Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2003 17:57:54 -0700 (PDT) From: Thomas McIntyre <temac@yahoo.com> To: sp0rkmail@brainguts.no-ip.com Cc: advocacy@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD vs. Linux vs. Windows Message-ID: <20030625005754.48018.qmail@web14206.mail.yahoo.com>
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Eli wrote: > I know I'm a bit late on this one, but maybe they should run > FreeBSD against Gentoo on the big TechTV Linux vs FreeBSD > shootout. I know whenever I try and advocate FreeBSD to my > Linux friends running Gentoo, they always point to Portage as > being a ports killer. > ...And there's pretty much no way in hell someone can get a > Gentoo system up in less than 30 minutes, even if they start at > stage 3... >=) > -Eli This being advocacy, please forgive my rant. I recently evaluated gentoo as a competitor to freebsd's sparc64, and will admit to not walking away a fan, particularly of Portage. What's the point of munging in all this automagic USE stuff? One of freebsd's stregths the ease to a clean install w/o having to duel the installer. Ports are great for a willingness to allow configuring, messing with makefiles, source -- whatever -- without having to be an action hero. Try minimizing Solaris or building your own packages for comparison. Not friendly. I also sympathize with question of Gentoo's build times. First get the machine running, then tweak it -- an iterative approach is best. It's hard to understand why a working kernel isn't provided. Hand configuring a kernel to get off the cdrom seems extreme. And in light of the effort invested in Portage to chuck the stick shift, a little schizophrenic. Last gripe is for sparc64 only. If one wants to do all this command line bootstrapping, do it via working ssh daemon. Anyone having to install gentoo sparc via a serial cable better know how to configure sshd by hand; else, it may be a long build. Still, one has to appreciate getting Linux based on source. But your friends might want to consider dialing back the bragging a tad.... :) Tom McIntyre __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com
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