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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Does anyone actually use Gentoo? Why? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by ayyo@sh.itjust.works to c/linux@lemmy.ml

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Just wanna preface, I'm not trying to like attack Gentoo or anyone that uses it, I just wanna understand lol

I'm like an intermediate Linux user I'm definitely not an expert, and Gentoo is something I'm still quite confused about. To me it just seems unnecessary, like the real version of people making Arch just seem incredibly complicated. Does anyone actually use it as a daily driver? Why? Is it just for the love of the game? Is there some specific use case I've not heard or thought of?

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[–] neclimdul@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago

I miss really digging deep into what my system was doing and understanding how the different components worked. I had choices at every step and owned every package, feature, and configuration. Also being able to easily patch and collaborate on fixes with maintainers through a local overlay.

I also feel like that understanding provided a knowledge of dark magics of how and why distros work forged in the mistakes of my Gentoo systems that's been valuable in my career.

That said, I don't really have time for it these days. Being able to just turn my computer on and it just works with a mainstream binary distro is a stability I've needed for things like work and home servers for family stuff.

Some people aren't patient with you needing to entirely rebuild your system because you broke an ebuild or didn't read a news and it trashed your system and it's got several hours of recompiling system packages ahead of it.

That said I'll perpetuate the trope and say I broke down and finally started running Arch on some personal machines this year and enjoy it. It's not the same but it's filled a bit of that itch and is fun to push the edge and find other people doing the same.