general "does Gentoo do this..." questions...

[klieber]

I've been using Debian Linux for about 6 months now and feel pretty comfortable with its quirks. I'm interested in Gentoo primarily because of the increased customization capabilities. I've read most of the documentation on gentoo.org and still have a few questions.


I'm hoping someone can answer the following questions regarding what Gentoo can/can't do: (note: I reference the way Debian does things only because that's what I'm familiar with -- not because that's how I think things should be done)

• Can you put a hold on certain Gentoo..umm..packages to prevent them from getting upgraded? (is 'package' the right word?) Something like 'echo "libc6 hold" | dpkg --set-selections'
• Does Gentoo's dependency system work at the version level or just at the program level? (in other words, can you make something dependent on KDE 3.0 or 2.2.2 instead of just KDE)
• Does Gentoo adhere to FHS standards?
• How time-consuming is it to write a Gentoo package?

My question regarding how hard it is to write Gentoo packages stems from the fact that, with Debian, the process is extremely time consuming, which tends to delay the release of new packages, especially larger ones like XFree86 and KDE3.

Finally, from anyone else who has transferred over from Debian, what have you found that's really cool about Gentoo and what have you found that's lacking?

Sorry for all the questions -- I'm still waiting for 'emerge system' to finish on my poor old PII 300. (and then I have to install KDE )

--kurt

[fghellar]

Can you put a hold on certain Gentoo..umm..packages to prevent them from getting upgraded? (is 'package' the right word?) Something like 'echo "libc6 hold" | dpkg --set-selections'

Yes. Check the World Update section of the Portage Manual.

Does Gentoo's dependency system work at the version level or just at the program level? (in other words, can you make something dependent on KDE 3.0 or 2.2.2 instead of just KDE)

It works at the version level.

Does Gentoo adhere to FHS standards?

Yes. Check the Filesystem Locations section of the Gentoo Linux Developers HOWTO.

How time-consuming is it to write a Gentoo package?

I don't know that... I guess it depends on the package itself... But the Developers Howto above is a good place to start...

[grahamdog]

I changed from debian to gentoo almost as soon as I heard about Gentoo. Gentoo, in my opinion, is better than Debian in the following ways:

1) You compile source files for a specific system.
2) It seems a lot more "fun". Debian seems to have an "old man" feel.

I left my gateway running Debian Potatoe because of the stability, but I run gentoo on my main system for the desktop features. I think this gives me the best of both worlds

However, I am missing the sheer number of packages available with Debian. Also, the ability to download iso's is a bonus too. Over the summer I don't have broadband, so having the Debian CD set is obviously very useful.

- Graham

[ASCI Blue]

I too converted from Debian to Gentoo after dependancy issues with Debian. eg Install SDL with Debian it was a pain in the ass to install a program that required SDL, many times it couldn't find what it needed. With Gentoo it installs it to wherever it should be installed so whether I use source or package it'll find it.

One of the things I like about Gentoo over Debian is not having to know exact package names. With Debian one had to apt-get x-window-system-core or something. Gentoo is emerge xfree and everything is taken care of.