More specifically, Portage. I know use flags and “optimization” are all the hype, but really, would the average user even see a benefit from customizing all their use flags? Especially a benefit that compensates for the constant compilation?
I installed it once to help grow my e-peen, but immediately switched back to Arch after watching my system compile.
Those who daily drive it, do compilation and use flags annoy you, and do you see any real benefit?
Not a fan of how the OP’s written but whatever.
Like any distro, it’s for who it’s for and if you don’t like it then feel free to distro hop until you find one you do. Why is the “average user” trying to use a “hard distro” anyway? Seems like the “average user” is increasingly “some rando who just wants to use their computer” so yeah, I’d say it’s pretty useless for someone who has no use for it. I suppose it’s more of an “if you don’t know why you want it then it’s probably not going to help you” sort of thing. I like that it lets me set things up my way then mostly just goes away until I want it for something. Other people like software that holds their hand or handles a bunch of things for them. It’s fine, not everything must be for everyone.
You successfully evaded the actual question: what is the point of Gentoo.
Gentoo doesn’t hold your hands, but that doesn’t mean that it has a purpose for even the most enthusiastic users.
There might have been a time when compiling your own software was an actual benefit, but those days are long gone. When you’re using Gentoo today it’s either a hobby on its own (which is fine, but per definition pointless) or it’s a flex (which is not so fine).
First off, I take issue with the idea that hobbies are pointless. If doing something makes you happy, that’s worth a lot in my book: whether that hobby is playing golf or collecting stamps or using a non-mainstream distro.
To the point: for me, Gentoo has a purpose in that it’s the easiest distro for me to maintain. Yeah, I had to negotiate the learning curve, but now that I have I know how to keep my install running and fix things when they break. Before my last computer died I was running the same install for 9 years straight, and my current install on my “new” computer is five years old. I never got that feeling of “system mastery” with Ubuntu or Fedora.
So there’s your purpose: it works better for some people than other distros. Everybody has their own preferences and values, and Gentoo matches those for some. It may not be your cup of tea, but that doesn’t mean that everybody should just use what you consider to be a “useful” distro.
From what I’ve seen, Gentoo was popular in the 2000’s for users who wanted maximum control over their system. That means recompiling everything.
Sometimes the “maximum control” when too far when users set aggressive optimization flags that broke some packages. To the point that some upstream developers (e.g. Gimp) were refusing bug reports from Gentoo users because of the stupid optimization flags they were setting in hope of getting a “faster” system.
Anyway, it seems to me like the crowd who liked Gentoo has mostly moved to Arch. But I’m sure Gentoo still has its fans.