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[OT] Debian vs Gentoo (discussed in newsletter)



Hi,

i just saw the topic raised in the newsletter. I would
never use Gentoo: 
* since i'm lazy and i do NOT want to compile everything. i'm
   a software engineer so i compile enough at work and when i come
   home i want something that works :-)
* debian has all the tools to compile sources, be they source packages
   or tar.gz. With tar.gz you can use check install or learn how
   to build your own deb's from source. ( and the package database
   keeps track of them! )
   So it should be possible i think to install a base system and then
   compile all other programs that you need.
 
What Debian (and linux in general) needs more is up to date 
documentation. Regarding this topic, a document would be nice on
how users should deal with sourcepackages, other sources (tar.gz),
kernel compilation and so on. What is the Debian way of doing this.
Of course this opinion is influenced by the fact that i'm still rather 
new to linux. For instance, a lot of man pages for me don't really 
help me. They give me a clue yes, but do not provide
all the help i need.

I used to work for a Speech Technology Company (tech support
for software engineers) and what i did to show them how stuff works
was make small examples that showed a basic part of the 
technology without being overwhelming. And thats what i'm looking for in
other software: "Can you show me a minimal working setup?"

Anyway, Debian is one of the best (IMHO) regarding documentation
but i get most value out of this user list. I mean, it's solid gold!
I posted a few times on the Suse list and had received mixed responses.
And the standard answer is RTFM. I think i've never encountered
it here. That's what i like about Debian and it's users, plain kickass.

Now, if the hardware on my server is replaced i can start installing
debian again (and just when i thought i was getting the hang of
exim, fetchmail and procmail )

* rant end *

Benedict




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