Gentoo Linux is a LiveCD Linux distribution, like Knoppix, so it can be fully executed from a CD-ROM, without installation in the hard disk. But it's less user friendly for the newbbies than Knoppix, specially to acceso to the Graphic User Interface.
It's built almost entirely from source. It has an advanced package management system called Portage. Some consider Gentoo a meta-distribution because of the incredibly flexible installation process. The originator and current head of the Gentoo project is Daniel Robbins.
One of the goals for Gentoo Linux 1.4 is the addition of the GRP--the Gentoo Reference Platform--which will allow users to install precompiled packages built to certain baselines specifications. This may be an attempt to appease naysayers; some believe that Gentoo users spend too much time compiling and recompiling common packages.
It is also possible to create tarballs of packages for distribution to other machines; this is particularly useful in the case of a homogenous computer setting, where one machine can build new or updated packages and the resulting precompiled tarballs can be installed on the rest of the machines without needing any further modification or rebuilding.
In June 2003, Zachary Welch, a long-standing developer and sponsor of Gentoo, announced that he was unhappy with the direction of Gentoo and was creating a new distribution. This is to be maintained by a new non-profit organisation, the Zynot Foundation.
External link
- Gentoo Linux
- Zynot Foundation, includes a detailed discussion of reasons for the fork.