| Pat Regan on 16 Jul 2005 08:54:38 -0000 |
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Cosmin Nicolaescu wrote: > I've been using Gentoo for over almost 2 years, and right now I'm deplying > it at my work place (first my workstation, then one of the file servers, > now one of the servers for a different dept, and soon an entire cluster > used for user computational needs). I have to admit that Gentoo was not > createad with an enterprise-use in mind, which is why I'm working on a few > scripts that will automate the process nicely (a bit better than a cron > job that does emege sync > /dev/null 2>&1 && emerge -v world > > /var/log/emerge.world.$$ 2>&1 :-P). > >>> The source-based distros appeal to me but they dont seem to >>> work out in the long run. > > May I ask why? With Gentoo I will go through one install, update on a > daily baisis, and _never_ have to go through an install again. With > Mandrake (for example) I have to reinstall the OS with every release. > What exactly is the real advantage of a source based distro? I loaded Debian on my primary home workstation something like 5 years ago. I have upgraded everything but the case and power supply in that time, while copying the OS to new hard drives along the way. The original install was Debian Woody, it is currently tracking unstable. > Compile errors - I have to "build" servers (32-bit and 64-bit), and they > do all the compile for the workstations (main servers are independent > because they have almost USE=-*). I do the compile once on the build > servers (with the help of distcc from the rest of the machines) and then > never build again. When I install a new workstation I do emerge -vGe > system and it's done in about 10 minutes, with no compile errors :) I have > a local portage mirror (soon to be 2, and then make them global mirrors) > so all my traffic is internal...I love it! > I can probably understand compiling one or two packages from source to possibly get a performance gain... But is it really worth the time to build your whole system from source? Is it worthwhile to then take the time to build all my updates from source? My laptop is a fairly slow machine (crusoe 933), and Firefox doesn't run particularly fast (imho). I thought it might be fun to try building a package from source with some more aggressive compiler flags. The difference was imperceptible to me. I have been curious recently how long it takes to install a Gentoo system? Just last week I installed Ubuntu on my girlfriend's "new" P3 700 mhz laptop with 128 mb of ram, and a 4200 rpm hard drive. I would be surprised if it took a half hour to get installed and logged in for the first time. I didn't actually time it, but the tv was on and I don't remember noticed the show changing :). If you are unfamiliar with Ubuntu, it installed a Gnome desktop, Firefox, OpenOffice.org, Evolution, and most of your standard stuff. I know if I ran Gentoo on all my boxes I could keep locally compiled packages so this sort of thing wouldn't take so long. I am curious if the advantage is worth doing it myself as opposed to allowing the package maintainers to do it for me. > Just my 2 cents on the matter.. > I very much appreciate your two cents. I always look forward to getting talked into trying something new. I just haven't been convinced... yet :) Pat Attachment:
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