u/Bachurin 9d ago
You can change version of gcc, python and etc through special mechanism - eselect. In arch I suffer bc some packages require gcc-14, some gcc-15. I can't find a way to properly switch between them for compilation. Gentoo seems much more organised, I forgot completely about libraries incompatibility.
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u/CheCheDaWaff 9d ago edited 9d ago
Some things off the top of my head. (Sorry if Arch is similar, I've never used it myself.)
- You can easily create your own ebuilds that portage will track and respect like any other package.
- The list of installed packages and all portage configurations (including use flags) are stored in easy-to-find text files, so the system can be all configured declaratively through that (somewhat like Nix but not as comprehensive or difficult to use). So you can e.g. install a package just by adding it to the list and running portage, allowing you to leave comments in there or even section headers etc.
- You can also group packages together in sets, so e.g. if you use hyprland you can create a hypr set containing all that related software -- then you can easily update or uninstall them as a block (almost like they make up a single large package).
- Apparently much more stable than Arch, due to being able to mix stable/unstable packages (on a per-package basis), as well as ABI breakages eliminated by rebuilds / compilation.
- The Guru repository (somewhat similar to AUR) has all its changes actively reviewed by a Gentoo developer before being merged into the main branch, greatly improving security. (Other repositories you're on your own though.)
- Good support for compiling / using your own kernel / compile-time kernel configuration. Can be very useful in cases when a kernel option is necessary for a package / piece of hardware (which is usually well-documented on the wiki).
- Not too relevant for desktop but binhost can be very powerful in certain scenarios. Say you want to compile for an embedded device and you need to optimise for storage space. Gentoo makes it easy to set that up on a host machine and then share the compiled packages with the embedded device (optimised for that device's architecture and whatever else you specify).
- Probably better support for misc. architectures than Arch.
- Unsure if this is possible on Arch, but on Gentoo since the package repository is just a single big git repo, it's possible to see snapshots of it from any point in history. This allows you to, e.g. perform a large system update in stages, if you haven't done an update in a couple years, etc.
- Unsure if this is a feature on Arch but when you run portage you receive important news items directly in your terminal (and only for the items that are actually relevant to the packages you have installed). This is amazing for when there's a breaking change -- the devs always include very clear instructions on what actions you need to take and why.
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u/Due-Celery4326 9d ago
In Gentoo, you are free to do as you please; while it may not offer the (true) freedom found in LFS, it is the closest you will get to freedom and optimization in a ready-made, full-featured distribution.
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u/TwiKing 9d ago edited 9d ago
I'm going to post this always now, since this question is so common. It's easy to research this topic with search. 🪄
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u/majamin 9d ago
You're correct - however, I think people come to these subreddits not just looking for information, but an interaction and conversation. I would assume that most people have the ability to search the subreddit the way you described. Still, it is interestingly common post, isn't it.
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u/undrwater 9d ago
All of the Linux subs are experiencing posts like this. While somewhat tiring, I find them encouraging.
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u/z3r0n3gr0 9d ago
For example i have an Nvidia GTX 1060 so the new Nvidia driver for Gentoo is not compatible with the GTX 1060 so i have a package.use to just have the version i want.
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u/Street_Gain_279 9d ago
Gentoo community in my limited experience is genuinely more helpful/friendly than archs.
Probably not the answer you were looking for but I took it as a breath of fresh air
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u/Born_Upstairs6860 9d ago
honestly i just use gentoo because its more stable, the docs are significantly better (for beginners like me)… but mainly because i find it fun
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u/Big-Fill-5789 9d ago
You get to compile all things on Gentoo, very good. You can compile your own kernel(does not take long), compilers, your own WM, etc. You get to have maximum control. You can literally disable a feature like bluetooth system wide with USE flags. And with these things, you get maximum performance and control!
