Portage for OS X is here!
For those that don't know, Gentoo is the k-raddest linux distro, mainly due to it's package manager, Portage. Portage is the shizzle, for a variety of reasons:
Want to try out Gnome? type:
emerge gnome
Man, that was tricky! Do you want me to go over it again?
- You can set your own CFLAGS (ie: optimize the code you are compiling for PPC 7450, 970, whatever) for all software builds easily and globally.
- Set the libraries you want to support/compile against (ie: ALSA, Esound, OSS, or all of the above?), and so on.
- You can also remove the packages you want pretty painlessly, something you can't do with plain source code very easily (unless you keep the source folder kicking about to do a 'make uninstall')
- Most important to geeks like me, you can use all the latest and greatest software, now! ebuilds for new software releases are distributed in hours or days, not months or years (attn: Yellow Dog Linux!). Many unstable/untested ebuilds are available as well for those who want the truly bleeding edge.
Want to try out Gnome? type:
Code:
emerge gnome
Man, that was tricky! Do you want me to go over it again?
Comments
Originally posted by hmurchison
So why should I like Gentoo on OSX from a non programming perspective. Do the improvements improve daily desktop usage?
Sure, but you need a penchant for open-source programs. Say you hear about a new app on a site you freaquent but it hasn't been ported to OS X. Chances are it will sooner be ported to X11 then Aqua. This rad program, erm SuperCoolFun can be all yours. With Gentoo just type "emerge SuperCoolFun" and bam. Don't need to sweat over dependancies, everything is figured out for you.
Fink, Darwinports, IIRC they will all back portage as the unified ports sytem for Mac OS X.
Gentoo vs Debian
Lately Gentoo has emerged as one of the most popular distro's around, and some people seem to keep suggesting it to others, even if it's totally unsuited in some particular cases. I always like to warn people before running good ol' fdisk and replacing a working system with Gentoo. I run both Debian and Gentoo at home (while i am pretty fond of Red Hat too)
I think Debian is better suited for server installations and production environments while Gentoo is better suited for home desktop systems or learning purposes. Gentoo needs a lot more care than Debian and if you want a system that works right after install, or you don't want to spend time figuring out your system or fixing it, steer away from Gentoo.
Both Debian en Gentoo are great distro's with their own merits, and both have an excellent package management system, but while Debian is a rock solid workhorse you'll never have to look back at, Gentoo gives you the power and control you need to try out all kinds of things. But you wouldn't experiment on a production system, would you?
Gentoo's portage downloads the sources off a mirror and compiles them for your system, automatically solving dependencies. Debian on the other hand has apt, which also solves dependencies for you, but uses binaries instead of sources. Gentoo's portage allow for gcc optimization flags and "use flags", both have an influence on your system and this flexibility makes Gentoo harder to troubleshoot. These kinds of settings in Gentoo allow you to optimize your system to the extreme, but if you're not carefull you could also break it seriously.
If you run into a problem with a debian package you can almost certainly find the answer on the net. The solution will talk about the same versions of packages you are using etc. But on Gentoo if you have a problem it depends on what use flags you are using, which version of gcc and such. So while in Gentoo is a lot more interesting to solve problems in Debian it's usually done quicker. OTOH, on Debian it's a lot more hassle to try out new gcc's or compile your glibc with NTPL support for example (or install the latest KDE for that matter).
Both in Debian and Gentoo you "could" schedule a cron job to update all packages on your system, but with apt you really don't have to care about those updates. Each and every upgrade i had to do so far worked flawlessly and no configuration has ever changed because of an upgrade. On Gentoo, if you let upgrades run overnight and never look back at it you're in for some headaches.
Configuration files need to be merged manually, even if you just rebuilt the same version portage installs a new config file in another location and keeps asking you to merge the two versions.
Downloaded sources are left in a temporary directory after the package has been installed, filling up your disk pretty quick, so you'll either have to schedule an additional command to clean up that directory or do it manually.
While Gentoo offers more packages than Debian, their packages are also more up to date and most of the time you can choose between multiple versions of a package. This also means that Debian's packages are a lot better tested and reliable than Gentoo's, especially in combination with other packages (if you don't install deb's from all over the net).
It also shows that Debian is a lot older and mature than Gentoo. APT is more or less finished, but every so often there is an upgrade to portage. Portage is even going through a rewrite at the moment. Gentoo is evolving very fast but I think that on servers a mature and stable distribution is a better option.
So what's my point then. Well while Debian or any other distro might be a better choice in a production environment, Gentoo still is a lot more fun and excitement on a box where you want to tinker and get to know your system and such. In Gentoo you can emerge beta's, cvs versions, recompile your packages with or without support for a feature and more of those goodies. In Gentoo you get a lot more power and control, but you also get the power to mess up your entire system. In Gentoo you configure a lot more manually than in Debian and it generally takes more commitment than Debian.
Gentoo is the greatest distro to learn about linux, to play with linux, to tinker with computers, ... But if your installation serves another purpose, go with another distribution.
http://www.tomvergote.be/writings/Li...vironment.html
But I don't get the "Apple we have a problem" thing. It's a take off the "Redmond we have a problem" slogan of WWDC but there is no problem, it works with OS X. It's just a bad joke I guess.
http://www.funroll-loops.org/
Originally posted by Wired Envisions
So where is the link so we can check this bad boy out?
http://www.metadistribution.org/macos/
Originally posted by Wired Envisions
Can someone post some screenshots of Gentoo Mac OS in action...maybe a couple programs running or what not. THanks!
Sure.
Did "emerge" anything past the install procedure. But I'd highly imagine the apps would run in either the terminal or X11.
Originally posted by talksense101
ionyz, what is your default shell? I am having installation trouble with Portage on tcsh. The PATH doesn't get configured properly.
The $ says he's using korn.