this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2025
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I like gentoo :D (lemmy.ml)
submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by Sivecano@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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based on https://gitweb.gentoo.org/proj/blender

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[–] TootSweet@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Me too!

I used Gentoo almost exlusively from like 2003 to maybe 2012 or 2013. I switched to Arch about then. But quite recently I made the switch back to Gentoo on my primary box and I'm happy I did.

Only thing I still need to do to really make it long-term sustainable for my particular use is to set up a build server on my network. My "primary box" is in the room where I sleep and I need it dark and quiet when I'm sleeping. Can't have MOBO color-shifting LEDs and fan sounds overnight. And I can't compile something like Chromium in less than the 15-to-16-ish hours I'm awake in a given day. (And I'd prefer to compile it myself rather than using a binary package.) Hence the need for a build server.

[–] Cyber@feddit.uk 2 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Interested in why you went back to Gentoo after Arch.

I use Arch (btw) and tried Gentoo back in the day, but it's always in the back of my mind that compiling source could be "better"...?

[–] Sivecano@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 weeks ago

gentoo is less about compiling from source (I mean it can be about that too) and more about having a lot of choice and really nice tooling. it's in some ways a bunch more stable and declarative than arch. packaging your own stuff is even easier and you can just have most packages be stable while only running unstable version of the packages you explicitly care about :)

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[–] banazir@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 weeks ago

Gentoo is great. I used it for a few years 20 years ago and I still think the package manager is the best I've ever used. I wouldn't use Gentoo today, but I'm really glad I went through the install and maintenance process. It didn't make me a guru, but I did learn a thing or two about Linux.

[–] tuckerm@feddit.online 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I have a soft spot for Gentoo, even though I haven't used it in years. It was one of my first experiences with Linux, since it was installed in one of the computer labs in college. I just remember that the windows had this physics jiggle effect when you dragged them around. I was so surprised that Linux had a more "fun" aesthetic than Mac or Windows did.

[–] AndrewZabar@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

The “fun” aspect was what drew me to BeOS when it was near its heyday. What that thing would do in comparison to Winbloze at the time and the user experience in general was astonishingly more pleasant.

I remember their simple web server called Diner I had a website hosted on an older machine running Diner in my lab and it was just always on and when my office got DSL I felt like a king having that site up and accessible from anywhere, knowing it was on a box in my office and running Diner on BeOS.

[–] lnxtx@feddit.nl 7 points 2 weeks ago

Yummy

[–] dethmetaljeff@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I used Gentoo for ages.... it was the only distro I'd consider for my personal projects. Eventually, the amount of time it took to compile packages wore me out and I switched to fedora. Maybe I'm just old but watching gcc fly by for hours on end to compile X11 was neat but is not how I want to spend my Saturday anymore. Maybe I'll build out a VM for old times sake....

[–] omnimanballs69@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

you know now you can install binaries right ???

[–] dethmetaljeff@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

defeats the purpose? Also, like I mentioned, I used it ages ago....binary packages when I was using it weren't very common. I see they "went binary" a few years back... but then, why bother with Gentoo?

[–] porl@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

I'm in the same boat as you. Loved it for what it was on my old Pentium 2 (no internet). Learner a lot and had a blast. Not a daily driver now I have time constraints and binary packages lose what made it special. Happy on Arch for personal stuff and Debian for mission critical stuff.

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[–] 0x0@lemmy.zip 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

USE flags are addictive.

[–] Sivecano@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 weeks ago

they are :)

[–] Someplaceunknown@leminal.space 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

This looks like a lolly of some kind, I want to eat it

[–] Ephera@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It looks like a guitar pick to me. 🙃

[–] Broken@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 weeks ago

Damn, it looked like candy to me too until I read your comment. Now all I see is candy guitar pick.

[–] Reygle@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

Neat

[–] ter_maxima@jlai.lu 4 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

It sounds like a cool distro but I don't see any advantages compared to NixOS, aside from maybe the option to make it more minimal for constrained environments.

[–] Sivecano@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 weeks ago

it's a lot less scuffed in some ways while still giving you a lot of control and a lot of tools for declarative system management. it's also waaay better documented. it's comfy.

