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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 2 days ago* (last edited 2 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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[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I don't use it, but I knew someone who did, and for them, it was about min/maxing their software. Because everything is built from source, everything is optimized for their specific system in theory.

I'm not aware of any comparisons on speed, but I would suspect that it's negligible in real world use cases, but it's still important for some.

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Not to mention the time spent. I'd rather spend that time and effort doing other things.

I've compiled plenty of programs, even the kernel. But that's a means to an end. I've hunted down drivers and manually resolved dependencies to get them to compile. I've run on weird old platforms (Minix on a 286, but I don't think I got the Ethernet drivers working there). Sure it's interesting, but eventually I'd rather actually use the thing.

If you really want to compile your system, go do Linux From Scratch.

[–] limelight79@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Yeah I used to compile my own kernels, selecting only the drivers I needed.

I'm sure I wasted far more time doing all that than I saved with a (theoretically) faster day to day system. Now I use stock kernels, and they work great!