Gentoo vs Void Linux
Gentoo vs Void Linux
I don't know if this is a very discussed topic here, but I really want to switch from Arch/Parabola to a new distro, and two have caught my attetion: Gentoo and Void Linux. So I'd like to know some pros and cons of both distributions. I've read the pros and cons on some "distro review" websites, but I'd like to have some opinions from people that use or have already used one or both of them. Could you guys give me some more insight on what to chose?
Ps.: I'm very keen on learning Linux in it's totality, so I'm leaning towards Gentoo, but the so called "hours of compiling" have kept me from making the final decision. I also did not understand very well the "Stage Tarball" of Gentoo's installation nor do I understand the difference between glibc and other c libraries, so if that could be answered I'd be very pleased.
You sound like you should just try both. Void linux is actually pretty pleasant. Can't speak for Gentoo. But you seem the type to check it out to just check it out. By all means. Distro hop. Or even more fun. Try dual booting them.
That's maybe what I'll end up doing, though I'm afraid I might forget Gentoo and end using Void Linux much more just because of laziness. But yeah, that might be the solution for my quest on finding the best suiting distro for me.
Another possibility is running Bedrock Linux, which is sort of like a meta-distro which more or less allows simultaneous use of Linux distros.
I'm running Void musl as my main distro within Bedrock, and that has the advantage of allowing me to pull things missing from Void glibc, or Arch, or Ubuntu (or whatever, Gentoo would be another option), and still get to benefit from Void musl's advantages.
That's new, I haven't heard of this possibility. This is quite a nice option, but could I do the opposite? Run Gentoo, for example, and benefit from Arch's AUR and Void/Ubuntu's repos?
I'm glad someone Mentioned it, because I was if I didn't see it mentioned. I really do like Bedrock Linux, so I highly suggest OP to give it a go.
I run gentoo, but also like void alot ( pitty it doesn't have my fav. desktop packaged ).
If I may stress one point that is very important for "reasoning" with the "hours of compiling":
Its not about changing your CFLAGS and unlooping your rools or rooling your loops, etc. Its about having the packages built with the versions and features of your system. Have you ever read or experienced Ubuntu and its ppa nightmare ? ( ubuntu example but i can be on rpm or deb or binary etc ). Ever installed a package just to find your it was compiled with a library(version) that isn't found on your system ? Or you want a simple app to use in kde(gnome) but then you notice it has to pull all the gnome(kde) when it could just have its support disable at compile time ?
well ... Gentoo doesn't have those and other problems because it is compiled from your machine. ( it has others, like huge compiling hours, you might have use flags incompatibilities if you abuse the system, cpu,ram,harddisk space for the compiling, etc )
If you want to escape the "hours of compiling", you can install calculate linux or redcorelinux ( gentoo based systems that supply a distro default binary packages ) and portage will only compile the packages you change the options from the default ( default of the distro ).
Hope it helps, but you already got alot of very good comments !!
Your comment was really helpful! Building a OS specifically tailored to my hardware is an idea that really draws me to Gentoo, and the whole "dependencie-less" for kde or gnome packages (etc.) was something I did not know and I did like a lot, since I use some Gnome packages like Evince for viewing .djvu and some other file types (I don't have a DE).
Ever installed a package just to find your it was compiled with a library(version) that isn't found on your system
Do you even know what a package manager does?
Thank you, sir! I swear I didn't find this post on my pros and cons search. I appreciate it very much.
My own take on a review, about a year ago: http://halestrom.net/darksleep/blog/010_distrohop_p2/
Everyone sees something different. Best thing to do is try both.
That's why I made this post, because I wanted a lot of different opinions, different views, on both of the distros.
And maaaaan! That is a GREAT review!! You reviewed some of the points I was most worried about, and did it in a fun way. Thanks, and keep up the good work!
I currently use Gentoo and the compiling isn't terrible. The initial install takes a bit but after that I just let it compile while I'm not using it, and half the time it doesn't make a difference if I compile while using it.
Another thing I wanted to say is, using Gentoo won't exactly teach you Linux. It will teach you how to use Gentoo. Like how using arch will teach you how to use arch. So yeah it's more customizable but you won't really learn a ton about Linux using it.
Oh, you will learn about creating a kernel for your specific machine, aslong as you don't use genkernel that is.
I do not care that much for a long install, it took me about a week to finish my first Arch install some years ago. The kernel part is something I'm interested in, and also I want to learn more about compiling. One other question I have is: does it help in understanding compiling computer programs? I'm a CC student, and am very interested in competitive programming and how computer programs work/how to make them work faster/better, so would Gentoo give me a bit more knowledge on that matter?
Void Linux must be hip because they package my TXR language; and keep up with the releases too:
https://github.com/voidlinux/void-packages/blob/master/srcpkgs/txr/template
Can't weigh in on Void linux, but I can tell you about Gentoo. The stage tarball is akin to how you install Arch Linux with pacstrap, it's the basic root filesystem with GCC, make, and basic shell utilities. You typically want a stage3 tarball, and you use it to compile the rest of the system. Gentoo uses portage which is very similar to BSD ports. You'll feel right at home if you're used to building packages from the AUR. Typically, Gentoo is used to create an optimized operating system tuned specifically for the hardware it's run on but it's very usable as a daily driver, or if you want to teach yourself more about Linux. If memory serves, I believe Gentoo doesn't have systemd setup out of the box (which is fine), so there's some extra configuring besides compiling that has to be done to get a decent desktop spun up.
In my opinion, Gentoo is fun and teaches you a lot but isn't worth it in the long run because of how much compiling you have to do for marginal improvements. That and like Arch, many of the major changes have to be done yourself which is really annoying for me.
So, would you recommend me to install Gentoo on a dual boot and play with it to learn more and more about Linux instead of making it my daily driver? Isn't there a way to remove the hassle of compiling every single time I gotta do an update (without the whole idea behind the distro losing its meaning)?
Oh, and I forgot to mention, but systemd-free is one of the main aspects that made me narrow down to those two options, so OpenRC (and runit) is fine.
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