Is Gentoo a distro?

Frodg · l33t Joined: 11 Feb 2004 Posts: 761

So we need another word or phrase to replace "Distro"

Gentoo Linux Tools
RedHat Linux Tools
Mandrake Linux Tools

OR

Gentoo compliant Linux
Redhat Compliant Linux
Mandrake Compliant............

But if a distro is just a distribution of packages of linux based around a few tweaks for different flavours I am still confused.

/me leaving the thread with multiple personalities in order

HMMMMM :
Gentoo personality
Redhat personality
Mandrake personality

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gentoo_lan · Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 9:29 pm Post subject:

cokey · Advocate Joined: 23 Apr 2004 Posts: 3355

cokey · Advocate Joined: 23 Apr 2004 Posts: 3355

also the ones that come with GNOME or KDE could be called "complete" but we gentoo users prefer to do things differently see this

That is the beauty of Gentoo
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gentoo_lan · Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 6:36 am Post subject:

cokey · Advocate Joined: 23 Apr 2004 Posts: 3355

as for the installer there is a list (gentoo-installer) and an IRC channel #gentoo-installer so there might be one on the way :wink:

I wouldn't say its just setup tools though, its the ability of these tools to integrate with its surroundings like YAST. Although there are gentoo tools avaliable, most of the time of the developers is spent making sure the distro actually runs properly
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gentoo_lan · Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 8:22 am Post subject:

cokey · Advocate Joined: 23 Apr 2004 Posts: 3355

iTux · Guru Joined: 07 Sep 2004 Posts: 586 Location: Toronto

Are FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, Mac OS X distributions or operating systems?

Are Debian, Gentoo, Redhat distributions or operating systems?

Is the usage of a GNU userland and a Linux kernel is sufficient to call two systems distributions of the same OS no matter how they differ on other aspects?

What if Apple decides to change the kernel (Mach -> Linux) and the userland (BSD -> GNU) of Mac OS X? Mac OS X would become a Linux distro? And the most user-friendly Linux distro

What about Debian GNU/kFreeBSD? It is not a Linux OS (no Linux components). Debian GNU/Linux and Gentoo Linux are two Linux distributions, so they must be more similar than Debian GNU/Linux and Debian GNU/kFreeBSD. Right? Or people using Debian GNU/Linux and Debian GNU/kFreeBSD are using the same OS, Debian, but with different kernel?

Really confusing...

I think I will vote no. For me, Gentoo Linux is an operating system not a distribution.

iTux

codergeek42 · Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 10:27 pm Post subject:

nilson · Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 12:04 am Post subject:

PRC · Apprentice Joined: 15 Aug 2005 Posts: 191

I'm just curious if people actually consider Gentoo a "distro"? I mean when I think of Distro, I think of Mandriva, Redhat, Lindows....

Gentoo is in my opinion, not a distro...You build the distro yourself. Things are not pacakged for you, settings are not set for you. Maybe this is maybe why Gentoo is really easy to solve problems. YOU did it, so YOU can fix it. When you get a dsitrobution, you have no clue what kernel options they enabled. You really have no clue where they defaulted certain things to. Maybe this comes with some deep usage of the distrobution, but it still seems harder to solve problems on "prepacakged" distros.
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omp · Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2005 8:00 am Post subject:

Yes, I consider Gentoo a distro because it is one. :roll:

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aidanjt · Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2005 8:47 am Post subject:

Even LFS is loosely refered to as a 'distro'.. Most people consider Gentoo a meta-distribution

Earthwings

at240 · l33t Joined: 12 Aug 2005 Posts: 603 Location: UK

Yes, it is a distribution. Remember that bit in the installation when you download the stage tarball...? You're getting a selection of stuff whose content has been decided for you. It might be a lot less stuff than you get with ubuntu or Fedora or whatever---granted---and it might be a lot more configurable than some other distros, but that stuff constitutes the base of the Gentoo distribution.

I think you should mark this thread SOLVED.

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2005 11:39 am Post subject:

at240,

Hmm - I not sure I agree with that. I still do stage 1 installs.
You start off with just the tools to compile your own tools, then you do the rest. There is a predefined set of system packages which you will get if you don't edit the list (don't try that at home). Almost everyone needs these packages an there are by and large no alternatives anyway,

The core of Gentoo is portage and the portage tree. Thats a description of how to put your choice of bits for your Gentoo install together. That makes it a meta-distro.

The hard work goes into ebuilds and source code, not the install.
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at240 · l33t Joined: 12 Aug 2005 Posts: 603 Location: UK

@NeddySeagoon:

That's interesting. My rough understanding of distribution is that it comprises the stuff that is bundled with a kernel in order to provide a (in Gentoo's case, minimal) working system. (Maybe I'm wrong?! :oops:

I'd be interested to hear other definitions.) Now I know that if we're just dealing with the toolchain and certain system packages there are few alternatives... but I certainly count portage itself as a system package, and seeing as portage is a bit of software that is crucial to the identification of a gentoo system, and seeing as you install it as part of a gentoo installation, I tend to think that that makes the base system a Gentoo distribution rather than just a minimal set of tools common to all linux systems.

So I agree with your last two paragraphs: I wouldn't dispute that portage is the core of gentoo, or that the hard work goes into the ebuilds and code. But the reason you have portage is because it comes as part of the gentoo distribution. Sure, from that point onwards you can think of things as a meta-distribution, because of the freedom it gives you in building the rest of the system, but I'd still argue that that base installation is a distribution!

omp · Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2005 6:35 pm Post subject:

krolden · Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 10:43 am Post subject:

When in doubt, consult wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distro

sundialsvc4 · Guru Joined: 10 Nov 2005 Posts: 436

Sure, it's a distro. Linux from Scratch is the closest thing that comes to something that is not. (And even then, its "Automated Linux From Scratch (ALFS)" project begins to cross the line ...

Consider what a "distributor" does. They plow into the uncharted territory that consists of a few hundred source-code packages and come up with a logical organization for it all, and then they develop a set of tools and techniques (e.g. emerge) that allow thousands of people around the world to accomplish the same result without duplicating exactly the same effort as they did. And they maintain forums and FAQs and bug-reporting systems like this one. They watch for security problems, update the code-base, and provide the means for those updates to be distributed to each of you, and automatically and correctly installed, when you emerge --sync --update world (or whatever). All of this is what "the distributor" does, and it is quite sensible and valuable.

The system provided by a distributor may be "minimal," or it may be anything but!

If you ever have done "Linux from Scratch" (and I highly recommend that you do so!), you'll see what I mean.

Gentoo is unique in that nearly all of it is, and remains, source-code based. You do a tremendous amount of compiling yourself. You get a system that is highly customized to your setup. And you learn a lot in the process of doing it .. or else you simply do not succeed.

jedsen · Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 12:13 am Post subject:

Gentoo is like a make-your-own-distro distro... whatever that means.

omp · Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 1:11 am Post subject:

sethleon · Guru Joined: 14 Dec 2003 Posts: 398 Location: Germany

yep, it's a distro, no matter how you call it :wink:

it's just not like others.

You decide what GUI should be installed, and much more ..
'emerge', for example is such a powerful tool, you miss in certain other distros :lol:

including an update system to secure both, a stable and updated system

No annoying symbols or icons of other distros, just the upper smooth g

(I noticed after e.g. emerging gnome (startup screen) or openoffice-2.0 (startup logo))

I think a distro is like a certain "heart" and some surrounding software.
Thus gentoo is just a distro with it's own "heart" and an environment to choose your favourite software

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