{"slug": "gentoo", "name": "Gentoo", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "Source-based Linux distribution built around the Portage package manager and USE flags.", "recommenders": 11, "commenters": 30, "warners": 3, "score": 9.979, "rising": 1.38, "first": "2025-11-02", "latest": "2026-10-30", "why": "Loved for fine-grained control through Portage and USE flags, and as a hands-on way to learn Linux.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 12, "neutral": 20, "compare": 1, "warn": 3}, "spark": [0, 0, 4, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2], "listed": true, "loved": ["Flexibility and control", "Long-term loyalty"], "caveat": "Compile times", "short_quote": "Until now, I did not have any reason to change from Gentoo, as it continues to allow me the fine control that I want.", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.gentoo.org/", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["Gentoo", "Gentoo Linux"], "verdict": [{"text": "Loved for fine-grained control through Portage and USE flags,", "cites": [{"id": 801847632, "item_id": 50115477, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115477", "by": "pvdebbe", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For me it just makes sense to stay with this proven distro.", "excerpt": "Daily Gentoo desktop user since 2007. Compilations/ricing is one thing, the variety and flexibility of the portage and USE flag system is another. For me it just makes sense to stay with this proven distro. I use Ubuntu variants on my work PC and they just have all this crap that I don't have to tolerate on my gentoo installs.", "context": "daily Gentoo desktop user since 2007", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last rites for Gentoo's Chromium package"}, {"id": 784536672, "item_id": 49033542, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49033542", "by": "zepearl", "date": "2026-07-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use it since ~20 years on most of my notebooks/PCs/root servers mainly because of its flexibility", "excerpt": "Gentoorian here as well, cheers. I use it since ~20 years on most of my notebooks/PCs/root servers mainly because of its flexibility and I often end up wanting to use the very latest versions of software (e.g. ZFS, kernels, etc...) without struggling as most things are available from the official central package repository. I admit that updating/upgrading the OS is a pain from the time perspective (because of the lon", "context": "programmer/developer", "use_case": "daily driver on notebooks, PCs, servers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Linux distro do you daily drive?"}, {"id": 784488240, "item_id": 49030515, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49030515", "by": "adrian_b", "date": "2026-07-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Until now, I did not have any reason to change from Gentoo, as it continues to allow me the fine control that I want.", "excerpt": "I have switched from a Mac to Linux, but that was 20 years ago and the switch was only in laptops, because in desktops I had already switched from Windows to Linux earlier. I had been very satisfied with the hardware quality of my Apple laptop, but I had mixed feelings about the Apple software. There were a few things that I liked, but overall I was dissatisfied because there were too many constraints in what I was a", "context": "switched from Mac to Linux 20 years ago", "use_case": "desktops, laptops, servers", "switched_from": "macOS", "story": "Ask HN: What Linux distro do you daily drive?"}, {"id": 801846560, "item_id": 50115410, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115410", "by": "contingencies", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it was by far the most fun of any Linux I used", "excerpt": "I used it on an off as my daily machine for around 15-20 years I think. It is fast in terms of execution-on-hardware speed, and genuinely puts you in control. For a certain kind of user this is more important than anything. These days I'm on OSX mostly because of the frequency of business trips meant I needed something small and portable a few years ago, and now the hardware is so much better than what you can get fo", "context": "used it on and off for 15-20 years", "use_case": "daily machine", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last rites for Gentoo's Chromium package"}]}, {"text": " and as a hands-on way to learn Linux.", "cites": [{"id": 745407904, "item_id": 46587994, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46587994", "by": "nticompass", "date": "2026-01-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it helped me learn Linux and I loved it.", "excerpt": "I used to use Gentoo, it helped me learn Linux and I loved it. Waiting for things to compile took a while, but I learned about distcc and set up another machine to help the compiling! I don't use Gentoo anymore, since I don't really have the time anymore to deal with it - like having to fix compile issues - but it did feel really cool to have my system custom-tuned just for me. (I use Fedora, btw)", "context": "former Gentoo user", "use_case": "learning Linux, custom-tuned system", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}, {"id": 745267984, "item_id": 46579249, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46579249", "by": "yakk0", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Building Gentoo from scratch really helped me learn a lot", "excerpt": "I haven't used it in years, but when I was first using Linux I used Gentoo for a long time. Building Gentoo from scratch really helped me learn a lot and probably more quickly than dual-booting a system like I had been. I'll always have a soft spot for Gentoo.", "context": "", "use_case": "learning Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}, {"id": 782784192, "item_id": 48924012, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48924012", "by": "lrvick", "date": "2026-07-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "three times in a row I ported Gentoo to it out of pure spite and disdain for third parties trying to control the binaries I use to do my job", "excerpt": "Three employers in a row insisted on handing me a macbook, and three times in a row I ported Gentoo to it out of pure spite and disdain for third parties trying to control the binaries I use to do my job. At the time they called this crazy and unproductive, but those obsessions with control of my tools built the foundational skillsets that drove my career.", "context": "", "use_case": "work OS on MacBook", "switched_from": "macOS", "story": "I also filed the corners off my MacBook"}]}, {"text": " The most common complaint is long compile times,", "cites": [{"id": 801844464, "item_id": 50115279, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115279", "by": "kleiba2", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "But I didn't last for very long.", "excerpt": "I tried Gentoo some 20 years ago or so for fun at home. I guess my naive thinking was that software specifically compiled for my hardware would run noticeably faster and \"better\". But I didn't last for very long. I remember starting the install for a bigger app before going to bed, only to find the thing still building when I woke up. And as for the dream of more tailored builds, I never really noticed anything much ", "context": "tried it about 20 years ago", "use_case": "home desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last rites for Gentoo's Chromium package"}, {"id": 745218865, "item_id": 46576179, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46576179", "by": "entropie", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Its the distro of my heart.", "excerpt": "2025 I switched to nixos and will probably stay. I used gentoo for like 20 years. Its the distro of my heart. With some notebooks, some of which were getting on in years, it was simply too resource-intensive to update. Only GHC, for example, often took 12+ hours to compile on some older notebooks.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}, {"id": 784536672, "item_id": 49033542, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49033542", "by": "zepearl", "date": "2026-07-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use it since ~20 years on most of my notebooks/PCs/root servers mainly because of its flexibility", "excerpt": "Gentoorian here as well, cheers. I use it since ~20 years on most of my notebooks/PCs/root servers mainly because of its flexibility and I often end up wanting to use the very latest versions of software (e.g. ZFS, kernels, etc...) without struggling as most things are available from the official central package repository. I admit that updating/upgrading the OS is a pain from the time perspective (because of the lon", "context": "programmer/developer", "use_case": "daily driver on notebooks, PCs, servers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Linux distro do you daily drive?"}, {"id": 801851776, "item_id": 50115736, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115736", "by": "nly", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Shared libraries breaking ABI could mean recompiling half your operating system", "excerpt": "As an ex-Gentoo user, the pain in a was always bundled Vs shared libraries. Shared libraries breaking ABI could mean recompiling half your operating system On the other hand, bundled libraries meant insanely long build times and a sense of impurity/uncleanliness Unfortunately, it looks like projects like ABI tracker are long dead: https://github.com/lvc/abi-tracker", "context": "ex-Gentoo user", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last rites for Gentoo's Chromium package"}]}, {"text": " and many former users say they no longer have time to maintain it.", "cites": [{"id": 745407904, "item_id": 46587994, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46587994", "by": "nticompass", "date": "2026-01-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it helped me learn Linux and I loved it.", "excerpt": "I used to use Gentoo, it helped me learn Linux and I loved it. Waiting for things to compile took a while, but I learned about distcc and set up another machine to help the compiling! I don't use Gentoo anymore, since I don't really have the time anymore to deal with it - like having to fix compile issues - but it did feel really cool to have my system custom-tuned just for me. (I use Fedora, btw)", "context": "former Gentoo user", "use_case": "learning Linux, custom-tuned system", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}, {"id": 745229424, "item_id": 46576839, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46576839", "by": "zeroonetwothree", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used Gentoo back in 2003. It\u2019s nice to see that it\u2019s still going strong.", "excerpt": "I used Gentoo back in 2003. It\u2019s nice to see that it\u2019s still going strong. I don\u2019t have as much free time now it\u2019s not the distro for me, but perhaps when I retire I will come back to it.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}, {"id": 801846560, "item_id": 50115410, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115410", "by": "contingencies", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it was by far the most fun of any Linux I used", "excerpt": "I used it on an off as my daily machine for around 15-20 years I think. It is fast in terms of execution-on-hardware speed, and genuinely puts you in control. For a certain kind of user this is more important than anything. These days I'm on OSX mostly because of the frequency of business trips meant I needed something small and portable a few years ago, and now the hardware is so much better than what you can get fo", "context": "used it on and off for 15-20 years", "use_case": "daily machine", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last rites for Gentoo's Chromium package"}, {"id": 745256561, "item_id": 46578535, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46578535", "by": "Thev00d00", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I wish I had more time I could dedicate to maintaining my system", "excerpt": "I saw a comment in a \"I moved from Windows to Linux\" thread implying Windows has more configuration potential than Linux. I wonder what that commenter would make of Gentoo. I wish I had more time I could dedicate to maintaining my system, I'm marooned on Arch due to lack of time, such a shame.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Flexibility and control", "summary": "Commenters value Portage, USE flags and the ability to enable or disable exactly what they want.", "quotes": [{"id": 801847632, "item_id": 50115477, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115477", "by": "pvdebbe", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For me it just makes sense to stay with this proven distro.", "excerpt": "Daily Gentoo desktop user since 2007. Compilations/ricing is one thing, the variety and flexibility of the portage and USE flag system is another. For me it just makes sense to stay with this proven distro. I use Ubuntu variants on my work PC and they just have all this crap that I don't have to tolerate on my gentoo installs.", "context": "daily Gentoo desktop user since 2007", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last rites for Gentoo's Chromium package"}, {"id": 784488240, "item_id": 49030515, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49030515", "by": "adrian_b", "date": "2026-07-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Until now, I did not have any reason to change from Gentoo, as it continues to allow me the fine control that I want.", "excerpt": "I have switched from a Mac to Linux, but that was 20 years ago and the switch was only in laptops, because in desktops I had already switched from Windows to Linux earlier. I had been very satisfied with the hardware quality of my Apple laptop, but I had mixed feelings about the Apple software. There were a few things that I liked, but overall I was dissatisfied because there were too many constraints in what I was a", "context": "switched from Mac to Linux 20 years ago", "use_case": "desktops, laptops, servers", "switched_from": "macOS", "story": "Ask HN: What Linux distro do you daily drive?"}, {"id": 732655792, "item_id": 45790987, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45790987", "by": "random29ah", "date": "2025-11-02", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Today, for me, who still uses Gentoo/CRUX for some specific tasks, what matters is the flexibility to enable or disable what I want", "excerpt": "I'm really \"new\" to x64 (I only migrated from 32-bit in 2020...) and the difference I noticed between x86-64-v1 and x86-64-v3 was only with video (with ffmpeg), audio (mp3/ogg/mp4...) and encryption; the rest remains practically the same. Naively, I believe it might be more appropriate to have x86-64-v1 and x86-64-vN options only for specific software and leave the rest as x86-64-v1. AVX seemed to give the biggest bo", "context": "", "use_case": "flexible software configuration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Introducing architecture variants"}]}, {"label": "Long-term loyalty", "summary": "Many commenters used it as a daily driver for a decade or more and remember it fondly.", "quotes": [{"id": 745210576, "item_id": 46575661, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46575661", "by": "BoredPositron", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used Gentoo from 2006 for a decade or more and loved it.", "excerpt": "I used Gentoo from 2006 for a decade or more and loved it. Later I got more into embedded systems and low compute hardware and flirted with other distros. Gentoo is still running on my server but desktop and notebook are now on more conventional distros.", "context": "embedded systems background", "use_case": "server", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}, {"id": 745218865, "item_id": 46576179, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46576179", "by": "entropie", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Its the distro of my heart.", "excerpt": "2025 I switched to nixos and will probably stay. I used gentoo for like 20 years. Its the distro of my heart. With some notebooks, some of which were getting on in years, it was simply too resource-intensive to update. Only GHC, for example, often took 12+ hours to compile on some older notebooks.