I mean, is it really worth it to compile every single program that I install? Wouldn’t that be a waste of time? I am inclined to try it out but on the other hand idk
Username checks out?
It’s certainly a distro that will help you understand how a Linux system is put together. It’s fairly unmatched in its ability to craft your selection of binaries with just the features you want and no fat. However the downside of that is you get to keep all the pieces of your bespoke collection of binaries when some interaction gets missed. Adding new packages is super easy, especially if the package uses a build system which is already understood by Gentoo’s eclasses.
I used to run Gentoo on my x86 desktop but given how frequently things like browsers need to be rebuilt it became a chore. Now I tend to run Debian stable with the occasional backport/snap/flatpak if I want a newer app.
However I do have a nice little 24 core Arm server which sucks a continuous 5w idle or fully loaded. When I got it we were doing a lot of Arm enablement work and Gentoo made sense from a developer flexibility point of view. It runs the ~amd64 profile because I got bored of unmasking stuff for ~arm64 when most packages just work when built on non-x86 these days. The rare cases that don’t I can always submit the patches upstream.
It would indeed be a waste of time. So, no, not worth it.
not only is it a waste of time, it also contributes to climate change. imagine if everyone in the world compiled all their software
What are you coming from? Have you used Linux systems previously? Have you ever compiled anything ever? (Serious question. When I first installed Linux, I hadn’t.)
Are you talking about a desktop PC? Laptop? Mac Mini?
Compiling isn’t that bad. Other than the initial install, compiling is done in a terminal window while you do other things. With today’s multi-core CPU’s, times aren’t bad either.
My last emerge of Firefox: Wed Aug 2 19:51:26 2023 >>> www-client/firefox-116.0 merge time: 9 minutes and 48 seconds.
My philosophy is to slice up your disk, install Gentoo on another partition and see how far you get. Might be farther than you think!
Gentoo has the best package manager I’ve ever used. But is it worth it? Depends on your expectations. It’s a great distro if you are willing to invest the time and do the work. I would never recommend it to a new user who just wants something that works, but a tech savvy user who is ready to learn (also from mistakes)? Sure, go for it. For me, an update eventually broke it to a point where it was no longer worth the effort, but for a few years I did enjoy tinkering with it. The control you get is intoxicating.
My experience is from mid-00’s, so things may have changed. From other’s comments however, the core experience seems to be the same. I would not install it myself anymore, but that’s not to say it’s a bad distro.
I’ve been a long time Gentoo user. Years. Gotta be over a decade now.
Back in the early '00s, I tried a few Linux distributions… SUSE, Centos, another one or two that I can’t remember. Each one, I was left at the desktop after a successful install wondering exactly what do I do now.
Friend recommended Linux From Scratch, so I took a couple months and went through the process, three times. First time, I had no clue what I was doing. Second, I started to get a hang of it. Third, I breezed through, then tried to install X.org and all of its dependencies by hand. Taught me a lesson of the value of a package manager. I did end up installing it successfully, then contemplated a DE, but decided to switch distros.
Did a bit of research, found Gentoo, and stuck with it. Updating it isn’t a pain as long as it’s done regularly, and I enjoy having the control and just a bit of feeling like I have some clue as to what’s going on. I don’t get that with a distro focusing on precompiled binaries. It’s also given me the experience to compile software from scratch if I need to.
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Unless you really, REALLY want to use a decade old PC for whatever reason… then by all means, go for it. Other than that…? Eh…you’ll be “saving” an insignificant amount of memory compared to just installing premade binaries from (any) package manager.
The question you ask in the title is a more general one that you ask in the title.
Yes, Gentoo is a good choice.
No, it is not worth compiling every package. This should not be the main reason you choose Gentoo.
Admittedly, I started with Gentoo for the same reason (per-package compilation), hoping for performance gains. However, I stayed because of the excellent documentation, the great user community; the rolling versions; the customizability and control I have over my system, the choices I need to make when installing, and keep making as the install is continuously set up over the years.
I’ve tried quite a few distros over the (+20) years of Linux-use. I keep choosing Gentoo.
Arch has great documentation, rolling release, and customizability, minus the compilation. Obviously, use Gentoo if you want to. But for advanced Linux users, I highly recommend Arch.
As a long time Gentoo user I tried Arch a few times but the whole AUR mess instead of using the same tools for distro, community and my own packages really put me off.
Use an AUR helper.
The fact that there are so many of those is part of the mess I mentioned.
