On Tue, May 29, 2001 at 11:22:21AM +0200, Thorsten Fischer wrote:
>
>Dear gentledevelopers,
>
>I discovered Gentoo Linux a few days ago and find it's port concept
>to be very fascinating. As I am a frequent writer for the german
>Linux Magazin, I decided to prepare an article about that distribution
>for one of the next issues -- after I get the 'build installation' 
>cross-compiled for my laptop =)

Fantastic!! Thanks for thinking of us!!

>First, I would appreciate anything pointed out that is important to know
>about gentoo and that is not covered on the website or the faq. I know 
>this is quite an unspecific question, but as I do not know what is _not_
>in the faq, i can't get more specific ;) User reports would be appreciated
>as well, bad ones as well as positive ones, as I would prefer a balanced
>view on gentoo.

Most important is that it's aimed at experianced hackers I think. It's not a
trivial install for people new to linux. Also We try to stay very cutting
edge. As soon as a new rev on upstream software takes place we try to update
our portage tree to reflect that. We pay close attention to security in using
things like "supervise", "djbdns", and "qmail". We are very focused on the
server market, evidenced by the upcomming inclusion of MOSIX, GFS. We already
support LVM, and reiserfs on initial install. I think it's also important to
know that anyone who wishes to contribute to gentoo can. Personally I am one
of many volunteer tester / package maintainers.


>
>Second, I did not find a hint on the site who is considered the 'inventor'
>or current maintainer of gentoo. Gentoo Technologies is mentiond on the
>bottom of each page, but gentootech.net is an empty page. I would
>appreciate having a short interview with someone who can be considered 'in
>charge', if there
>is such a person. The only hint I found was Daniel Robbins being called a
>chief architect in the Documentation Guide. Interview would include
>asking questions on the whereabouts of gentoo, why, when, where, you
>get the point. The portage system and its differences to apt-get
>and *bsd ports would be covered as well. This may already be part of the
>faq, but it's important to be included in an article.

Yes, Dan Robbins is the Father of Gentoo, and Chief Architect. Second would be
Achim Gottinger. Both fantastic hackers. 

>If this thing does not belong on the list, please use one of the email
>addresses in my signature for private messages.

I hope noone minds if I leave this on list, I'd like the rest of the gentoo
community to add to it :-)

>
>happy hacking,

Same to you!