I mean, is it really worth it to compile every single program that I install? Wouldn’t that be a waste of time? I am inclined to try it out but on the other hand idk

  • krissen@sopuli.xyz
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    1 year ago

    The question you ask in the title is a more general one that you ask in the title.

    Yes, Gentoo is a good choice.

    No, it is not worth compiling every package. This should not be the main reason you choose Gentoo.

    Admittedly, I started with Gentoo for the same reason (per-package compilation), hoping for performance gains. However, I stayed because of the excellent documentation, the great user community; the rolling versions; the customizability and control I have over my system, the choices I need to make when installing, and keep making as the install is continuously set up over the years.

    I’ve tried quite a few distros over the (+20) years of Linux-use. I keep choosing Gentoo.

    • yum13241@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Arch has great documentation, rolling release, and customizability, minus the compilation. Obviously, use Gentoo if you want to. But for advanced Linux users, I highly recommend Arch.

      • krissen@sopuli.xyz
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        1 year ago

        I’ve heard good things about Arch. Indeed, I installed it on one of my boxes, where I specifically wanted to avoid a lot of compilations, besides being curious about it.

        Used it for a bit over a year know and… I don’t know, it hasn’t been as stable, and I’ve find using AUR more of a chore than custom ebuild repos. It’s probably great when you get used to it, but so far I still prefer Gentoo.

        It’s great, that there are several good distros for different use cases, and that we have the freedom to choose what suits us best!

        • yum13241@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          “it hasn’t been as stable” I say that’s bad luck. Maybe if I went to try Gentoo some bad source code might’ve gotten pushed and then I’d get a bad impression.

          Also, I only have access to potatoes. Also, I use the chaotic aur repo, otherwise I would’ve given up ages ago.

      • taladar@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        As a long time Gentoo user I tried Arch a few times but the whole AUR mess instead of using the same tools for distro, community and my own packages really put me off.

            • yum13241@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              Arch works for me, Gentoo works for you.

              I’d still rather recommend Arch over Gentoo so people don’t start whining, “eVeRy tHiNg tAkEs 4eVar!”.

              • taladar@sh.itjust.works
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                1 year ago

                Oh, I never said other people shouldn’t use Arch. In general though, I would probably recommend neither to the kind of person who needs distro recommendations.