• Only Gentoo allows the user to configure.

    From jmj@jmj@energokod.gda.pl to comp.os.linux.advocacy on Tue Apr 14 01:03:50 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

    W dniu 8.04.2026 o 18:18, Distro Lackey pisze:
    Only Gentoo allows the user to configure.

    Only Gentoo.

    Brother, if you ain't using Gentoo then you are one sick fuck.

    I struggle to heal my mind for ages, so I again try to install and
    configure Gentoo. This is my story:

    1. I started install Gentoo at Thu, 09 Apr 2026 07:00:00 +0200, and give
    up at Mon, 13 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0200;

    2. I choose install Gentoo from my Kubutnu 20.04 (as host), and use
    chroot /mnt/gentoo which I feed with Gentoo stage 3. Gentoo Live CD, at
    the time, was missing from official download dir;

    3. I decide to configure all Global USE flags, and configure all USE
    flags for applications I want to install;

    4. I decide to recompile whole system in 2 stages: 1) make world update
    after configuration, then 2) install all chosen apps. To speedup this
    process I decide to use signed binary packages when possible;

    5. I make several mistakes when I specify USE flags. Some of them are contradictory (OpenSSL and GnuTSL), some of them must be installed even
    if they are contradictory (for eg. expat and xml), and chosen for
    packages which use one of them. Some nice packages are impossible to
    install: examples, docs and tests (they should be selected separately
    for desired apps);

    6. I make big mistake and skip kernel recompile (due to very unclear
    Gentoo Handbook chapter). It was big surprise that my fresh Gentoo boot
    with old Kubutnu 20.04 kernel;

    7. Compilation was also very surprising for me: on my 8 threads / 24GB
    RAM machine Thunderbird and Firefox compilations failed due to eat all
    RAM memory. I tune USE flags in order to compile them, I try this few
    times, and each time I must wait over 2 hours for Thunderbird and over 4
    hours for Firefox;

    8. Finally, with AI help, I install, compile and fix my Gentoo
    installation so I can boot in to text console. But I was even more
    surprised by intensively blinking screen;

    9. I blindly login to the console, and I type starx. But I got "command
    not found" (what was not easy to read due to blinking screen). This
    shock me again, because I successfully compile and install many GUI apps (include Firefox, Thunderbird and LibreOffice).

    So I feel that I do as much as I can, and Gentoo not works on my laptop
    - screen blinking on my Intel ingratiated graphic card. This is even
    worst than my previous attempt to install Gentoo in the august 2025 -
    then I successfully boot int to Trinity desktop.

    Now I switch to other distro, because I can't donate Kubutnu for ages
    (they disable donations and they will be pretend in the future that all
    they users have big debt because they do not pay any single coin for
    distro they use).
    --
    Good luck!
    Jacek Marcin Jaworski, Pruszcz Gd., woj. Pomorskie, Polska 🇵🇱, EU 🇪🇺;
    tel.: +48-609-170-742, najlepiej w godz.: 5:00-5:55 lub 16:00-17:25; <jmj@energokod.gda.pl>, gpg: 4A541AA7A6E872318B85D7F6A651CC39244B0BFA;
    Domowa s. WWW: <https://energokod.gda.pl>;
    Mini Netykieta: <https://energokod.gda.pl/MiniNetykieta.html>;
    Mailowa Samoobrona: <https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/pl>.
    UWAGA:
    NIE ZACIĄGAJ "UKRYTEGO DŁUGU"! PŁAĆ ZA PROG. FOSS I INFO. INTERNETOWE! CZYTAJ DARMOWY: "17. Raport Totaliztyczny - Patroni Kontra Bankierzy": <https://energokod.gda.pl/raporty-totaliztyczne/17.%20Patroni%20Kontra%20Bankierzy.pdf>

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  • From rbowman@bowman@montana.com to comp.os.linux.advocacy on Mon Apr 13 23:22:14 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

    On Tue, 14 Apr 2026 01:03:50 +0200, 🇵🇱Jacek Marcin Jaworski🇵🇱 wrote:

    Now I switch to other distro, because I can't donate Kubutnu for ages
    (they disable donations and they will be pretend in the future that all
    they users have big debt because they do not pay any single coin for
    distro they use).

    What are you on about now?

    https://kubuntu.org/donate/
    --- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From jmj@jmj@energokod.gda.pl to comp.os.linux.advocacy on Tue Apr 14 01:41:46 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

    W dniu 14.04.2026 o 01:22, rbowman pisze:
    On Tue, 14 Apr 2026 01:03:50 +0200, 🇵🇱Jacek Marcin Jaworski🇵🇱 wrote:

    Now I switch to other distro, because I can't donate Kubutnu for ages
    (they disable donations and they will be pretend in the future that all
    they users have big debt because they do not pay any single coin for
    distro they use).

