New user: How stable is Gentoo?

DanielC · n00b Joined: 07 Sep 2015 Posts: 25 Location: Sweden

Hello all,

I'm not sure if I chose the right forum for this question. This is an opinion question: How stable is Gentoo as a desktop OS?

I am interested in Gentoo because I want to learn more about Linux. But my mental picture of Gentoo is as a bleeding-edge, not-very-stable distribution where something breaks every month and you have to go fix it. That's not what I want. I don't care about having the latest version of everything. What draws me to Gentoo is the awesome documentation and the opportunity to see how a Linux system is built from the ground up.

So, with that in mind, how would you rate the stability of Gentoo as a desktop OS (with Gnome 3)?

As a related question, am I right to think that Gentoo does not have a "stable" branch like some distros do?

Thank you for the help.

Cheers,
Daniel.

Hypnos · Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 1:04 pm Post subject:

I can't tell you about Gnome 3 -- I use XFCE -- but Gentoo is as stable as you want it to be. I've been using it as my primary desktop for home and school since 2002.

My main trick is that I only upgrade a package if it's marked insecure, disappears from the tree, or needs to fulfill an updated dependency for something else that has to be upgraded. And then, I usually upgrade to a tried-and-true version that's has a high patch-level version number.

Very rarely a package has a new feature I want to try and I will upgrade to the corresponding version.

I also run conservative compiler flags and minimal USE flags (which enable features).
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kernelOfTruth · Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 1:08 pm Post subject:

it has a stable and testing "branch"

stable:

ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86"

ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64"

unstable:

ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86 ~x86"

ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64 ~amd64"

it's as stable as you want it to be - as stable as you make it

even when running mostly testing (or even bleeding edge) packages - it has been the most stable experience of all tested distributions out there (yeah, well - Arch also is quite stable)
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Hardcore Gentoo Linux user since 2004

Roman_Gruber · Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 1:13 pm Post subject:

gnome has its issues because it uses systemd, and that is not gentoo specific.

gentoo is stable for myself considering i run unstable ~amd64 for years on the same hardware.
only one rule applies, to not set fancy make.conf settings.
Any linux mint, arch linux installation was screwed in the meantime because the autoupdater ruined the x-server or something else. And i do not bother because they werre my backup OS, just needed to install gentoo on the hardware in the first place and just to compare those popular "newbie / windi 95 newbie" distros in comparision with gentoo. Gentoo does not overwrite config files, but linux mint does in mx expierence, without asking the user. That is also a pain in the ass. No confirmation dialog / no mentioning that grub.config, the bootlaoder was overwritten ... Also teh times the x-server was screwed up was because of the scripts did not handle integrated chipset nvidia graphics / intel graphics / my nvidia gpu (talking about 3 notebooks where these distros failed in about 5 years time span) ...

Well i use linux for quite a while, 20years plus.

compared with windi 95, my box hardly ever had bsod, data corruption, lag, unuseable documents, lost data becaues of random crashes because of some office software.

so i would say that my gentoo configuration is more stable, as fast as windi95, more relyable, when you know what you do.

20 years ago i missed the linux certificatoin by a few percent, so i have a kinda deep knowledge.

when you do stupid things you can screw up any OS.

When i talk about windi95, i talk about windows and any version starting from windows 95 b, upwards, i stopped using it at xp, but i had the pleasure of this curse during my working expierence so i know how windows does not work on system administrators made boxes, who should know a lot more than myself how to set up windi95.

So therefore I would not recommend personally bothering with systemd and gnome3, but you are up to use it, but you may check the recent posts and go back for 30-50 pages and make list about systemd related topics. the mayority of topics cover systemd this or that, it just does not work (and thats my personal opinion)
you asked for it, you get it. gnome 3 may work for the average user. and also some here use gnome3 with eudev / openrc so it is still possible.

And a general hint, when you can expect that something will not work, causes issues, you better do not use it. If you do, you ask for troubles, that means, use stable gentoo sources and stay away from systemd, ...

I also suggest that you start reading this forum, you will learn a lot by reading topics. My hole motivation to answering topics is to deepen my knowledge, though i do write nonsense sometimes ... I am aware of that but I do learn by giving suggestions to others. Some of my answers are totally nuts but sometimes i gave a right glue / hint or the topic poster solved it somehow ....

We also have a rant post about the politics of systemd... as gnome 3 and maybe soon kde (both bloated desctop environments) need that you better start from page 1 and read about it and than decide later.

Gentoo is about choice, up to you what you do.

Naib · Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 1:23 pm Post subject:

"How stable" is a very abstract phrase. Gentoo attempts to follow upstream as close as possible (as oppose to debian/ubuntu that patch everything like its going out of fashion). So if upstream has a stable package there is a high chance you will be stable...

