Gentoo
A flexible, source-based Linux distribution.
Gentoo compiles every package from source according to USE flags that the user sets, which makes it possible to tailor each package to specific hardware and use cases. The Portage package manager is one of the more sophisticated source-build systems in the Linux world, with support for slot-based parallel installations, profiles, masking, world-set management, and binary-package fallbacks.
Daniel Robbins founded Gentoo in 2000 (originally Enoch Linux, renamed in 2002). The distribution has long been associated with hands-on, technically-inclined users who want to understand exactly how their system is built. The Gentoo handbook is one of the most thorough Linux installation references in existence.
Gentoo is one of the few distributions to support multiple init systems out of the box (OpenRC, systemd, others), multiple libcs (glibc, musl, uclibc), and multiple architectures seriously (x86, ARM, RISC-V, PowerPC). For users with unusual hardware or specific performance/security requirements, Gentoo remains a serious option; for everyone else it is more an exercise in learning Linux internals than a daily-driver distribution.
Install
Follow the official handbook: https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Handbook:Main_Page
Authors
- Daniel Robbins (founder)
- Gentoo Foundation