Doubts, what does make gentoo gentoo?

tscolari

I got here a generic question about linux...
I use linux for a good time, but i aways got this question in my head...
like, what makes a distribution of linux that distribution?

For example gentoo, whats the diferente from gentoo to another linux?
I know that we have the portage etc... but what defines a distro?
its kernel? its packages?

I dont know if you understood what im trying to say, but its a question i carry for a while hehe

sapphirecat · Guru Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 376

Well, off the top of my head, here are some major ones:

Init scripts -- The init system can vary, such as RedHat's SysV stuff, Slackware's much more BSD-style system, or even something radical like Gentoo with softlevels.
Filesystem layout -- How well (or not) something conforms to the filesystem hierarchy standard, and whether they do weird stuff like adding OS X-style directories of symlinks (e.g. so /Libraries appears to contain all libraries independent of their real place on the system; I believe GoboLinux does this but I'm not certain).
Package manager -- RPM, apt, yum, portage, or tarballs...
The box it comes in

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madmango · Guru Joined: 15 Jul 2003 Posts: 507 Location: PA, USA

kernel-specific patchsets e.g., gentoo-sources

custom packages e.g., ... i can't think of any off the top of my head.

support.
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tscolari · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2004 11:48 pm Post subject:

hmm
if i use other kernel in my gentoo it will teoricly stop to beeing a genuine gentoo?
or if i load a gentoo kernel in other linux, it will became a little of gentoo too?

tomk · Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2004 12:30 am Post subject:

Moved from Other Things Gentoo.

You may want to try these links:

Why should I use Gentoo instead of ____?
About Gentoo Linux
Gentoo Philosophy
Gentoo Social Contract
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ShadyCharacter · n00b Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 33

Portage. All day. Thanks to Portage, Gentoo is more of a meta-distribution than you can use for anything.

tscolari · Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2004 1:02 am Post subject:

placeholder · Advocate Joined: 07 Feb 2004 Posts: 2500

It has to do with the philosophy (to be open, or not to be) and the way that it runs along with what level the user participates. With Gentoo, the user controls virually every aspect of the system whereas in Mandrake and other distros the creators of that distro do. So UI, file system, user interaction, and the package manager define a distro, to sum it up. Of course, the community surrounding it does as well. :wink:

thrasher6670 · Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2004 3:39 am Post subject:

USE Flags
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Ari Rahikkala · Guru Joined: 02 Oct 2002 Posts: 370 Location: Finland

I never thought it would be hard to define a distro. I mean, a distro is a discrete entity with its own developers, users and user community, generally a website. etc.. Of course most of the actual code is shared between distros, but remember, the genetic difference between humans and chimps is under 2%, it's just that small changes in the code can affect a lot of things.
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Unne · l33t Joined: 21 Jul 2003 Posts: 616

Some distros "customize" certain programs. Redhat always used to mess with Gnome and KDE for example, in terms of changing the way the UI looks, and even making some fundamental changes to how they work. Gentoo messes a bit with apache, renames some files and whatnot.

Some distros come with certain programs standard and some with others. Gentoo doesn't install vim as part of the base install for example. If you spend a few minutes to install whatever programs you want, that's not a big deal, but I think some people stick in the install CD and never touch a thing again, even in Linux. So if a distro gives you Gnome by default and no KDE, that can be a difference. Choice of WM/DE is really one specific thing that differs; I think some distros throw their weight behind Gnome and some behind KDE, and maybe some behind both, or another, or none at all.

The install method itself differs between distros. GUI install? CLI? Network install or do you need a CD (or 2, or 5)? Pick your own packages or pick between "Workstation" and "Server" and get a big group of defaults? How easy is upgrading between versions of the distro? Not an issue for Gentoo, but it used to be a huge, disgusting hassle and hardly ever worked properly when I used to use RedHat or Mandrake a few years back.

There are also the config tools. Some distros give you GUI config tools, some like Gentoo have CLI ones, some I imagine give you both. Some distros spend a great deal of time having a thorough, complex and complete set of GUI tools to configure everything in the system, for better or for worse.

Some distros are faster at adding new packages. When a new version of something is released by its respective developers, I think Gentoo is pretty darn fast at getting it added to portage, whereas other distros are more interested in erring on the side of stability, rather than taking a chance on KDE_pre_pre_alpha_4.000001-rc0.1beta1.

Compiled vs. binary is another difference that a lot of people would say is significant. Do you have to compile your own packages? Or do you download precompiled ones? Or can you do a combination of the two? (i.e. portage)

Of course there's price. Some distros cost money. Some only support you if you pay. Some are geared towards business users, and some towards home users, and the price (and philosophy) varies accordingly.

That's about all I can think of. There are a lot of differences, when you really look at the details, but I think the end product of most distros is mostly the same. It's how you get to that end product and how easy it is to stay there that differs.