this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2025
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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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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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[–] yaroto98@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I messed around with it back in college. Had a lab where we had to make our own OS with a purpose. Lots of people made their own digital picture frame. This was back in 2005 when linux and gentoo were rougher around the edges. I tried compiling my own custom kernel. One that had only the drivers needed for my hardware. Took like 2 days per compile. After several tweaks and fixes I got the kernel to compile, but not boot.

Eventually caved and went the easy route of compiling the generic kernel because I had a deadline. I installed xfce, metasploit, nessus, wireshark, and a handful if other tools to make a knockoff kali linux for my project. It was fun, and I learned a lot.