Gentoo Linux

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The Gentoo Linux community for discussions, tips and tricks, and general kernel compiling

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KDE Plasma 6 upgrade for stable Gentoo Linux (www.gentoo.org)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] recursive_recursion 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

this got me interested in trying Gentoo out and I searched what differences exist between Arch and Gentoo:

https://www.baeldung.com/linux/arch-vs-gentoo-linux-distributions

does anyone know how accurate this article is?

[–] Deebster 6 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Both distros [...] are based on the Linux kernel

Err, bad start.

The kernel section is confused or just wrong. Arch has you use pacstrap to install a pre-built kernel (there are options from almost-vanilla to more custom), whereas Gentoo gives you the choice of using vanilla or Gentoo kernel sources (optionally with custom configuration) or just using a pre-built binary.

The Gentoo wiki used to be the gold standard, even for non-Gentoo users, but it was an unofficial wiki and a hard-drive crash (if memory serves) killed it with no backups. It was mostly restored with help after that.
Nowadays, I think more people use the Arch wiki.

Gentoo has package binaries available, although that's a newer thing and if you use unusual USE flags you'll need to compile your own anyway.

By default, Gentoo uses the older sysvinit system

Weird to put it this way, since Gentoo is well known for its use of OpenRC which is what you'd use instead of systemd. Both are common on Gentoo systems.

I'm stopping here - the whole article feels off, perhaps it's AI-written? I'd recommend finding a better source.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

OpenRC is daemon supervisor (probably not the right name).

OpenRC-init is the init.

By default, on OpenRC installations, the init will be SysV.

I have switched a few boxen to openrc-init and have to report that it works fine.

[–] Deebster 2 points 2 months ago

Ha, yeah - the Arch wiki calls it a "service manager" although OpenRC describes itself as a "dependency-based init system". When I wrote that reply I'd started to be more pedantic about the terms but changed it to reflect my core problem that it's not an apples-to-apples comparison to compare all of systemd to the underlying init system (you see loads of "are you using OpenRC or systemd" posts but never systemd vs sysvinit).

[–] recursive_recursion 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

thanks for the criticism!

The Gentoo wiki used to be the gold standard, even for non-Gentoo users, but it was an unofficial wiki and a hard-drive crash (if memory serves) killed it with no backups. It was mostly restored with help after that.

Rip, it would've been nice if Gentoo's docs were better than/highly competitive against Arch's docs. As a fan of Arch I often refer people over to the Arch Wiki however there are instances when I or my customers encounter incomplete/missing sections that then requires us to scour through SO or other forums for troubleshooting

By default, Gentoo uses the older sysvinit system

Weird to put it this way, since Gentoo is well known for its use of OpenRC which is what you'd use instead of systemd. Both are common on Gentoo systems.

Yeah I also found that really odd as it made me question if I remembered OpenRC being an Init system or not

I'm stopping here - the whole article feels off, perhaps it's AI-written?

it seems likely, although I can't confirm for sure as I only have hands-on exp with Arch either way

I'd recommend finding a better source.

I'm def gonna have to find better sources👍💯

[–] Deebster 2 points 2 months ago

it would’ve been nice if Gentoo’s docs were better than/highly competitive against Arch’s docs.

I think it's fair to say that the Arch wiki is larger and covers more areas, but if there's a Gentoo page on the same topic, the Gentoo one will be as good/better.

Arch is more popular, and so has more contributors (e.g. recent edits for Gentoo vs Arch).