[linux-audio-dev] Hello - FYI - intro

[Tom Molesworth]

John Check <j4strngs at bitless.net> wrote:
> "what the hell, there couldn't be any more major
> updates". Wrong - one the updates in the batch that
> took 2 days to build got rolled back, and since
> there's no binaries

Tell it to build binary packages, include the relevant
flags to emerge to say "use binaries if you got 'em",
and downgrades are almost as fast as rpm/deb systems.

I love having the source archives to hand when I want
to make changes - sure, not everyone wants this, and
gentoo might not be suitable for them... and getting
the source isn't always that difficult... but if you've
ever been severed from the internet and want to change
or fix or just look at a bit of code on your running
system, chances are that it's in /var/distfiles ready
to be used.

I might carry around a Knoppix CD for luck, but Gentoo
has a permanent home on every one of my computers.

emerge is dead slow on anything less than a P-III
though - especially searching and the last stage of
a sync (index regeneration or whatever it is). Got
a P-II that takes about ten minutes after the
last bit of data has rsync'ed across before the prompt
comes back.

Compilation time is even longer? Sure, but I'd expect
that. I don't expect the package manager to waste
valuable compilation CPU cycles :)

(no, it's not a big problem. yes, one day I'll even
try rewriting portage in C if no one else has)

TM