Web site hosting - 368Part IIIChoosing and Installing a Linux DistributionThe Portage
368Part IIIChoosing and Installing a Linux DistributionThe Portage software distribution management system is the key technology thatseparates Gentoo from other Linux distributions. Based on the BSD Ports system, Portage can be used to build almost the entire Gentoo distribution from sourcecodes, and manage and upgrade that software as well. Gentoo s Open Source SpiritAlthough Gentoo could someday produce a commercial Linux distribution, Robbinsand the Gentoo project are committed to the goals of open source software, whilestill allowing those who use the software to make money. Ways that those goals arereflected in Gentoo and not in other distributions include: .Passing bug fixes upstream.Software bugs in open source projects are oftenshaken out when actual Linux distributions are put together. When a distribu- tion finds a bug, it is considered good practice to pass the fix to that bugupstream, to the project maintaining the original software. Not passing bug fixes upstream could potentially give a commercial Linux distribution an advantage over other distributions that don t have the fix. There have been many cases where fixes in early Red Hat Linux and othercommercial distributions have not made it to the upstream projects. Gentoo, on the other hand, has a reputation for sharing bug fixes with the open sourcecommunity. .Transparent development process. Not only is the open source softwaremade available to everyone, but the tools for building that software are alsofreely distributed. Gentoo users can see exactly what their software contains, along with all the decisions made to build that software. It is also a fairly sim- ple procedure to change any of those build decisions in the process of usersbuilding their own Gentoo software. .Choices for creating Gentoo.You can build your own Gentoo Linux from thesource code pages (as described in this chapter) or start from prebuilt binarypackages provided by the Gentoo project. Freedom, in the Gentoo philosophy, means to let users create the kind of Linux system the users want. So, if usersdon t want to make decisions about how their packages are built, they cansimply take ready-made packages from the Gentoo project. .Not-for-profit organization. When the Linux distribution is dedicated to thecommunity and not beholden to stockholders, open source enthusiasts oftenfeel better about freely contributing to improving that distribution. Gentoo isa not-for-profit organization. This open source spirit has also helped Gentoo gain a community that is extraordi- narily active and helpful to its members.