82
Does anyone actually use Gentoo? Why? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by ayyo@sh.itjust.works to c/linux@lemmy.ml
51 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] timkenhan@sopuli.xyz 7 points 2 months ago

I'm using it right now, at least for personal project development. It's surprisingly reliable. Aside from the well-known USE flags that let you nitpick stuff at compile time letting me mix newer stuff while keeping the rest stable.

I do have my complaints:

  • it's rolling release, making it less fitting for production use, tho not as bleeding edge as Arch
  • the package management logic could perhaps be more robust; one of my pet peeves is that it keeps pulling the latest version of Python despite not being used
  • some slight, relatively meaningless changes in package metadata might trigger recompilation
  • the default configurations might not be the most sane

I have found sweet spot and preserved my configuration here for anyone to use.

this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2025
82 points (96.6% liked)

Linux

57274 readers
748 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
AgreeableLandscape@lemmy.ml
nooter692@lemmy.ml
MarcellusDrum@lemmy.ml
cypherpunks@lemmy.ml
cyclohexane@lemmy.ml
d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz