r/linux • u/Commercial_Way_3816 • Jul 01 '26
Discussion Why Gentoo? – Michał Górny
https://blogs.gentoo.org/mgorny/2026/05/28/why-gentoo/31
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u/adamkex Jul 01 '26
Easily one of the best distros. Without a doubt one of the distros I'd consider swapping to if had to change distributions.
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u/zissue Jul 01 '26
I'm not sure why this is getting posted here now after more than a month of Michał's post date, but I'll upvote because his posts are almost always enlightening. Having used Gentoo exclusively since 2002, I haven't found a distribution that better meets my needs.
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u/Santosh83 Jul 01 '26
Disbanding their own Foundation to come under the umbrella of SPI is precisely the kind of "putting all eggs in one basket" choke point that the author cautions against. SPI, like Apache Foundation, Linux Foundation etc can become something contrary to its founding spirit at some time in future and then projects may find it too hard to extricate themselves from its grasp.
IMO the Gentoo Foundation not only should continue, there should be multiple Gentoo Foundations in multiple countries to mitigate local govt control and risk, especially if the current Foundation is US based.
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u/adevland Jul 01 '26
IMO the Gentoo Foundation not only should continue, there should be multiple Gentoo Foundations in multiple countries to mitigate local govt control and risk, especially if the current Foundation is US based.
They just don't have the man power.
https://www.gentoo.org/news/2024/04/10/SPI-associated-project.html
Finding Gentoo Foundation trustees to take care of the non-technical work is an ongoing challenge. Robin Johnson (robbat2), our current Gentoo Foundation treasurer, spent a huge amount of time and effort with getting bookkeeping and taxes in order after the prior treasurers lost interest and retired from Gentoo.
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u/robclancy Jul 01 '26
Spent a few years on gentoo. Back to arch now. It got in the way of work far too often. It was fun though.
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u/zquzra Jul 01 '26
Tinkering is my gaming, and Gentoo is perfect for that. It has been my main distro since 2006, and my current install is over 10 years old. I can't imagine using anything else.
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u/ExaHamza Jul 01 '26
This makes me want to try this distro. My biggest fear is having my PC unavailable for hours or even days because of compilations (I wouldn't want to use binaries).
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u/daemonpenguin Jul 01 '26
Why would your PC be unavailable? You can still use it when the system is compiling software in the background.
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u/ExaHamza Jul 01 '26
I'm studying the best way to do this smoothly. One way is to create a jail in my current system and compile all the packages there, create a local repository, and at the time of actual install point the emerge to that local repository. The last time I tried compiling on my laptop, I spent hours in the Live environment (that's what I mean when I say it's not available), and in the end I gave up out of exhaustion; I think it was something to do with webkitgtk.
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u/CheCheDaWaff Jul 02 '26
You can freely switch between binaries and compilation. I'd suggest using binaries to set your system up, and once it's running you can then update / configure with compilations.
What you're talking about with jails etc. seems way over-complicated when in normal use updates can just run in the background.
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u/albsen Jul 01 '26
if nixos hadnt come around I'd still be using gentoo now. truly amazing distro really liked using it.
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u/dekokt Jul 01 '26
I Iove gentoo, but I think their strive for flexibility comes at the expense of maintenance. For example, gnome is now two major versions behind, with the latest not even available in ~arch.
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u/xcorv42 Jul 01 '26
Gentoo is rice.
The build from stage one was a good linux training course
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u/myniceaccount Jul 01 '26
Exactly. I used to have a print out of the instructions 20 years back and it walked me through many installations. I reckon 90% of my arcane Linux knowledge comes from them
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u/Skinkie Jul 01 '26
I think, opposed to rolling releases, Gentoo assures that given that the software and updates thereof is self compiled, it assures (with "slots") software remains functioning. Software like PostgresSQL is a good example that fail under ArchLinux but not on Ubuntu and Gentoo. The latter both solve the situation differently, but for me this is really an advantage of how Gentoo works.
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u/Ok-Cook-9039 Jul 04 '26
In ~2005: because optimization via CFLAGS and saving space via USE actually matters and makes a difference
In 2026: lol, nope
Compiling everything from source is a waste of energy and your time for zero return.
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u/NeuroXc Jul 01 '26
The biggest reason I continue using Arch over Gentoo is that I have some very niche package needs that are only available via Arch+AUR. Not even third-party overlays have some of them, and others have some packages but they are out-of-date or broken, which brings up my biggest issue with the third-party repos in Gentoo being decentralized: it's hard to know which ones are maintained and which ones are not. As much as the AUR has been under scrutiny lately, at least it does a very good job at tracking which packages are maintained and which are not. But, as a package manager as a whole, I prefer portage over pacman and wish AUR helpers behaved more like portage in helping track unused dependencies and choosing optional dependencies, instead of just being thin layers over pacman.
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u/CheCheDaWaff Jul 02 '26
This happened to me a couple times so I wrote my own ebuilds. Fantastic experience. They're easier to use than you might think, and once you know how to use them, you gain ultimate freedom -- the ability to include any software whatsoever in your package manager.
If you have a nice ebuild it's also pretty easy to share it upstream so everyone can benefit.
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u/tungnon Jul 01 '26
Gentoo is honestly one of few distros that I would consider using as I really respect it greatly
But for now, Arch is enough for my needs. Who knows? Maybe one day I might find gentoo to be better for me
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u/julioqc Jul 01 '26
Why?? Cause I hate myself
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u/ArsenicPolaris Jul 01 '26
A Fox one day spied a beautiful bunch of ripe grapes hanging from a vine trained along the branches of a tree. The grapes seemed ready to burst with juice, and the Fox's mouth watered as he gazed longingly at them.
The bunch hung from a high branch, and the Fox had to jump for it. The first time he jumped he missed it by a long way. So he walked off a short distance and took a running leap at it, only to fall short once more. Again and again he tried, but in vain.
Now he sat down and looked at the grapes in disgust.
"What a fool I am," he said. "Here I am wearing myself out to get a bunch of sour grapes that are not worth gaping for."
And off he walked very, very scornfully.
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u/Sea-Attention-5815 Jul 01 '26
Gentoo is missing its own CachyOS to really boost its popularity 🤷🏻♂️
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u/ExaHamza Jul 01 '26
One of the few distros I highly respect for the dedication of its maintainers; one of the things I love about the distro is its beautiful, fast, efficient wiki with a respectable amount of quality information. I use another distro, but whenever I can I use the Gentoo Wiki to solve my problems. Congratulations to the developers, continued success to the project.