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}, {"id": 795456784, "item_id": 49716049, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49716049", "by": "sicktriple", "date": "2026-09-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been on gentoo for a year now and that's the longest lasting install I've ever had.", "excerpt": "I somewhat sympathize with the poster here, I too am a chronic distrohopper and if you are just the type of person with shiny object syndrome it can be really exhausting constantly being yanked around by your interest in other distros. I've been on gentoo for a year now and that's the longest lasting install I've ever had. Planning on keeping it that way, but you never know. I also have a macbook that I use for certa", "context": "chronic distrohopper", "use_case": "daily OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Leaving Linux"}]}, {"label": "Learning Linux", "summary": "Building the system from scratch taught users a lot about Linux.", "quotes": [{"id": 745267984, "item_id": 46579249, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46579249", "by": "yakk0", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Building Gentoo from scratch really helped me learn a lot", "excerpt": "I haven't used it in years, but when I was first using Linux I used Gentoo for a long time. Building Gentoo from scratch really helped me learn a lot and probably more quickly than dual-booting a system like I had been. I'll always have a soft spot for Gentoo.", "context": "", "use_case": "learning Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}, {"id": 745407904, "item_id": 46587994, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46587994", "by": "nticompass", "date": "2026-01-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it helped me learn Linux and I loved it.", "excerpt": "I used to use Gentoo, it helped me learn Linux and I loved it. Waiting for things to compile took a while, but I learned about distcc and set up another machine to help the compiling! I don't use Gentoo anymore, since I don't really have the time anymore to deal with it - like having to fix compile issues - but it did feel really cool to have my system custom-tuned just for me. (I use Fedora, btw)", "context": "former Gentoo user", "use_case": "learning Linux, custom-tuned system", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}, {"id": 782784192, "item_id": 48924012, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48924012", "by": "lrvick", "date": "2026-07-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "three times in a row I ported Gentoo to it out of pure spite and disdain for third parties trying to control the binaries I use to do my job", "excerpt": "Three employers in a row insisted on handing me a macbook, and three times in a row I ported Gentoo to it out of pure spite and disdain for third parties trying to control the binaries I use to do my job. At the time they called this crazy and unproductive, but those obsessions with control of my tools built the foundational skillsets that drove my career.", "context": "", "use_case": "work OS on MacBook", "switched_from": "macOS", "story": "I also filed the corners off my MacBook"}]}, {"label": "Performance", "summary": "Some found binaries compiled for their specific hardware ran fast.", "quotes": [{"id": 745226640, "item_id": 46576665, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46576665", "by": "tgtweak", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It remains one of the fastest distros I've seen for the specific hardware it was running on", "excerpt": "I used to run gentoo like 14 years ago! It remains one of the fastest distros I've seen for the specific hardware it was running on (high core count 4-socket AMD opteron servers) and I mostly attributed that to the fact it was compiling everything (even the base os in this case!) for that specific CPU at install time... emerge would build/compile and if you set your USE flags correctly it produced heavily tailored an", "context": "ran many machines at scale", "use_case": "high core count servers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}, {"id": 801846560, "item_id": 50115410, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115410", "by": "contingencies", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it was by far the most fun of any Linux I used", "excerpt": "I used it on an off as my daily machine for around 15-20 years I think. It is fast in terms of execution-on-hardware speed, and genuinely puts you in control. For a certain kind of user this is more important than anything. These days I'm on OSX mostly because of the frequency of business trips meant I needed something small and portable a few years ago, and now the hardware is so much better than what you can get fo", "context": "used it on and off for 15-20 years", "use_case": "daily machine", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last rites for Gentoo's Chromium package"}]}, {"label": "Init system choice", "summary": "It supports more than one init system, and OpenRC works well even for a full KDE Plasma gaming setup.", "quotes": [{"id": 773100417, "item_id": 48318776, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48318776", "by": "aidenn0", "date": "2026-05-28", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Gentoo wins on documentation and supporting more than one init system.", "excerpt": "I agree 100% with this article. However I switched to NixOS several years ago. On the axes I most care about, NixOS is better than Gentoo. In particular, managing configurations in NixOS is really a breeze. No more merging diffs of random files in /etc. On one hand, you could say that Nix has more magic than Gentoo, but on the other hand, the online nix option search links directly to the source code implementing the", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why Gentoo?"}, {"id": 749759009, "item_id": 46859938, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46859938", "by": "hparadiz", "date": "2026-02-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "OpenRC on Gentoo works great. I have a full bleeding edge Wayland KDE Plasma with Pipewire setup that I game on.", "excerpt": "OpenRC on Gentoo works great. I have a full bleeding edge Wayland KDE Plasma with Pipewire setup that I game on. OpenRC recently added user \"units\" aka services running as a user after a session start. Something that many new GUI user space applications rely on for various things. There are growing pains. https://bugs.gentoo.org/936123 Especially when upstream hard requires systemd. More annoying when there's no real", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming desktop", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux from Scratch Ends SysVinit Support"}]}, {"label": "Documentation", "summary": "Its documentation is praised and used as a reference guide.", "quotes": [{"id": 773100417, "item_id": 48318776, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48318776", "by": "aidenn0", "date": "2026-05-28", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Gentoo wins on documentation and supporting more than one init system.", "excerpt": "I agree 100% with this article. However I switched to NixOS several years ago. On the axes I most care about, NixOS is better than Gentoo. In particular, managing configurations in NixOS is really a breeze. No more merging diffs of random files in /etc. On one hand, you could say that Nix has more magic than Gentoo, but on the other hand, the online nix option search links directly to the source code implementing the", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why Gentoo?"}, {"id": 790081120, "item_id": 49380070, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49380070", "by": "BeetleB", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use the Gentoo docs as my guide for this", "excerpt": "I use the Gentoo docs as my guide for this - both have first class support and they don't nudge you in either direction. Out of curiosity: Is there any app that works on Wayland but not on X?", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux setup documentation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Xorg-Server 26.0.99.901"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Compile times", "summary": "Builds and updates can take hours, especially on older hardware.", "quotes": [{"id": 801844464, "item_id": 50115279, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115279", "by": "kleiba2", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "But I didn't last for very long.", "excerpt": "I tried Gentoo some 20 years ago or so for fun at home. I guess my naive thinking was that software specifically compiled for my hardware would run noticeably faster and \"better\". But I didn't last for very long. I remember starting the install for a bigger app before going to bed, only to find the thing still building when I woke up. And as for the dream of more tailored builds, I never really noticed anything much ", "context": "tried it about 20 years ago", "use_case": "home desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last rites for Gentoo's Chromium package"}, {"id": 745218865, "item_id": 46576179, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46576179", "by": "entropie", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Its the distro of my heart.", "excerpt": "2025 I switched to nixos and will probably stay. I used gentoo for like 20 years. Its the distro of my heart. With some notebooks, some of which were getting on in years, it was simply too resource-intensive to update. Only GHC, for example, often took 12+ hours to compile on some older notebooks.