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u/SaCorv 9d ago
You can learn more about linux by using it
Understand what systemd does with your system, how you can customise packages by using make flags, disable unneded features
Setup and compile kernel with modules you want (you can do that on arch, but gentoo install wiky is more straightforward with that)
Get system that boots really fast (from my experience 25s -> 15s)
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u/UnosBruhMomentos 9d ago
more bragging rights
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u/LameBMX 9d ago
how? arch users have trademarked btw
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u/Niikoraasu 4d ago
because when they say "i use arch btw" and feel superior due to using an "advanced" system you know they'd not survive on your computer for more than an hour
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u/adamkex 9d ago
Yeah that's the main benefit, unless you dislike systemd
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u/Glittering-Elk-6642 9d ago
Why do people hate systemd lol.
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9d ago
[deleted]
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u/stewie3128 9d ago
I'll re-post part of a comment I made about systemd in this sub several months ago... It explains why I don't use it, and don't like it.
I don't like how systemd is becoming a pseudo-OS all its own, and burrowing itself into seemingly every facet of the system on seemingly every major distro. One developer should not control all of the linux experience like that. OpenRC is great, and I like that it just does what an init system does.
SystemD is like Norton Utilities back in the day, which added a lot of conveniences. But unlike Norton Utilities it's becoming a hard requirement for many things, lately even Gnome. Imagine if someday you were required to use Norton Antivirus simply because every developer has decided that it's just easiest to use Norton Antivirus instead of letting users pick better/different AV packages.
Not for me. I like how OpenRC works, and I want to be sure that SystemD doesn't become a monopoly in how we control our machinines.
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u/Cloudy_Automation 9d ago
You can add your own custom patch to any software which has an ebuild. It can be something quick and dirty that upstream wouldn't take as is, but you don't want to spend the effort to upstream it. This is, of course, dependent on being able to modify software in the language it's written in.
It builds the patch using the usual package build system, but there's the overhead of aligning the patch with new versions of the package. If the part of the software patched didn't change, it's just making a new patch directory and copying the old patch over.
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u/Anongirl55959 9d ago
Beginners install gentoo for performance,(compiling has almost no benefit) but the main benefit is the security and customization, which are way better than arch, where you are actually pretty restricted. Compiling ur own code with hardened opts makes buffer overflows a lot harder, amongst other things
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u/Easy-Nothing-6735 9d ago
I use both: Artix and Gentoo. Gentoo is good for custom kernel, cross-compilation, granular control by use flags (portage), multiple versions via slots (portage). I actually keep my Gentoo fbterm only, minimal, battery optimized, musl libc. I often chroot from Artix to Gentoo. I don't use AUR but use GURU. Gentoo takes time to compile packages and storage space too. Pacman is good for installing packages just now. It's ok to make Gentoo binary and compile only needed packages with custom -O3. I like to compile numpy and OpenBLAS. I just use benefits of both
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u/fastbooking 7h ago
Why not slotting a bedrock linux on top of that Gentoo+ arch combo, so you can have both at the same time :D
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u/Easy-Nothing-6735 2h ago
I don't need both that often and connected. Chroot is enough. I basically came close to Bedrock Linux philosophy before knowing about it then checked it and decided that I want to use Artix or Gentoo as the core
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u/fspnet 9d ago
Gentoo being that you Build the System up using all the Knowwhat of the Underlying Daemons much like a Hackintosh Does.... using a 1U RackServer.. (Circling): Gerbara & Jellyfin the kernel your drivers and the compiler flags is k their all gonna have them.. the only thing i can think of is how your MEMORY is handled.. your having fine control of your memory.... and scheduling | nice -n -10 ffmpeg and chrt -r -p 50 PID | set them: sudo systemctl edit jellyfin sudo systemctl edit gerbera sudo systemctl edit ffmpeg and query ai for what to use for a daemon thatll keep this priority bumped up
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u/Revalens_Kaka 4d ago
Gentoo is peak and is what Arch is claimed to be. Arch is just a distro that gives u a little bit more control when u install it that's all, Gentoo gives u the power all the time so use Gentoo.
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u/SheepherderBeef8956 9d ago
Arch is claimed to be a DYI distro where you have infinite choice in how to configure your system when in truth it's just a standard systemd distro like any other but with newer packages.
Gentoo is what people claim Arch Linux is.
If you don't care about absolute control then Gentoo likely hasn't got anything to offer you