[gentoo-dev] gentoo's portage

[Sami Cokar]

Hello,
   I've started playing with gentoo 1.0r6 and have a few comments.  I
installed gentoo using the tbz2 file and have a few comments:

1) documentation:  please ensure the 'build' options
(/etc/make.conf.build) are explained as to what all the three letter
acronyms mean and the impact/dependencies of picking them

2)documentation:  the departure from 'normal' system startup scripts
needs to described.  What will happen when a 'normal' non-gentoo
application tries to install itself expecting a 'standard' layout?

3) portage:  a great drawback seems that 'constant human effort' is
required to ensure the portage tree is updated.  I can see this becoming
an issue for gentoo.  There are many applications released and updated
that must conform to the portage system to make sure 'the latest and
greatest' really IS available "as advertised" on the web site :) eg.  I
needed the latest Matrox drivers and Powerdesk utility which I installed
manually.  my system's portage is not aware of manual installs I perform
and I needed the drivers before they could be added to the 'gentoo
portage' tree.  

4) portage: sounds powerful - perhaps it can also be used as a means of
a useful/automated/'user-friendly' 'uninstall' which is sorely lacking
in the unix world.  I have tried 4+ distributions of Linux and am
getting a bit tired of telling their respective 'uninstall' that when I
want to remove a game, I would STILL like to keep gnome on my system.

5) portage: if possible (space requirements, etc), 'generic 386'
binaries for the base system should be in the portage tree so that
initial installs/builds can progress faster.  the 'emerge system' on my
P4 1.4 took a looong time.  Would be better to have as much generic base
system and then be able to fine tune as desired.

6) portage: organization.  consider reducing the # of categories.
People can mainly remember 7 +/- 2 items of information.  go into
/usr/portage and there are a lot of choices which will only increase in
the future.  Consider:

    /usr/portage/base  (anything necessary to get from PC booted to
minimal command line)
    /usr/portage/GUI   (user interfaces, windowing systems)
    /user/portage/development  (development tools, languages)

    etc.    Note that i used 'development' instead of 'dev'.  lets use
long file names as necessary.  

    and don't go too deep:
    
 
/usr/portage/development/languages/python/libs/3rdparty/UnimportantLib



So far, gentoo seems to be the distribution I would prefer to use.
Congratulations on the results you've achieved.

Thank you.

____________________________________________________________
Sami Cokar            Landmark Graphics       scokar@×××.com
Phone: [phone]                        Fax: [phone]