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}, {"id": 784536672, "item_id": 49033542, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49033542", "by": "zepearl", "date": "2026-07-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use it since ~20 years on most of my notebooks/PCs/root servers mainly because of its flexibility", "excerpt": "Gentoorian here as well, cheers. I use it since ~20 years on most of my notebooks/PCs/root servers mainly because of its flexibility and I often end up wanting to use the very latest versions of software (e.g. ZFS, kernels, etc...) without struggling as most things are available from the official central package repository. I admit that updating/upgrading the OS is a pain from the time perspective (because of the lon", "context": "programmer/developer", "use_case": "daily driver on notebooks, PCs, servers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Linux distro do you daily drive?"}]}, {"label": "Maintenance time", "summary": "Several former users left because they lacked time to maintain it.", "quotes": [{"id": 745407904, "item_id": 46587994, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46587994", "by": "nticompass", "date": "2026-01-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it helped me learn Linux and I loved it.", "excerpt": "I used to use Gentoo, it helped me learn Linux and I loved it. Waiting for things to compile took a while, but I learned about distcc and set up another machine to help the compiling! I don't use Gentoo anymore, since I don't really have the time anymore to deal with it - like having to fix compile issues - but it did feel really cool to have my system custom-tuned just for me. (I use Fedora, btw)", "context": "former Gentoo user", "use_case": "learning Linux, custom-tuned system", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}, {"id": 745229424, "item_id": 46576839, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46576839", "by": "zeroonetwothree", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used Gentoo back in 2003. It\u2019s nice to see that it\u2019s still going strong.", "excerpt": "I used Gentoo back in 2003. It\u2019s nice to see that it\u2019s still going strong. I don\u2019t have as much free time now it\u2019s not the distro for me, but perhaps when I retire I will come back to it.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}, {"id": 745256561, "item_id": 46578535, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46578535", "by": "Thev00d00", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I wish I had more time I could dedicate to maintaining my system", "excerpt": "I saw a comment in a \"I moved from Windows to Linux\" thread implying Windows has more configuration potential than Linux. I wonder what that commenter would make of Gentoo. I wish I had more time I could dedicate to maintaining my system, I'm marooned on Arch due to lack of time, such a shame.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}]}, {"label": "Hard installation", "summary": "Installation and configuration are manual and described as a pain and too hard for most people.", "quotes": [{"id": 745245248, "item_id": 46577828, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46577828", "by": "M95D", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "If you have any form of OCD, stay away from Gentoo or this will be your poison forever!", "excerpt": "TLDR: Installation is a pain, initial configuration is a pain and there's always something more to tweak, update is a lesser pain, but still a pain. Installation is done by booting a liveCD, manually partitioning your storage, unpacking a Gentoo STAGE3 archive, chrooting in it, doing basic configuration such as network, timezone, portage (package manager) base profile and servers, etc., compiling and installing a ker", "context": "", "use_case": "server administration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}, {"id": 777704592, "item_id": 48606537, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48606537", "by": "jjmarr", "date": "2026-06-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Gentoo.", "excerpt": "I use Gentoo. You have to specifically install \"overlays\" and every package maintainer would make their own overlay. You can't easily take over an overlay without the original person's permission. That being said, still one namespace. Once you add an overlay it can replace any package it wants. It's also Gentoo so too hard for most people to figure out.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux distribution", "switched_from": "", "story": "AURpocalypse now: a look at the recent AUR attacks"}]}, {"label": "ABI breakage", "summary": "Library updates with ABI changes can break the system or force large rebuilds.", "quotes": [{"id": 801868064, "item_id": 50116754, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50116754", "by": "raddan", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "This is also why I stopped using Gentoo.", "excerpt": "This is also why I stopped using Gentoo. I used it regularly from 2004-2005 (which I admit was a very long time ago now) on my graphite G4, because support was very good for PowerPC. But then one day emerge suggested I update glibc. I don\u2019t know if I botched the update or if it really was suggested in error, but I was just starting my studies in CS so I did not know what that particular \u201clibrary\u201d did and said yes. Th", "context": "used it 2004-2005 on a G4", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last rites for Gentoo's Chromium package"}, {"id": 801851776, "item_id": 50115736, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115736", "by": "nly", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Shared libraries breaking ABI could mean recompiling half your operating system", "excerpt": "As an ex-Gentoo user, the pain in a was always bundled Vs shared libraries. Shared libraries breaking ABI could mean recompiling half your operating system On the other hand, bundled libraries meant insanely long build times and a sense of impurity/uncleanliness Unfortunately, it looks like projects like ABI tracker are long dead: https://github.com/lvc/abi-tracker", "context": "ex-Gentoo user", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last rites for Gentoo's Chromium package"}]}, {"label": "Modest speed gains", "summary": "Some saw little practical difference from hardware-tailored builds, and one says the difference has diminished as compilers improved.", "quotes": [{"id": 801844464, "item_id": 50115279, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115279", "by": "kleiba2", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "But I didn't last for very long.", "excerpt": "I tried Gentoo some 20 years ago or so for fun at home. I guess my naive thinking was that software specifically compiled for my hardware would run noticeably faster and \"better\". But I didn't last for very long. I remember starting the install for a bigger app before going to bed, only to find the thing still building when I woke up. And as for the dream of more tailored builds, I never really noticed anything much ", "context": "tried it about 20 years ago", "use_case": "home desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last rites for Gentoo's Chromium package"}, {"id": 732655792, "item_id": 45790987, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45790987", "by": "random29ah", "date": "2025-11-02", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Today, for me, who still uses Gentoo/CRUX for some specific tasks, what matters is the flexibility to enable or disable what I want", "excerpt": "I'm really \"new\" to x64 (I only migrated from 32-bit in 2020...) and the difference I noticed between x86-64-v1 and x86-64-v3 