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diff --git a/src/_posts/2019-07-22-the-powerful-tooling-of-gentoo.html b/src/_posts/2019-07-22-the-powerful-tooling-of-gentoo.html deleted file mode 100644 index aa90e80..0000000 --- a/src/_posts/2019-07-22-the-powerful-tooling-of-gentoo.html +++ /dev/null @@ -1,189 +0,0 @@ ---- -title: The Power(ful Tooling) of Gentoo -layout: post -tags: Gentoo -description: > - Why do people (like me) love Gentoo so much? Part of it is stability and - configurability, but there is also an amazing set of tooling available to - make your life administering your machines much more enjoyable. ---- - -{% markdown %} -People often ask me for my reasons to use [Gentoo](https://gentoo.org/). Many -perceive it as a "hard" distro that takes a lot of time. While it does come -with a learning curve, I don't perceive it as particularly "hard", as the -documentation is very thorough and the community is very helpful. And the -tooling you get to maintain your system is far beyond what I've come across -with any other GNU+Linux distribution. -{% endmarkdown %} - -{% markdown %} -This blog post will highlight some of the key features I love about Gentoo. -There are certainly many more perks that I don't (yet) use, so please feel free -to inform me of other cool things that I missed. -{% endmarkdown %} - -{% markdown %} -## Configurability - -One of the main reasons for preferring Gentoo is due to the ease of configuring -it to work just the way you want. - -A great example for this would be with `init` choices. Many distributions only -support [systemd](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systemd) these days. As I'm not -a big fan of this particular system, I want to change this. But even asking a -question about this will get you a lot of hatred in most distribution -communities. In Gentoo, however, changing init is supported and well -documented, allowing you to pick from a range of possible inits. - -### `USE` flags - -One of the core concepts of Gentoo are the [`USE` -flags](https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/USE_flag). These allow you to easily alter -the software you're compiling to use the features you want. They can also be -used to indicate which library you would like to use to make use of a certain -feature, if there are multiple implementations available. - -### `make.conf` - -Like most distros that work with self-compiled packages, Gentoo has a -`make.conf` file available to specify some default arguments in to use while -compiling. Unlike most other distros, Gentoo's `make.conf` also allows for some -configuration of the `emerge` utility. - -For instance, I use my `make.conf` to ensure `emerge` always asks for -confirmation before performing actions. I also ensure that the build system, -`portage`, is heavily sandboxed when building packages. - -Additionally, like all configuration files in `/etc/portage`, it can be made -into a directory. In this case, all files in the directory will be loaded in -alphabetical order. This allows for easier management using tools like -[Ansible](https://www.ansible.com/). - -### Ease of patching - -Another feature I find very useful of Gentoo, is the ease of applying my own -patches to software. If you have a custom patch for a package that you want to -be applied, all you have to do is drop it in a directory in -`/etc/portage/patches`. The directory is should be in is the same as the -package's name the patch is intended for. For instance, I have the following -patch in `/etc/portage/patches/www-client/firefox`: -{% endmarkdown %} - -{% highlight diff %} -diff --git a/browser/extensions/moz.build b/browser/extensions/moz.build -index 6357998..c5272a2 100644 ---- a/browser/extensions/moz.build -+++ b/browser/extensions/moz.build -@@ -5,15 +5,10 @@ - # file, You can obtain one at http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/. - - DIRS += [ -- 'activity-stream', - 'aushelper', - 'followonsearch', - 'formautofill', - 'jaws-esr', -- 'onboarding', -- 'pdfjs', -- 'pocket', -- 'screenshots', - 'webcompat', - ] -{% endhighlight %} - -{% markdown %} -Whenever a new Firefox is released and built, this patch will be applied on it -to remove some of the features I dislike. - -## Ebuilds and overlays - -In Gentoo vocabulary, `ebuild` files are the files that describe how a package -is to be built, which `USE` flags it supports and everything else relating to a -package. An overlay is a repository of ebuild files. Everyone can make their -own, and easily add 5 lines in their `repos.conf` to use it. In most cases, -they're just git repositories. - -The documentation on everything around ebuilds is superb, in my experience, -especially compared to other distros. It is incredibly easy to get started -with, since it's made to be usable with very little effort. While being simple, -it's also very flexible: All default behaviours can be overwritten if needed to -get a package to build. - -## Binary packages - -Yes, you read that right. [Binary -packages](https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Binary_package_guide)! Contrary to -popular belief, Gentoo *does* support this. You can instruct `emerge` to build -binary packages of all the packages it compiles, which can then be re-used on -other systems. It does need to be compiled in such a way that the other machine -can use it, of course. You can't simply exchange the packages of an x64 machine -with and ARM machine, for instance. You can set up a [cross build -environment](https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Cross_build_environment) to get that -particular usecase going, though. - -If you want to easily share the binary packages you build with one machine, you -can set up a -[binhost](https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Binary_package_guide#Setting_up_a_binary_package_host), -and have `emerge` pull the binary packages on the other systems as needed using -`--usepkg`. There actually is a [binhost provided by Gentoo -itself](http://packages.gentooexperimental.org/), but it seems to only contain -important packages used to restore systems into a working state. - -## Tooling - -Some of the core tooling available to any Gentoo user has already been talked -about. But there's some additional tooling you can install to make your life -even better. - -### `genkernel` - -One of the hardest tasks to newcomers to Gentoo is often to compile a kernel. -Of course, Gentoo has an answer for this, `genkernel`. The defaults `genkernel` -will give you are reasonably sane if you just want to have a kernel that works. -Of course, you can still edit the kernelconfig before compilation starts. It -will also build an `initramfs` when requested, that goes along with the kernel. -When things have been made, the kernel and initramfs will be moved to `/boot`, -and a copy of the working kernelconfig is saved to `/etc/kernels`. All you need -to remember is to update your preferred bootloader's configuration to include -your new kernel. - -### `eix` - -[`eix`](https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Eix) is a utility most Gentoo users use to -update the Portage repositories and search for available packages. The -interface is considered more convenient, and it's a bit faster at getting your -results. - -To get a quick overview of which packages are in need of updates, you can run -`eix -uc` (*u*pdates, *c*ompact). To sync the Portage tree and all overlays, -`eix-sync` is the way to go. This will ensure the cache used by `eix` also gets -updated. - -In addition to having a cleaner interface and being faster, it also comes with -additional tools for keeping your system sane. The most notable to me is -`eix-test-obsolete`. - -This utility will report any installed packages that are no longer provided by -any repository (orphaned packages). It will also report all configuration lines -that affect such packages. This is really valuable in keeping your -configuration maintainable. - -### `glsa-check` - -The `glsa-check` utility is part of the `app-portage/gentoolkit` package. When -ran, it will produce a list of all packages which have known vulnerabilities. -It will use the [GLSA database](https://security.gentoo.org/glsa) for the list -of known vulnerabilities. This can be much easier than subscribing to a mailing -list and having to check every mail to see if a vulnerability affects you. - -### `qlop` - -`qlop` is another utility that comes with `app-portage/gentoolkit`. This -program parses the logs from `emerge` to give provide you with some -information. I use this mostly to see compile times of certain packages using -`qlop -Htvg <package-name>`. Using this, I can more easily deduce if I want my -desktop (with a stronger CPU) to compile a certain package, or if it'll be -faster to just compile it on my laptop. - -{% endmarkdown %} |