For me, Gentoo is about *convenient* choice

It's often said, that Gentoo is all about choice, but that doesn't quite fit what it is for me.

The highest ability to choose is Linux from scratch, after all, and I can have any amount of choice in every distribution by just going deep enough (and investing enough time).

What really distinguishes Gentoo for me is that it makes it convenient to choose.

Since we all have a limited time budget, that means, many of us only have real freedom to choose, because we use Gentoo, but that doesn't ring true in general - it misses the reason, why we can can choose. So what Gentoo gives me is not just choice, but convenient choice.

Some examples to illustrate the point:

KDE 4 without qt3

I recently rebuilt my system after deciding to switch my disk layout (away from reiserfs towards a simple ext3 with reiser4 for the portage tree). When doing so I decided to try to use a "pure" KDE 4 - that means, a KDE 4 without any remains from KDE3 or qt3.

To use kde without any qt3 applications, I just had to put "-qt3" and "-qt3support" into my useflags in /etc/make.conf and "emerge -uDN world" (and solve any arising conflicts).

Imagine doing the same with a (K)Ubuntu...

Emacs support

Similarly to enable emacs support on my GentooXO (for all programs which can have emacs support), I just had to add the "emacs" useflag and "emerge -uDN world".

Selecting which licenses to use

Just add

ACCEPT_LICENSE="-* @FSF-APPROVED @FSF-APPROVED-OTHER"

to your /etc/make.conf to make sure you only get software under licenses which are approved by the FSF.

For only free licenses (regardless of the approved state) you can use:

ACCEPT_LICENSE="-* @FREE"

All others get marked as masked by license. Default (no ACCEPT_LICENSE in /etc/make.conf) is “* -@EULA”: No unfree software. You can check your setting via emerge --info | grep ACCEPT_LICENSE. More information…

One program (suite) in testing, but the main system rock stable

Another part where choosing is made convenient in Gentoo are testing and unstable programs.

I remember my pain with a Kubuntu, where I wanted to use the most recent version of Amarok. I either had to add a dedicated Amarok-only testing repository (which I'd need for every single testing program), or I had to switch my whole system into testing. I did the latter and my graphical package manager ceased to work. Just imagine how quickly I ran back to Gentoo.

And then have a look at the ease of deciding to take one package into testing in Gentoo:

• echo "cathegory/package" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords/test
• emerge -uDN world

Now I must admit, that it isn't yet perfectly convenient. What I'd really need is a tool to say something like

• equery missing --testing =cathegory/package-x.y >> /etc/portage/package.keywords/test
• equery missing --useflags =cathegory/package-x.y >> /etc/portage/package.use/test
• emerge -uDN world

The first to add testing versions of all required but missing packages into my package keywords, and the second to add useflags for all packages which need a certain useflag to support the package I want to emerge.

But even without that it's very convenient as long as the testing package doesn't have long list of requirements which are also testing.

And for some special parts (like KDE 4) I can easily say something like

• ln -s /usr/portage/local/layman/kde-testing/Documentation/package.keywords/kde-4.3.keywords /etc/portage/package.keywords/kde-4.3.keywords

(I don't have the kde-testing overlay on my GentooXO, where I write this post, so the exact command might vary slightly)

Closing remarks

So to finish this post: For me, Gentoo is not only about choice. It is about convenient choice.

And that means: It gives the power to choose to everybody.

I hope you enjoy it as I do!

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