why doesn't gentoo follow standards?

line72 · Apprentice Joined: 13 Jun 2002 Posts: 212

Where's /etc/sysconfig, what about /etc/rc.d ? Why did gentoo decide not to follow the standards ?

pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20067

nitro322 · Guru Joined: 24 Jul 2002 Posts: 594 Location: USA

well, there's http://www.linuxbase.org/spec/refspecs/LSB_1.2.0/gLSB/book1.html, but I haven't read through it yet and don't know if it specifically mentions what he brought up.

pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20067

I'm aware of the linuxbase, I'm just curious what he is referring to is all. If it is linuxbase you are referring to, that has already been addressed.

EDIT: Regarding Gentoo and LSB
_________________
Quis separabit? Quo animo?

Naan Yaar · Bodhisattva Joined: 27 Jun 2002 Posts: 1549

/etc/sysconfig and /etc/rc.d are not mandated by FHS 2.2, AFAIK.

carboxylman · Posted: Tue Jul 30, 2002 7:53 pm Post subject:

It appears he's referring to the directories /etc/sysconfig and /etc/rc.d that are found on redhat systems, and perhaps others.

Redhat is *not* a standard, and I think that many people dislike the way they set things up. To me, gentoo's setup of configuration directories/runlevel scripts is quite nice.

masseya · Posted: Tue Jul 30, 2002 8:02 pm Post subject:

I have to totally agree with carboxylman on this one. RH isn't nearly as easy to configure and maintain as Gentoo or even most other distrobutions IMHO. I suppose it really depends on what type of system you learned first, but at the same time Gentoo's is pretty unique and I find it the most intuitive.
_________________
if i never try anything, i never learn anything..
if i never take a risk, i stay where i am..

pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20067

pmj · Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2002 12:58 am Post subject:

RPM isn't *that* bad, so long as you've got a clue.

I know a few sysadmins who run redhat because they're used to it, and since linux is linux is linux, they have no trouble keeping safe and well configured systems.
_________________
pmj / [a]orange

pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20067

No, it isn't, but it is fun to 'say'. IMO emerge is a better product, so from that standpoint, I'd hate to have to use RPM again. Kind of like having to return to MS stuff.
_________________
Quis separabit? Quo animo?

fghellar · Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2002 3:07 am Post subject:

You cannot compare rpm to emerge. They are two quite different things. rpm is better compared to ebuild+qpkg. emerge is a higher level tool. If you try to manage your Gentoo box only with ebuild+qpkg, you'll have just as much trouble as with rpm only. emerge is what makes the difference. It's what the rpm world lacks...
_________________
| www.gentoo.org | www.tldp.org | www.google.com |

Naan Yaar · Bodhisattva Joined: 27 Jun 2002 Posts: 1549

up2date fits the "emerge" bill reasonably well. Ximian's Red Carpet is also fairly close. Obviously, neither of them builds from source, but they do sort out dependencies, etc.

WarMachine · Apprentice Joined: 15 Jul 2002 Posts: 181

fghellar · Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2002 3:47 am Post subject:

Pindrop · Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2002 4:06 am Post subject:

Source rpms are a bit...um....useless if you ask me.

pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20067

:wonders if line72 has read any of the posts:

_________________
Quis separabit? Quo animo?

fghellar · Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2002 7:02 am Post subject:

rphillips · Retired Dev Joined: 18 Apr 2002 Posts: 92

LSB says RPM is the standard :cry:

whatever....

matt · n00b Joined: 19 Apr 2002 Posts: 5

on Mandrake, there is urpmi, but i don't know if it can be compared with emerge

Naan Yaar · Bodhisattva Joined: 27 Jun 2002 Posts: 1549

rpm can. up2date and Red Carpet, AFAIK, cannot. You can download the source rpms with up2date, but I don't think there is a way to do an "up2date -u" with a "--rebuild" from source rpms.

mgirard · n00b Joined: 30 Jul 2002 Posts: 64

I have been through many linux distributions over the years, for both servers and desktops. I have tried the BSD's, the whole "ports" mentality rules, which initially attracted me to Gentoo. I have found Gentoo (and especially portage/emerge) to be a wonderful experiance rather than a nightmare. The USE flags are heaven for dependency checking.

De-facto standards are not always good and are often bad. Even standard standards set by offical bodies sometimes need to be re-visted. IMHO, I think Gentoo has done the best job of organizing config files of any linux distribution I have ever used. I would define the whole process as "sane and well thought out".

-Mg

abhishek · Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2002 5:37 pm Post subject:

Never tried it but there is apt-get for rpms.

mksoft · l33t Joined: 28 May 2002 Posts: 844