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From: Phillip Frabott <nntp@fulltermprivacy.com>
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: Re: Source only vs Gentoo
Date: Fri, 8 Nov 2024 19:05:03 -0500
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On 11/8/2024 18:34, J.O. Aho wrote:
> On 08/11/2024 19.32, Phillip Frabott wrote:
>> So I'm considering a move from my own source-built install of Linux to 
>> something else. Trying to install new versions of KDE have become a 
>> problem and I'm not interested in going the LFS route. I've started to 
>> consider other distros. I looked at Arch/Manjaro which I thought were 
>> close to what I wanted but I didn't like the fact that most things are 
>> still binary. As a source-only type of guy I was hoping to find 
>> something that was more source-only based. A friend recommended I use 
>> Gentoo. I took a quick look at the web site but I wanted to get a few 
>> thoughts from others.
>>
>> My basic requirements are as follows.
>>
>> 1: Needs to be fully source built. No pre-built binaries or shortcuts. 
>> This includes during initial installation as well. (I'm sure a few 
>> core pre-builts are required for the install disc/USB flash to work. 
>> I'll accept that if I have to, but install to /dev/sda should be built 
>> from source)
> 
> Most people install stage 3, this has the core prebuilt, you are free to 
> explore stage 1 or stage 2 installation, not as well documented.
> 
> 
>> 2: Needs to be fully configurable. If I want to remove /usr I should 
>> be able to do so (I won't do that but this expresses the amount of 
>> config freedom I want out of it).
> 
> As long as you don't use systemd you should have full control of your 
> setup, for sure some stuff may need you to patch builds yourself if you 
> stray too far from the "default".
> 
> 
>> 3: Needs to support manual building from source without a package 
>> manager should I need to. (I don't mind if the main system uses a 
>> package manager to build from source but I want to be able to have the 
>> option not to use a package manager once the system is up, something 
>> that is hard to do with Arch/Manjaro)
> 
> All distros supports building, just no distro's package manager will be 
> aware of your manual built stuff
> 

I had some trouble getting it to work. Likely because (in the case of 
Arch/Manjaro) they have their own specific directories they put things 
in that was outside what I'm used to. Plus their package manager breaks 
things every time you run an update since it doesn't keep older versions 
it seems. Looking at the Gentoo documents it seems it keeps old 
versions, requiring you to run a command to remove them. This is likely 
the thing I am looking for.

> The ebuild is the instruction how to build, so if you know what to do on 
> the command line, then it will not be too difficult to write a simple 
> ebuild for it and then things are taken care of. You will have saved 
> time already if you compile something more than once.
> 
> Keep in mind that Gentoo has USE flags, which enables/disables features 
> in a package, so you shouldn't build your own version of libpng 
> manually, but adjust the USE flags to get one that fits you. Otherwise 
> when you emerge a package that depends on libpng, it will build a libpng 
> based on the defaults and that application you wanted will use the 
> gentoo libpng and not the one you built.
> 

Makes sense. I'll look into the ebuild thing and writing whatever script 
it needs. That might make things easier as well.

> 
>> 4: I want to be able to use Systemd. I know Gentoo uses OpenRC but 
>> I've heard I can use Systemd instead.
> 
> Yes, Gentoo allows you to use systemd instead of OpenRC, but that comes 
> with it's limitations.
> 
> 
>> 5: I need to be able to use GRUB as a bootloader.
> 
> Gentoo uses GRUB2, it dropped support for GRUB quite many years ago.
> 

Sorry, I meant GRUB2.

> 
> 
>> 6: I need to still dual-boot Windows 11. I work from home and 
>> unfortunately I need to have access to Windows 11 on the same machine. 
>> Since GRUB would be required, I assume this is a non-issue but I'm 
>> putting it on the list anyways.
> 
> lilo works too for dual boot... but default for amd64 installs is GRUB2.
> 

Thanks for your responses. I'm going to install Gentoo on a VM to test 
out before I consider it for replacing my existing setup. Really 
appreciate your time.
-- 
Phillip Frabott
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- Adam: Is a void really a void if it returns?
- Jack: No, it's just nullspace at that point.
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