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'''Gentoo Linux''' is a high performance, source-based [[Linux distribution]]. It has an advanced *[[Berkeley Software Distribution|BSD]]-style [[package management]] system called [[Portage (software)|Portage]] which is written in [[Python programming language|Python]]. Gentoo is often referred to as a [[meta-distribution]] because of its high level of configurability. This includes the optional use of "USE flags" (in the Portage system), which describe the hardware and software features the user would like to include while building packages. The originator and current head of the Gentoo project is [[Daniel Robbins]].
In Gentoo [[Linux]] 1.4, the Gentoo Reference Platform (GRP) was introduced. It provides precompiled packages, allowing users to avoid long compile times. For reference, installing a base system completely from source on an [[Athlon XP]] system might be expected to take upwards of twelve hours, especially if optional components like [[XFree86]] [[KDE]] and [[Mozilla]] are installed. Installation is by no means easy; while documention is available and complete, much hand-editing of configuration files is needed, and new Linux users might be better advised to use [[Mandrake]] or [[Redhat]].
It is also possible to create [[tarball]]s of packages for distribution to other machines. This is particularly useful in the case of a [[homogenous]] computing environment, where packages may be used on many machines despite having been prepared on a specific one.
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