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Gentoo Reviews & Product Details

Value at a Glance

Averages based on real user reviews.

Time to Implement

2 months

Return on Investment

20 months

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RR

Rafael R.

Software Engineer

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

8/13/2019

"Linux distribution for web server and personal PC."

3.5/5

What do you like best about Gentoo?

I like that it uses very low PC resources. It doesn't install anything extra, only what's necessary to boot the operating system. I adapt it to my web server applications to share web pages, files, and proxy server. Comfortable desktop. The Kernel is tried and tested before its release. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Gentoo?

Setting up and compiling some programs is difficult. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Gentoo:

I recommend to a user with experience in Linux, with Gentoo you have many possibilities to have a computer with everything necessary for home and work, it adapts to what you want. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Gentoo solving and how is that benefiting you?

I use Gentoo to set up a web server and for personal use, browsing the Internet, and work at home. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

SD

Steven D.

Owner and President

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

1/10/2019

"Great linux distro for a hands-on SysAdmin"

4.5/5

What do you like best about Gentoo?

If you like to get your hands dirty and really understand how the components of your distro work together, build or modify anything from scratch, use modern versions of important software tools without a need for 3rd party repositories, and still have access to a vibrant community for support: I'd consider Gentoo a fit. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Gentoo?

Yes, compiling from scratch is a time-sink for some applications (Libreoffice, Chrome, etc). I tend to have to schedule these large compiles in advance, and honestly on our slower machines it wouldn't be reasonable.

But... any slower machines we have generally don't need the larger packages like our workstations. And our workstations are all rather fast. Plus cross-compiling using a distcc farm really helps. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Gentoo:

If you are an experienced Linux admin, you will be able to become comfortable with Gentoo pretty quickly. There have been enough recent advances so that modern SysAdmin conveniences exist for most tasks, and the portage tree is excellent (and very extensible if you ever want to create your own overlay, we have one for some of our custom tools!). Give it a try -- with modern processing power it isn't nearly as time consuming as the reputation you might have heard! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Gentoo solving and how is that benefiting you?

I run all our in office infrastructure on Gentoo. Our remote servers are CentOS and quite frankly I prefer Gentoo much more than the CentOS installs. Despite the occasional challenge when a build fails, it is generally not a problem. And it is definitely much easier to keep a nice slim system without having to pull in stupid dependencies because someone upstream decided it was important.

I have automated all of our security and general maintenance tasks on these machines without a problem. I can keep things patched, and whenever I need it -- I can upgrade to a newer version of system without a poorly supported 3rd party repo. PHP upgrades on CentOS? Couldn't be worse. Gentoo? Just compile! Newer version of apache httpd? Sure! Modern MySQL releases? YUP! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

AC

Verified User in Computer & Network Security

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

10/29/2019

"gentoo experience in a corporate world"

2.5/5

What do you like best about Gentoo?

gentoo will teach you the fundamentals of Linux operating systems, you will appreciate the firmness of its build for a minimum resource, yet wider usage of the functionality of Linux OS. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Gentoo?

legacy console, thus powerful working on the said environment due to less resource required to run gentoo on a specific H/W or VM. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

AT

Verified User in Transportation/Trucking/Railroad

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

10/28/2019

"I'm using it home for tiny server."

3.5/5

What do you like best about Gentoo?

Rolling updates... That's almost always works, it allows you to keep track of changes in linux world by dealing with problems of packages and compatibility. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Gentoo?

Absence of repositories with precompiled packages. Sometimes I just want to roll update fast. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.