Re: [gentoo-dev] A User's View of the Code of Conduct

[Larry Lines]

On Wed, 2007-03-14 at 13:45 -0700, M. Edward (Ed) Borasky wrote:
> Larry Lines wrote:
> > I learned Linux by
> > installing and hacking and suffering over Gentoo.  Exactly one year
> > after installing Gentoo, I was in Hong Kong building and programming for
> > a Linux cluster.  There is no other distribution that compresses the
> > learning curve like that.  I still can't figure out what is supposed to
> > be easier about running Redhat or Fedora.  Sure installation is easier
> > but then you don't know where anything is and you can't tweak anything
> > easily.
> >
> And that's precisely because a whole generation of RHCEs knows *exactly*
> where everything is on a Red Hat or Fedora system, and Gentoo puts
> everything somewhere else. :) If I were an RHCE, I'd have just as much
> trouble customizing and tweaking a Gentoo (or Debian) box as you would
> on a Fedora system. I know ... I've flunked the dang RHCE exam *twice*
> for that very reason! :) It's about repetition, muscle memory, rote
> learning, etc. -- not about Red Hat being "better" than Gentoo or the
> other way around.
>
> --
Well I guess it would be more accurate to say I don't want to learn a
new distribution.  But maybe I should since Gentoo is a dying
distro!  ;)

I still say that just the install process for Gentoo is a huge learning
tool for Linux.  You have to know a lot more than the average Redhat
user just to get through the install, and Gentoo's install is heavily
documented so if you just follow the instructions without knowing Linux,
it's possible to learn quite a bit very fast.  The network analysts at
one of my jobs actually make the new people install Gentoo on a box just
for the experience.

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