was only with video (with ffmpeg), audio (mp3/ogg/mp4...) and encryption; the rest remains practically the same. Naively, I believe it might be more appropriate to have x86-64-v1 and x86-64-vN options only for specific software and leave the rest as x86-64-v1. AVX seemed to give the biggest bo", "context": "", "use_case": "flexible software configuration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Introducing architecture variants"}]}, {"label": "Systemd dependencies", "summary": "Upstream software that hard-requires systemd causes growing pains on OpenRC.", "quotes": [{"id": 749759009, "item_id": 46859938, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46859938", "by": "hparadiz", "date": "2026-02-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "OpenRC on Gentoo works great. I have a full bleeding edge Wayland KDE Plasma with Pipewire setup that I game on.", "excerpt": "OpenRC on Gentoo works great. I have a full bleeding edge Wayland KDE Plasma with Pipewire setup that I game on. OpenRC recently added user \"units\" aka services running as a user after a session start. Something that many new GUI user space applications rely on for various things. There are growing pains. https://bugs.gentoo.org/936123 Especially when upstream hard requires systemd. More annoying when there's no real", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming desktop", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux from Scratch Ends SysVinit Support"}]}], "who": [{"by": "jjmarr", "context": "Gentoo user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50308053", "date": "2026-10-30"}, {"by": "pvdebbe", "context": "daily Gentoo desktop user since 2007", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115477", "date": "2026-10-16"}, {"by": "contingencies", "context": "used it on and off for 15-20 years", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115410", "date": "2026-10-16"}, {"by": "everyflavourvms", "context": "former Gentoo user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50078547", "date": "2026-10-13"}, {"by": "avhception", "context": "Linux user, exotic architectures", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49827717", "date": "2026-09-24"}, {"by": "sicktriple", "context": "chronic distrohopper", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49716049", "date": "2026-09-15"}, {"by": "simoncion", "context": "Gentoo user with AMD GPU", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49704451", "date": "2026-09-14"}, {"by": "zepearl", "context": "programmer/developer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49033542", "date": "2026-07-24"}, {"by": "adrian_b", "context": "switched from Mac to Linux 20 years ago", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49030515", "date": "2026-07-23"}, {"by": "hparadiz", "context": "builds own desktops since age 14", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47458008", "date": "2026-03-20"}, {"by": "nticompass", "context": "former Gentoo user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46587994", "date": "2026-01-12"}, {"by": "notme43", "context": "runs Gentoo with a build container and binhost", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46579903", "date": "2026-01-11"}], "tags": ["for tinkerers", "for learning Linux", "for developers", "for servers", "systemd-free"], "use_cases": ["desktop os", "linux distribution", "desktop linux", "daily machine", "home desktop os", "linux distro"], "compared": [{"slug": "macos", "name": "macOS", "co": 4, "switched_from": 2, "switched_to": 3}, {"slug": "ubuntu", "name": "Ubuntu", "co": 6, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 3}, {"slug": "arch-linux", "name": "Arch Linux", "co": 10, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "nixos", "name": "NixOS", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 2}, {"slug": "fedora", "name": "Fedora", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "debian", "name": "Debian", "co": 6, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "slackware", "name": "Slackware", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "systemd", "name": "systemd", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46574769", "title": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review", "mentions": 9}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50114359", "title": "Last rites for Gentoo's Chromium package", "mentions": 5}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49029345", "title": "Ask HN: What Linux distro do you daily drive?", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48715630", "title": "Replacing Systemd with OpenRC in Debian", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50306008", "title": "US tech stocks see sharp falls over AI cost fears", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50261998", "title": "Ghostty 1.4", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"neutral": 1}, "2025-12": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 5}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"compare": 1}, "2026-06": {"neutral": 3, "recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 2}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 3}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 2, "recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 3, "warn": 3, "recommend": 2}}, "quotes": [{"id": 804928848, "item_id": 50308053, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50308053", "by": "jjmarr", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Gentoo and kernel upgrades are orthogonal to my userspace", "excerpt": "I don't understand why the kernel needs to be linked to the distro. I use Gentoo and kernel upgrades are orthogonal to my userspace because of Linus' \"we don't break userspace\" policy. I do not even need to recompile packages when I change my kernel. If EAC signs a custom kernel I will just boot into that one when I want to play video games. Unlike dual-booting Windows it won't delete my Linux boot entries and I can ", "context": "Gentoo user", "use_case": "desktop Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "US tech stocks see sharp falls over AI cost fears"}, {"id": 804211747, "item_id": 50263234, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50263234", "by": "adrian_b", "date": "2026-10-27", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "with NVIDIA GPUs and Gentoo Linux", "excerpt": "I assume that this depends on your computer/GPU/GPU driver. I have used Konsole for many years and I have used kitty for about 2 years in 2024/2025, then I have switched to ghostty around the beginning of 2026. At least in my computers (with NVIDIA GPUs and Gentoo Linux), kitty was many times faster than Konsole and Ghostty even faster. Moreover, in the now somewhat distant past when I was still using Konsole, it did", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ghostty 1.4"}, {"id": 801868064, "item_id": 50116754, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50116754", "by": "raddan", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "This is also why I stopped using Gentoo.", "excerpt": "This is also why I stopped using Gentoo. I used it regularly from 2004-2005 (which I admit was a very long time ago now) on my graphite G4, because support was very good for PowerPC. But then one day emerge suggested I update glibc. I don\u2019t know if I botched the update or if it really was suggested in error, but I was just starting my studies in CS so I did not know what that particular \u201clibrary\u201d did and said yes. Th", "context": "used it 2004-2005 on a G4", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last rites for Gentoo's Chromium package"}, {"id": 801851776, "item_id": 50115736, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115736", "by": "nly", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Shared libraries breaking ABI could mean recompiling half your operating system", "excerpt": "As an ex-Gentoo user, the pain in a was always bundled Vs shared libraries. Shared libraries breaking ABI could mean recompiling half your operating system On the other hand, bundled libraries meant insanely long build times and a sense of impurity/uncleanliness Unfortunately, it looks like projects like ABI tracker are long dead: https://github.com/lvc/abi-tracker", "context": "ex-Gentoo user", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last rites for Gentoo's Chromium package"}, {"id": 801847632, "item_id": 