[–] kittenroar@beehaw.org 2 points 2 weeks ago

Completely different -- nixos is about repeatability, while Gentoo is about build optimization, customization, and performance.

[–] racketlauncher831@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Why does every one need to compare every distro to NixOS? We get it. It's neat. It's immutable. It's indestructible. But they are fundamentally different stuffs.

[–] ter_maxima@jlai.lu 1 points 1 week ago

You can set it up to compile all your software yourself with the exact options you want, just like Gentoo. Not how most people use it, but still, NixOS can fulfill some of the same roles as Gentoo, they are very comparable.

[–] HexaSnoot@hexbear.net 3 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

What flavor is it?

[–] Transform2942@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 weeks ago

purple

[–] Sivecano@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

you can have it any flavour you want :)

[–] HexaSnoot@hexbear.net 1 points 2 weeks ago

Mmm blueberry

[–] deathmetal27@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I tried to make this logo from scratch in Blender for a wallpaper and kinda couldn't get the shape right because the angle of the actual logo is a bit weird.

https://www.pling.com/p/1788876

Good to know that I can use this official model.

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

Mkay

[–] NotProLemmy@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Y

[–] Sivecano@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

it's fun

[–] NotProLemmy@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Don't you have to build everything from source in gentoo?

[–] MyNameIsRichard@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Nowadays it also has binary packages.

[–] grinka@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

What the point of using Gentoo with Binary packages?

[–] zagaberoo@beehaw.org 2 points 2 weeks ago

Still extremely customizable, and peerless rolling release features.

You can mix and match stable and bleeding edge packages very easily and switch at any time.

When packages make breaking changes, Gentoo will warn you and guide you through the migration before you update and only if you have the affected package installed.

[–] MyNameIsRichard@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 weeks ago

That's for you to decide.

[–] Sivecano@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 weeks ago

you still get huge amounts of choice and really good tooling

[–] sxan@midwest.social 2 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

That would make a huge difference.

I ran Gentoo back in the early aughts; it was hella better than Redhat, but it felt like I was constantly compiling stuff, and new installs and upgrades could sometimes take more than a day. I don't remember what I jumped to after Gentoo, but I've never considered it again because of the lack of prehbuilt binaries. It seemed bitcoinish to have thousands of people wasting CPU cycles compiling the same package when it could be compiled once and redistributed.

Where Gentoo is nice is in the build flags: there's really no way to get around compiling yourself if you want to exclude optional dependencies, and Gentoo had that in spades. I am just not sure how much that's actually used anymore, but having binaries gives you the best of both worlds.

Thanks for posting that; I may have to re-investigate Gentoo.

[–] 0x0@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

but having binaries

For big packages like browsers and office suites, not all packages.
Still a win if you're so inclined. I prefer to compile 100%.

[–] zagaberoo@beehaw.org 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] 0x0@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 weeks ago

🤯
Well... kinda takes the edge off... i'll stick to compiling.

[–] Sivecano@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

tbh, with modern CPUs it can be a lot easier. especially if you're a bit picky about your packages and get a binary package for your browser.

[–] sxan@midwest.social 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I dunno. I have a fair number of packages installed from AUR, and the Rust ones take forever to compile. CPUs may have gotten faster, but some popular languages have gotten much slower to compile.

[–] Sivecano@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Packaging rust is terrible, compiling rust is terrible. How can it be this awful? Why is the rust compiler so terrible?

[–] Sivecano@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 weeks ago

I've become a rust hater because of this

[–] maxwells_daemon@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

new installs and upgrades could sometimes take more than a day

Laughs in Windows...

[–] sxan@midwest.social 1 points 2 weeks ago

The most popular Linux distros are binary based. Gentoo upgrades build all new software from source. If you don't want long install times, don't usr one of these compile-everything-from-source distros.

There's no option to install Windows from source, and it doesn't really come with anything more than the OS, anyway, so it's apples yto oranges. Windows might not even be compilable on consumer hardware.

[–] kittenroar@beehaw.org 1 points 2 weeks ago

I tried it for a bit -- it is similar to freebsd in terms of the package install process.

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