What is Gentoo Linux

The Gentoo Linux operating system (pronounced /ˈdʒɛntuː/) is a Linux meta-release based on the Portage package management system. This project and its products are named after the Papua penguins. The Gentoo package management system is designed to be modular, portable, easy to maintain, flexible and optimized for user machines. Packages can generally be built from source code, which continues the port tradition. Although for convenience, some large packages are also available in pre-compiled binaries for multiple architectures.

Description

Gentoo Linux means choosing, allowing users free choice is the most important feature of Gentoo. Former chief designer Daniel Robbins mentioned that the basic starting point of the design allows us and other users to use it at will, without restrictions.

Like other influential distributions, Gentoo Linux offers its own unique software management tool ——Portage. Portage is heavily influenced by FreeBSD's Ports.

Advantages

Unlike most GNU/Linux distributions, Gentoo Linux provides users with a large amount of application source code. Every part of Gentoo Linux can be recompiled on the end user's system, even the most basic system libraries and compilers themselves. Providing software in the form of dependency descriptions and source code images, Gentoo Linux provides a large selection of software for users to choose from. The standard source code image includes 30G of data. The choice is not only in the overall aspect of the software, but also in the software. Since the software can be compiled locally, the selection of parameters and variables can be specified by the user himself.

The advantage of specifying parameters is not only that the user understands the settings, but also increases the room for performance improvement for the hardware. And users can use their favorite patches or plug-ins to adjust the software features, such as the current Gentoo Linux kernel release includes 35 kinds.

Due to the significant differences in the installation methods of the system and application software, the Gentoo Linux community has a deeper discussion of the installation content. Even users who don't use Gentoo Linux can understand the internal settings of the software by understanding the parameter selection. The configuration settings of the application software are recorded in the ebuild file and managed by the ebuild and emerge commands.

Limitations

Gentoo Linux has a strong dependence on the network because it often uses the network to download source code. When installing a system or software, it is not only necessary to connect at any time, but also requires sufficient transmission speed.

Similarly, installing Gentoo Linux also has high requirements for the performance of computer systems, including CPU and memory. Of course, this does not mean that Gentoo Linux cannot be used on low-profile devices, but users will spend more time installing the same environment. Therefore, for low-profile users, the selection of software packages is particularly important.