50115477, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115477", "by": "pvdebbe", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For me it just makes sense to stay with this proven distro.", "excerpt": "Daily Gentoo desktop user since 2007. Compilations/ricing is one thing, the variety and flexibility of the portage and USE flag system is another. For me it just makes sense to stay with this proven distro. I use Ubuntu variants on my work PC and they just have all this crap that I don't have to tolerate on my gentoo installs.", "context": "daily Gentoo desktop user since 2007", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last rites for Gentoo's Chromium package"}, {"id": 801846560, "item_id": 50115410, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115410", "by": "contingencies", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it was by far the most fun of any Linux I used", "excerpt": "I used it on an off as my daily machine for around 15-20 years I think. It is fast in terms of execution-on-hardware speed, and genuinely puts you in control. For a certain kind of user this is more important than anything. These days I'm on OSX mostly because of the frequency of business trips meant I needed something small and portable a few years ago, and now the hardware is so much better than what you can get fo", "context": "used it on and off for 15-20 years", "use_case": "daily machine", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last rites for Gentoo's Chromium package"}, {"id": 801844464, "item_id": 50115279, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50115279", "by": "kleiba2", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "But I didn't last for very long.", "excerpt": "I tried Gentoo some 20 years ago or so for fun at home. I guess my naive thinking was that software specifically compiled for my hardware would run noticeably faster and \"better\". But I didn't last for very long. I remember starting the install for a bigger app before going to bed, only to find the thing still building when I woke up. And as for the dream of more tailored builds, I never really noticed anything much ", "context": "tried it about 20 years ago", "use_case": "home desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last rites for Gentoo's Chromium package"}, {"id": 801256752, "item_id": 50078547, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50078547", "by": "everyflavourvms", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used to run Gentoo for quite a few years in the past", "excerpt": "> I don't follow. I don't either. I used to run Gentoo for quite a few years in the past and build dependency updates would not trigger rebuilds of build-dependent packages. Rebuilding the entire system with a new GCC was recommended by the documentation, but there was nothing in Portage forcing it. Neither would you rebuild the system if, e.g. make got an update.", "context": "former Gentoo user", "use_case": "Linux distro", "switched_from": "", "story": "A plea not to use uv-build"}, {"id": 797243473, "item_id": 49827717, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49827717", "by": "avhception", "date": "2026-09-24", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "having used Gentoo on a ppc64le machine as a daily driver for 3+ years", "excerpt": "I don't think that ARM Laptops have a chance in Linux land as long as each model requires stuff like a custom DT. I'm typing this on a Thinkpad x13s Gen1, \"21BX000XGE\". I really really like the device, best laptop I've owned so far, speaking strictly from a hardware perspective. No vents mean I can use it on a pillow, and it's dead silent. It never runs hot, great battery life. Thin and light, yet has all the perform", "context": "Linux user, exotic architectures", "use_case": "daily driver on ppc64le", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux support is coming to Snapdragon X2 series"}, {"id": 795456784, "item_id": 49716049, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49716049", "by": "sicktriple", "date": "2026-09-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been on gentoo for a year now and that's the longest lasting install I've ever had.", "excerpt": "I somewhat sympathize with the poster here, I too am a chronic distrohopper and if you are just the type of person with shiny object syndrome it can be really exhausting constantly being yanked around by your interest in other distros. I've been on gentoo for a year now and that's the longest lasting install I've ever had. Planning on keeping it that way, but you never know. I also have a macbook that I use for certa", "context": "chronic distrohopper", "use_case": "daily OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Leaving Linux"}, {"id": 795271216, "item_id": 49704451, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49704451", "by": "simoncion", "date": "2026-09-14", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used my Index on my Gentoo Linux machine like six months ago and it worked fine.", "excerpt": "Yeah, I used my Index on my Gentoo Linux machine like six months ago and it worked fine. FWIW, I'm using an AMD video card. Perhaps it doesn't work at all on Nvidia hardware, but -absent sabotage from Nvidia- there's no reason why the type of video card should matter at all... the thing's a wide-ass screen with some sensors attached that the graphics card has absolutely nothing to do with.", "context": "Gentoo user with AMD GPU", "use_case": "VR on Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "Steam Frame starts at $1059"}, {"id": 791083616, "item_id": 49442726, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49442726", "by": "gerdesj", "date": "2026-08-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "For 20 odd years I rocked Gentoo as my daily driver but my lap can't take the heat any more.", "excerpt": "IT is a bit of a journey (as is life). I started off with a ZX80 kit and some bluetac ... I've lost count of how many interfaces I've had to fenangle to get a job done. For 20 odd years I rocked Gentoo as my daily driver but my lap can't take the heat any more. Wifey gets Arch and I've settled on Ubuntu for a simple life. Embarrassingly enough, I had to get a \"child\" to explain to me how to get a wine dispenser to wo", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 790369041, "item_id": 49398065, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49398065", "by": "adrian_b", "date": "2026-08-22", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "mostly with Gentoo Linux", "excerpt": "There must be some quirk of whatever combination of software packages are installed there, but the proprietary drivers are not the culprit, at least not alone (i.e. there could be some interaction with other software packages with which I have little experience, like Gnome). I have been using the proprietary NVIDIA drivers for more than 2 decades on various hardware, both desktops and laptops, mostly with Gentoo Linu", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop and laptop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "There's no reason for software to be slow anymore"}, {"id": 790081120, "item_id": 49380070, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49380070", "by": "BeetleB", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use the Gentoo docs as my guide for this", "excerpt": "I use the Gentoo docs as my guide for this - both have first class support and they don't nudge you in either direction. Out of curiosity: Is there any app that works on Wayland but not on X?", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux setup documentation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Xorg-Server 26.0.99.901"}, {"id": 789802068, "item_id": 49362629, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49362629", "by": "shevy-java", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Arch, Gentoo and many more, even oldschool slackware, are much saner by default.", "excerpt": "> Getting media to work on Linux is more complex than you may think. Not at all: ffmpeg + mpv Problem solved. > a lot less feasible for Linux distributions designed to be freely downloaded and redistributed. > [...] spent some time enabling third-party repositories to get multimedia codecs, you already know what it's like Well, this was quite easy on debian, but I abandoned being a slave to distributions. I compile f", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A 25-year-old video patent just expired, ending a legal headache for Linux"}, {"id": 784536672, "item_id": 49033542, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49033542", "by": "zepearl", "date": "2026-07-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use it since ~20 years on most of my notebooks/PCs/root servers mainly because of its flexibility", "excerpt": "Gentoorian here as well, cheers. I use it since ~20 years on most of my notebooks/PCs/root servers mainly because of its flexibility and I often end up wanting to use the very latest versions of software (e.g. ZFS, kernels, etc...) without struggling as most things are available from the official central package repository. I admit that updating/upgrading the OS is a pain from the time perspective (because of the lon", "context": "programmer/developer", "use_case": "daily driver on notebooks, PCs, servers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Linux distro do you daily drive?"