[xarball]

If you're passing off Gentoo based on the presence of 'apt-get', you might be failing to understand the point of Gentoo =)

Gentoo uses something called 'portage' -- It's for building everything from source. This gets us access to really bleeding stuff very quickly, while leaving the lid open on an absurd amount of code out there.

This helps me write libraries for the entire Windows and Linux ecosystem. If I can prove that I can support my new binary's ABI there, I've proven that it can survive anywhere.

But if you're looking for apt, you should probably consider any of the binary-based distributions. Gentoo is not for the faint of heart, but if you want to learn Linux and development, it will benefit you like non other.

Debian has apt -- and while its release cycle is a little longer, I've found it to be more stable for mission-critical "apt"/binary-based hosting. In my experience I've found they screw up the packages a little less -- look to how many patches Ubuntu maintains on PHP for a comparison on how dangerous Ubuntu will sometimes play!

[fragmede]

Re: Gentoo; I should have complained about 'emerge world' taking days instead. ;)

> it will benefit you like non other.

Tiny point of disagreement; Linux From Scratch is the one true way to learn everything about Linux.

--

Yeah - I actually run Debian on my servers, but for the desktop, I've yet to find a match for Ubuntu.

[dkuntz2]

Arch? I had it installed on a secondary computer, and after a week I was convinced to switch my main computer over. I haven't looked back since.