[hanslub42]

I have been using Gentoo forever (actually since around 2005). It has always worked well for me, documentation is great (though I always take a look at the Arch documentation as well), it is extremely stable (even though I run the "unstable" version (~amd64)

Th only thing that sometimes requires a bit of elbow grease is the update process (emerge @world) which can throw up large lists of "blockers", especially when some major component changes (like say the transition from python2 to python3). "eselect news" gives ample warning beforehand.

This is the reason I never advise new linux users to use it, but I also don't see myself using any different distribution.

[comboy]

I also started about that time and left it about 2 years ago. I've only reinstalled once during that time. But even on stable portage version these blocks are hell. Especially when you don't feel like toying with it for like a year and then it turns out that upgrade process requires packages versions which are not in the portage anymore etc.

With all but the most popular hardware you are pretty much on your own. It usually drops down to getting some debian drivers and understanding your system. It's all doable, but it's time consuming.

Still I don't think any distribution comes close to being so well organized and nice overall. It seems to take security seriously. It's just too bad that it became so unpopular. It's really hard to use it to a full potential without becoming a contributor nowadays. Which is fine if that's what you want to do but there are times when you want your OS to be your tool not your hobby. With more popularity it could be a very productive tool.

[dilippkumar]

For other mildly OCD folk here: The parentheses is now closed)

[kstrauser]

You’re doing God’s work, friend.

[japanman425]

How unstable is ubuntu latest lts compared to this?

[404mm]

Controversial answer- Ubuntu LTS is very stable. Now that being said I would not recommend Ubuntu to anyone really. I was never fan of their take on desktop (Unity) and transition to systemd but it was ok on headless servers. Now their latest pushes for Snap and Ubuntu Advantage is a solid “k-thx-bai”.

If you want server grade stability and Debian/Ubuntu-like feel, then go with Debian. Basic install is quite clean (not gentoo/arch level but very clean compared to *buntu).

[simoncion]

Over the two or four years I used Ubuntu, I burned more time fixing upgrade problems in Ubuntu than (barring the libpng nonsense way back in the day) I've spent fixing Gentoo upgrade problems since ~2004.

I really, really, really wanted to be able to recommend Ubuntu, and for a long while it was REALLY good, so I could. But then something happened inside Canonical, (I guess they turned into clowns?) and they started releasing software that would just break _bad_ on upgrade. (In fact, had I not spent so much time developing my sysadmin skills with Gentoo, I would have been unable to recover from the upgrade problems I ran into.)

[bombcar]

The advantage I have with gentoo for my personal servers (I use Mac for desktop) is that upgrades are incremental - I only have to deal with one issue at a time.

Upgrading Ubuntu LTS scars me and CentOS just wasn’t upgradable at all.

[HybridCurve]

I remember trying Ubuntu when it was new. I did a default desktop install and after about an hour I tried to compile something and got "gcc: command not found". I could not fathom why anyone would not install a compiler on linux by default.

That was the last time I used Ubuntu.

[jm4]

It’s considered poor security practice to have compilers or interpreters installed on machines where they’re not needed. Someone who isn’t a developer and is only installing packages via apt (or snap, yuck) doesn’t need gcc.

[mrybczyn]

"security" practices, only get in the way of the good guys.

[MattPalmer1086]

Haha, I assume you are joking. Because they are intended to get in the way of the bad guys, to be sure at the cost of some inconvenience to the good guys.

[neoromantique]

Many ubuntu-*desktop* users don't need compiler, and since they were intended target audience ubuntu doesn't include it, after all if you need the compiler is it that painful to run `apt install -y build-essential`?

[HybridCurve]

I had been using linux for for almost 10 years by the time Ubuntu came out, starting with SLS and then moving to Slackware. The concept of not having a compiler was foreign to me as it was required to build the kernel so your system would have necessary device drivers and features.

> ... after all if you need the compiler is it that painful to run `apt install -y build-essential`?

No, of course not. But that's when it became obvious to me that I was not the target audience for that distribution, and had switched to Gentoo shortly after.