}, {"id": 784488240, "item_id": 49030515, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49030515", "by": "adrian_b", "date": "2026-07-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Until now, I did not have any reason to change from Gentoo, as it continues to allow me the fine control that I want.", "excerpt": "I have switched from a Mac to Linux, but that was 20 years ago and the switch was only in laptops, because in desktops I had already switched from Windows to Linux earlier. I had been very satisfied with the hardware quality of my Apple laptop, but I had mixed feelings about the Apple software. There were a few things that I liked, but overall I was dissatisfied because there were too many constraints in what I was a", "context": "switched from Mac to Linux 20 years ago", "use_case": "desktops, laptops, servers", "switched_from": "macOS", "story": "Ask HN: What Linux distro do you daily drive?"}, {"id": 782784192, "item_id": 48924012, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48924012", "by": "lrvick", "date": "2026-07-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "three times in a row I ported Gentoo to it out of pure spite and disdain for third parties trying to control the binaries I use to do my job", "excerpt": "Three employers in a row insisted on handing me a macbook, and three times in a row I ported Gentoo to it out of pure spite and disdain for third parties trying to control the binaries I use to do my job. At the time they called this crazy and unproductive, but those obsessions with control of my tools built the foundational skillsets that drove my career.", "context": "", "use_case": "work OS on MacBook", "switched_from": "macOS", "story": "I also filed the corners off my MacBook"}, {"id": 779463120, "item_id": 48716445, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48716445", "by": "shevy-java", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Gentoo is great from a philosophy point of view.", "excerpt": "Gentoo is great from a philosophy point of view. From a practical point of view, though, Gentoo kind of struggled a lot. Archlinux kind of took away a lot of the user base here and I don't think Arch is necessarily worse than Gentoo, even if Gentoo may still be better due to offering more choice, which is also true. I myself fell victim to the GoboLinux philosophy, so versioned AppDirs are the only logical way to ins", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux distribution", "switched_from": "", "story": "Replacing Systemd with OpenRC in Debian"}, {"id": 779462480, "item_id": 48716405, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48716405", "by": "shevy-java", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I think gentoo went that approach.", "excerpt": "Well - it is an alternative to debian and in many ways is debian. But the counter-question is: why should debian users HAVE to use systemd? This is a much more fundamental question. Devuan solved it via forking. I think the proper way to handle this is to be able to offer both. I think gentoo went that approach. Debian went the \"my-way-or-the-highway\" route, which objectively is worse, even if understandable (less to", "context": "", "use_case": "offering both init systems", "switched_from": "", "story": "Replacing Systemd with OpenRC in Debian"}, {"id": 777704592, "item_id": 48606537, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48606537", "by": "jjmarr", "date": "2026-06-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Gentoo.", "excerpt": "I use Gentoo. You have to specifically install \"overlays\" and every package maintainer would make their own overlay. You can't easily take over an overlay without the original person's permission. That being said, still one namespace. Once you add an overlay it can replace any package it wants. It's also Gentoo so too hard for most people to figure out.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux distribution", "switched_from": "", "story": "AURpocalypse now: a look at the recent AUR attacks"}, {"id": 775079553, "item_id": 48442472, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48442472", "by": "adrian_b", "date": "2026-06-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "(I typically use Gentoo)", "excerpt": "The last time when I have used RHEL was decades ago, so I do not have any idea about what happens there. On the other hand, I have been using XFS since 2005 (since when I have transitioned from 32-bit Linux to 64-bit Linux), on a great variety of hardware systems, servers, desktops, mini-PCs, laptops. My file systems are typically mostly full and from time to time I had incidents when some job failed by filling compl", "context": "", "use_case": "operating system", "switched_from": "", "story": "What is the purpose of the lost+found folder in Linux and Unix?"}, {"id": 774728064, "item_id": 48420504, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48420504", "by": "jorl17", "date": "2026-06-05", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I carried my Gentoo with green foreground on a black background.", "excerpt": "Hear, hear. Back when I attempted to be an edgy college guy, I carried my Gentoo with green foreground on a black background. EVERYWHERE. My pcmanfm (yes, I was one of those) looked glorious in true matrix style (and I did have a matrix screensaver). I did it because it was \"cool\", not because I felt that dark mode was better. Then when I changed to MacOS, since there wasn't native dark mode, I don't think I ever _th", "context": "", "use_case": "college desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Aging and Eye Problems"}, {"id": 773100417, "item_id": 48318776, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48318776", "by": "aidenn0", "date": "2026-05-28", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Gentoo wins on documentation and supporting more than one init system.", "excerpt": "I agree 100% with this article. However I switched to NixOS several years ago. On the axes I most care about, NixOS is better than Gentoo. In particular, managing configurations in NixOS is really a breeze. No more merging diffs of random files in /etc. On one hand, you could say that Nix has more magic than Gentoo, but on the other hand, the online nix option search links directly to the source code implementing the", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why Gentoo?"}, {"id": 759328128, "item_id": 47458008, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47458008", "by": "hparadiz", "date": "2026-03-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Gentoo. I compile all the things.", "excerpt": "This picture of the Ryzen AI Max+ blew my mind. https://images.prismic.io/frameworkmarketplace/Z7aVJZ7c43Q3f_fj_FWDesktop-SpecsPg-Hero.