Re: Source only vs Gentoo

On 08/11/2024 19.32, Phillip Frabott wrote:

So I'm considering a move from my own source-built install of Linux to something else. Trying to install new versions of KDE have become a problem and I'm not interested in going the LFS route. I've started to consider other distros. I looked at Arch/Manjaro which I thought were close to what I wanted but I didn't like the fact that most things are still binary. As a source-only type of guy I was hoping to find something that was more source-only based. A friend recommended I use Gentoo. I took a quick look at the web site but I wanted to get a few thoughts from others.
 My basic requirements are as follows.
 1: Needs to be fully source built. No pre-built binaries or shortcuts. This includes during initial installation as well. (I'm sure a few core pre-builts are required for the install disc/USB flash to work. I'll accept that if I have to, but install to /dev/sda should be built from source)

Most people install stage 3, this has the core prebuilt, you are free to explore stage 1 or stage 2 installation, not as well documented.

2: Needs to be fully configurable. If I want to remove /usr I should be able to do so (I won't do that but this expresses the amount of config freedom I want out of it).

As long as you don't use systemd you should have full control of your setup, for sure some stuff may need you to patch builds yourself if you stray too far from the "default".

3: Needs to support manual building from source without a package manager should I need to. (I don't mind if the main system uses a package manager to build from source but I want to be able to have the option not to use a package manager once the system is up, something that is hard to do with Arch/Manjaro)

All distros supports building, just no distro's package manager will be aware of your manual built stuff
The ebuild is the instruction how to build, so if you know what to do on the command line, then it will not be too difficult to write a simple ebuild for it and then things are taken care of. You will have saved time already if you compile something more than once.
Keep in mind that Gentoo has USE flags, which enables/disables features in a package, so you shouldn't build your own version of libpng manually, but adjust the USE flags to get one that fits you. Otherwise when you emerge a package that depends on libpng, it will build a libpng based on the defaults and that application you wanted will use the gentoo libpng and not the one you built.

4: I want to be able to use Systemd. I know Gentoo uses OpenRC but I've heard I can use Systemd instead.

Yes, Gentoo allows you to use systemd instead of OpenRC, but that comes with it's limitations.

5: I need to be able to use GRUB as a bootloader.

Gentoo uses GRUB2, it dropped support for GRUB quite many years ago.

6: I need to still dual-boot Windows 11. I work from home and unfortunately I need to have access to Windows 11 on the same machine. Since GRUB would be required, I assume this is a non-issue but I'm putting it on the list anyways.

lilo works too for dual boot... but default for amd64 installs is GRUB2.
--
  //Aho