Gentoo Linux

Abstract

Gentoo Linux (/ˈdʒɛntuː/ JEN-too) is a computer operating system built on top of the Linux kernel and based on the Portage package management system. It is distributed as free and open source software. Unlike a conventional software distribution, the user compiles the source code locally according to their chosen configuration. Where source code is available, Portage normally supplies no precompiled binaries, continuing in the tradition of the ports collection,[2] although for convenience, some large packages (such as Mozilla Firefox and LibreOffice) are also available as precompiled binaries for various architectures where compiling would otherwise be very time consuming. The development project and its products are named after the fastest-swimming penguin, the Gentoo, to reflect the potential speed improvements of machine-specific optimization. Gentoo package management is designed to be modular, portable, easy to maintain, flexible, and optimized for the user's machine. Gentoo describes itself as a meta-distribution, "because of its near-unlimited adaptability", in that the majority of users have configurations and sets of installed programs which are unique to themselves.[3]