[nzlug] Kernel squared

[Nick Rout]

On Friday 29 September 2006 12:32, Daniel Pittman wrote:
> "Dirk Pilat" <pilatdirk at mac.com> writes:
> > I think the consens of the list was that selfcompiled kernels (at
> > least on x386 systems) are not particulary an advantage for day to day
> > desktop use (apart from the situationif one has exotic hardware, not
> > supported by the generic distro kernel).
>
> Actually, in cases where obscure drivers are used I tend to prefer the
> Debian or Ubuntu approach: they supply a source package for the driver,
> and you can then compile your module yourself.
>
> In the rare cases there isn't a pre-packaged version of the module you
> can do the same manually, which gives you a loadable module while
> keeping the advantages of their binary kernels.
>
> > Why do people then still choose a distro like Gentoo? Is it just for
> > the 'my system has exactly only the apps I want and nothing more'
> > factor?
>
> If you want my detailed answer, see message
> <873bacjffz.fsf at rimspace.net> which I posted a little while ago in the
> discussion "Stupid question department" and contains reasons why they
> are desirable.
>
> This is one of the reasons, but also that you can choose exactly the
> *features* of the software you have.

I think another feature of gentoo is the relative ease of writing ebuilds for 
packages that are not in portage, and adding them as an "overlay".

I read a rather compelling argument for gentoo and custom ebuilds in Linux 
journal a while ago, where the developer's thesis was along the same lines, 
obscure software was easier to add to the gentoo machine as custom ebuilds 
were easier than rpm .spec files or the debian equivalent. Having played with 
both .spec files and ebuilds I would have to agree.

Theres also a lot of developers using gentoo for quite specific target 
systems - embedded systems, obscure hardware etc. Those aren't necessarily 
end user consoderations, just an illustration of flexibility and the 
advantages it has for many people.

Against that there is complexity - There are as many different gentoo systems 
as there are combinations of CFLAGS, USE flags, gcc versions and 
kernel .config's. With the huge growth in userbase and packages in portage, 
and the almost limitless variation in system tweaks engendered by the ability 
to play with all those cflag/use flag combinations, I feel that gentoo is 
getting a little unwieldy. I have also found that it is getting behind in 
package up to dateness - a function of the quality control process demanding 
packages be in "unstable" for a minimum period before being released as 
stable. gentoo used to be more up to date than almost any distro, now I am 
embarrased when my ubuntu or suse friends have more up to date systems :( 
Also my freebsd laptop (on which this is written, on kmail/kde.3.5.3 [1] via 
an atheros wireless card) has more up to date packages choice than gentoo in 
many many cases.


[1] 3.5.4 is available