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On Wed, Jul 04, 2001 at 11:48:46PM -0700, Michael Weichert wrote: |
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> Wonderful Distro! I have made my own linux-based operating system for a |
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> college project, and would love to include the Portage packaging system with |
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> it. Could you please direct me to where I would get a tar-ball of Portage? |
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One thing that I should explain -- Portage isn't *just* a ports tree. We use |
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it to build the entire Gentoo Linux distribution. Unlike FreeBSD, all the |
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stuff you would normally find in /usr/src is modularized and included in the |
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Portage tree. So, the fine-grained configurability and flexibility you expect |
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from ports is available at all levels; for example, you can build a Gentoo |
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Linux system with or without readline or gettext support. slang and PAM can |
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also be toggled on or off at build-time. Not only that, but we also support a |
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special feature called "system profiles". Basically, it allows *you* to define |
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what the distribution will look like. |
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So, if you'd like to use Portage, I have a suggestion. Rather than |
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incorporating Portage into your personal distribution, why not incorporate your |
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personal distribution into Portage, and thus Gentoo Linux? That way, we can |
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have a special "weichert" system profile can can be used to build a Gentoo |
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Linux system that's set up exactly the way you like it. In effect, it would |
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still be your own customized distribution, but it would exist as an option for |
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all Gentoo Linux users, allowing others to use the "weichert" profile if they |
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so desire. |
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By doing so, we'd be able to benefit from one another's work. You'd gain |
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access to our 700 or so up-to-date packages, our gcc-3.0 build testing, new |
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kernels, bug fixes, Portage improvements, etc. etc. and we'd benefit from your |
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improvements to the Portage tree, your system profile(s), and of course your |
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ideas, suggestions and friendship :) The one sacrifice you would need to make |
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is that you would be committing to work in a team (rather than individual) |
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development environment. I think this would be the best arrangement, since |
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then you'll have a voice in the future of Portage development. And if you're |
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going to base your distro around Portage, you really should be working closely |
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with us. |
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Best Regards, |
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|
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-- |
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Daniel Robbins <drobbins@g.o> |
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President/CEO http://www.gentoo.org |
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Gentoo Technologies, Inc. |
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