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress Look this isn't an ad. I've been building my own desktops since I was 14. It's always been a CPU and motherboard and memory separate type of deal but this thing has it all integrated. Look how small it is. I use Gentoo. I compile all the things. I know exact", "context": "builds own desktops since age 14", "use_case": "desktop OS compiling from source", "switched_from": "", "story": "MacBook M5 Pro and Qwen3.5 = Local AI Security System"}, {"id": 749759009, "item_id": 46859938, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46859938", "by": "hparadiz", "date": "2026-02-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "OpenRC on Gentoo works great. I have a full bleeding edge Wayland KDE Plasma with Pipewire setup that I game on.", "excerpt": "OpenRC on Gentoo works great. I have a full bleeding edge Wayland KDE Plasma with Pipewire setup that I game on. OpenRC recently added user \"units\" aka services running as a user after a session start. Something that many new GUI user space applications rely on for various things. There are growing pains. https://bugs.gentoo.org/936123 Especially when upstream hard requires systemd. More annoying when there's no real", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming desktop", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux from Scratch Ends SysVinit Support"}, {"id": 745407904, "item_id": 46587994, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46587994", "by": "nticompass", "date": "2026-01-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it helped me learn Linux and I loved it.", "excerpt": "I used to use Gentoo, it helped me learn Linux and I loved it. Waiting for things to compile took a while, but I learned about distcc and set up another machine to help the compiling! I don't use Gentoo anymore, since I don't really have the time anymore to deal with it - like having to fix compile issues - but it did feel really cool to have my system custom-tuned just for me. (I use Fedora, btw)", "context": "former Gentoo user", "use_case": "learning Linux, custom-tuned system", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}, {"id": 745278449, "item_id": 46579903, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46579903", "by": "notme43", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "still use emerge on the Thinkpad like I would on the host, like emerge -avuDN @world and such", "excerpt": "Yes - still use emerge on the Thinkpad like I would on the host, like emerge -avuDN @world and such. This is the wiki article [1] I used to set up most the portage side of things, it covers NFS as well. I use NFS to mount the container's /etc/portage to /mnt/portage and symlink the files to the Thinkpad's /etc/portage so I can cherry pick the files I want to keep in sync with the build container. Don't have to mess w", "context": "runs Gentoo with a build container and binhost", "use_case": "Linux on laptop and build host", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}, {"id": 745267984, "item_id": 46579249, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46579249", "by": "yakk0", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Building Gentoo from scratch really helped me learn a lot", "excerpt": "I haven't used it in years, but when I was first using Linux I used Gentoo for a long time. Building Gentoo from scratch really helped me learn a lot and probably more quickly than dual-booting a system like I had been. I'll always have a soft spot for Gentoo.", "context": "", "use_case": "learning Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}, {"id": 745256561, "item_id": 46578535, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46578535", "by": "Thev00d00", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I wish I had more time I could dedicate to maintaining my system", "excerpt": "I saw a comment in a \"I moved from Windows to Linux\" thread implying Windows has more configuration potential than Linux. I wonder what that commenter would make of Gentoo. I wish I had more time I could dedicate to maintaining my system, I'm marooned on Arch due to lack of time, such a shame.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}, {"id": 745245248, "item_id": 46577828, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46577828", "by": "M95D", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "If you have any form of OCD, stay away from Gentoo or this will be your poison forever!", "excerpt": "TLDR: Installation is a pain, initial configuration is a pain and there's always something more to tweak, update is a lesser pain, but still a pain. Installation is done by booting a liveCD, manually partitioning your storage, unpacking a Gentoo STAGE3 archive, chrooting in it, doing basic configuration such as network, timezone, portage (package manager) base profile and servers, etc., compiling and installing a ker", "context": "", "use_case": "server administration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}, {"id": 745229424, "item_id": 46576839, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46576839", "by": "zeroonetwothree", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used Gentoo back in 2003. It\u2019s nice to see that it\u2019s still going strong.", "excerpt": "I used Gentoo back in 2003. It\u2019s nice to see that it\u2019s still going strong. I don\u2019t have as much free time now it\u2019s not the distro for me, but perhaps when I retire I will come back to it.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}, {"id": 745226640, "item_id": 46576665, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46576665", "by": "tgtweak", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It remains one of the fastest distros I've seen for the specific hardware it was running on", "excerpt": "I used to run gentoo like 14 years ago! It remains one of the fastest distros I've seen for the specific hardware it was running on (high core count 4-socket AMD opteron servers) and I mostly attributed that to the fact it was compiling everything (even the base os in this case!) for that specific CPU at install time... emerge would build/compile and if you set your USE flags correctly it produced heavily tailored an", "context": "ran many machines at scale", "use_case": "high core count servers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}, {"id": 745218865, "item_id": 46576179, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46576179", "by": "entropie", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Its the distro of my heart.", "excerpt": "2025 I switched to nixos and will probably stay. I used gentoo for like 20 years. Its the distro of my heart. With some notebooks, some of which were getting on in years, it was simply too resource-intensive to update. Only GHC, for example, often took 12+ hours to compile on some older notebooks.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}, {"id": 745210576, "item_id": 46575661, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46575661", "by": "BoredPositron", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used Gentoo from 2006 for a decade or more and loved it.", "excerpt": "I used Gentoo from 2006 for a decade or more and loved it. Later I got more into embedded systems and low compute hardware and flirted with other distros. Gentoo is still running on my server but desktop and notebook are now on more conventional distros.", "context": "embedded systems background", "use_case": "server", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gentoo Linux 2025 Review"}, {"id": 741635457, "item_id": 46352216, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46352216", "by": "notorandit", "date": "2025-12-22", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I switched to Linux (Slackware, Gentoo, Kubuntu, Arch Linux) some 22 years ago.", "excerpt": "I switched to Linux (Slackware, Gentoo, Kubuntu, Arch Linux) some 22 years ago. It has been a pain and sometimes I still get issues. But I am grateful my PC basically does whatever I ask it to. A desktop PC lasted 10 years before dying. A laptop another 6 years. No NAGs, no service subscription. And no ads from software (browser sometimes excluded), no nothing. I could still install it on a very old machine, with som", "context": "Linux user for 22 years", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "I can't upgrade to Windows 11, now leave me alone"}, {"id": 732655792, "item_id": 45790987, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45790987", "by": "random29ah", "date": "2025-11-02", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Today, for me, who still uses Gentoo/CRUX for some specific tasks, what matters is the flexibility to enable or disable what I want", "excerpt": "I'm really \"new\" to x64 (I only migrated from 32-bit in 2020...) and the difference I noticed between x86-64-v1 and x86-64-v3 was only with video (with ffmpeg), audio (mp3/ogg/mp4...) and encryption; the rest remains practically the same. Naively, I believe it might be more appropriate to have x86-64-v1 and x86-64-vN options only for specific software and leave the rest as x86-64-v1. AVX seemed to give the biggest bo", "context": "", "use_case": "flexible software configuration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Introducing architecture variants"}]}