THAT said... what is in the users control is
1) USE flags
2) CFLAGS
3) VERSIONS

Make bad choices in the above (ie unstable packages, crazy cflags...) you will have issues.
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DanielC · n00b Joined: 07 Sep 2015 Posts: 25 Location: Sweden

DanielC · n00b Joined: 07 Sep 2015 Posts: 25 Location: Sweden

DanielC · n00b Joined: 07 Sep 2015 Posts: 25 Location: Sweden

Roman_Gruber · Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 2:04 pm Post subject:

DanielC · n00b Joined: 07 Sep 2015 Posts: 25 Location: Sweden

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 2:58 pm Post subject:

DanielCarrera,

Gentoo is a toolkit you uso to build your own distro. Gentoo is only Portage (the package manager) and the ebuild repository.
With the exception of a small muber of packages, everything else is upstream.

As others have said, there is stable and testing keywording. Testing is fairly stable too. Gentoo provides ways to back out the odd package that does't quite work if you plan for it.

There are also 'live builds' that build from the current upstream repository and then thece are a lot of varying quality overlays.
You choose the bits and pieces you want for your distro.

I don't use Gnome any more. Over the last few years Gnome has made some questionable design decisions.

Unlike binary distros, Gentoo does not have releases, you are as up to date as your last

shadywack · n00b Joined: 30 Aug 2012 Posts: 31

My package.accept_keywords contains this

Fitzcarraldo · Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 4:56 pm Post subject:

Naib · Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 5:20 pm Post subject:

Buffoon · Veteran Joined: 17 Jun 2015 Posts: 1369 Location: EU or US

Nah, here is the truth about Gentoo.

There are three branches. Broken, Totally Broken, FUBAR. Also referred as arch, ~arch and live (9999).

I run Totally Broken, every morning I start my Gentoo box I need to punch it to get started, sometimes I need to hardwire it to a Windows computer to get it kickstarted. It crashes in every five to ten minutes, but I have hardware watchdog which reboots it for me.

Hint about emerge:

Never run plain emerge foo. Run it as emerge -avq foo.

-a - this is for ask, emerge will ask you if you really want to go for this new adventure;
-v - verbose, will describe in more detail what is the next disaster to hit your box;
-q - this is the most important one. Without it you will be addicted watching compiling. I was running emerge without -q and it got so bad my little dogs could read it from my face, when I ran out of compiling they disappeared to save their skin.

Here is the comprehensive guide to be a real Gentooer and here is what you get.

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 5:39 pm Post subject:

Lets not forget unroll loops
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eccerr0r · Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 6:09 pm Post subject:

I have a few Gentoo boxes with Gnome3 installed, and the Gentoo devs have been doing a good job keeping it working. The default setup works well, though there are a few things to keep in mind when installing it like making sure your locales are set correctly. Most of the problems with Gnome3 and systemd is due to the user not wanting to use systemd, not due to Gentoo itself.

However if you have an ATI graphics adapter and plan to use the closed source fglrx driver, you should steer clear of Gnome3. It, coupled with systemd differences with traditional init system causes significant issues due to fglrx bugs. Why a (closed source) driver makes assumptions with the init system I don't know...
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papas · Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 6:58 pm Post subject:

Buffoon · Veteran Joined: 17 Jun 2015 Posts: 1369 Location: EU or US

But wait! There's more!

Look at this thread.

I as a true Gentooer I followed it. Do I have to say I borked my box? Well, indeed I did. As an experienced Gentooer I immediately unplugged all wires from infected box and called bug exterminators. (Since Gentoo has so many bugs I have an annual contract with them.) My quick reaction saved the rest of my household from disaster. FYI, if you do not disconnect your bugged Gentoo box immediately it will infect all electronic devices around. Microwave, cable box, refrigerator, Windows computers, everything will go FUBAR.

You have been warned.

Muso · Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 8:02 pm Post subject:

To echo what others have said in this thread already, Gentoo can be as stable as you would like it to be.

Even running ~amd64 system wide can be extremely stable. The main thing is keeping CFLAGS sane, building a rational system, and using a stable GCC and kernel.

I've been able to keep a Gentoo desktop up for months on end (I got lazy about updating the kernel) without issue. I have a headless server that's been up since the last power outage I had (couple years ago).
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Roman_Gruber · Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 8:43 pm Post subject:

Just out of curiousity, is the graphite flag for gcc as dangerous as it was years ago or is it sane these days?

The first time i used graphite ages ago my box was heavily screwed up...

Buffoon · Veteran Joined: 17 Jun 2015 Posts: 1369 Location: EU or US

graphite flag for gcc will build your gcc with graphite support. Unless you enable it in your CFLAGS it will do nothing.

mi_unixbird · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 24 Jul 2015 Posts: 118

Muso · Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2015 12:36 am Post subject:

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