    What are you on about now?

    https://kubuntu.org/donate/

    Sorry for that! I apparently block frame on the left by UFW all cloud IP blocking. Now I see that Kubutnu donate page works. Thanks!
    --
    Jacek Marcin Jaworski, Pruszcz Gd., woj. Pomorskie, Polska 🇵🇱, EU 🇪🇺;
    tel.: +48-609-170-742, najlepiej w godz.: 5:00-5:55 lub 16:00-17:25; <jmj@energokod.gda.pl>, gpg: 4A541AA7A6E872318B85D7F6A651CC39244B0BFA;
    Domowa s. WWW: <https://energokod.gda.pl>;
    Mini Netykieta: <https://energokod.gda.pl/MiniNetykieta.html>;
    Mailowa Samoobrona: <https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/pl>.
    UWAGA:
    NIE ZACIĄGAJ "UKRYTEGO DŁUGU"! PŁAĆ ZA PROG. FOSS I INFO. INTERNETOWE! CZYTAJ DARMOWY: "17. Raport Totaliztyczny - Patroni Kontra Bankierzy": <https://energokod.gda.pl/raporty-totaliztyczne/17.%20Patroni%20Kontra%20Bankierzy.pdf>
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  • From makendo@makendo@makendo.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy on Tue Apr 14 10:17:51 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

    I struggle to heal my mind for ages, so I again try to install and
    configure Gentoo. This is my story:

    1. I started install Gentoo at Thu, 09 Apr 2026 07:00:00 +0200, and give
    up at Mon, 13 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0200;

    2. I choose install Gentoo from my Kubutnu 20.04 (as host), and use
    chroot /mnt/gentoo which I feed with Gentoo stage 3. Gentoo Live CD, at
    the time, was missing from official download dir;

    3. I decide to configure all Global USE flags, and configure all USE
    flags for applications I want to install;

    4. I decide to recompile whole system in 2 stages: 1) make world update after configuration, then 2) install all chosen apps. To speedup this process I decide to use signed binary packages when possible;

    5. I make several mistakes when I specify USE flags. Some of them are contradictory (OpenSSL and GnuTSL), some of them must be installed even
    if they are contradictory (for eg. expat and xml), and chosen for
    packages which use one of them. Some nice packages are impossible to install: examples, docs and tests (they should be selected separately
    for desired apps);

    6. I make big mistake and skip kernel recompile (due to very unclear
    Gentoo Handbook chapter). It was big surprise that my fresh Gentoo boot
    with old Kubutnu 20.04 kernel;

    7. Compilation was also very surprising for me: on my 8 threads / 24GB
    RAM machine Thunderbird and Firefox compilations failed due to eat all
    RAM memory. I tune USE flags in order to compile them, I try this few
    times, and each time I must wait over 2 hours for Thunderbird and over 4 hours for Firefox;

    8. Finally, with AI help, I install, compile and fix my Gentoo
    installation so I can boot in to text console. But I was even more
    surprised by intensively blinking screen;

    9. I blindly login to the console, and I type starx. But I got "command
    not found" (what was not easy to read due to blinking screen). This
    shock me again, because I successfully compile and install many GUI apps (include Firefox, Thunderbird and LibreOffice).

    So I feel that I do as much as I can, and Gentoo not works on my laptop
    - screen blinking on my Intel ingratiated graphic card. This is even
    worst than my previous attempt to install Gentoo in the august 2025 -
    then I successfully boot int to Trinity desktop.

    Now I switch to other distro, because I can't donate Kubutnu for ages
    (they disable donations and they will be pretend in the future that all
    they users have big debt because they do not pay any single coin for
    distro they use).

    Yeah this distro is rather difficult to install and will give quite some surprises... Just a few notes if you are trying again later:

    - There is a missing part about selecting the profile; it is easier
    that way to get important use flags and packages, like [Mesa] for
    driving your desktop, set up. The desktop environment needs to be
    installed separately -- kde-plasma/plasma-meta for KDE Plasma and
    gnome-base/gnome for GNOME. You can go for other options if you
    are an expert.
    - The handbook part on installing the kernel lists every option, but
    for an easy life, just go with sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-bin.
    - The graphics problem... I dunno how the framebuffer console is
    displaying stuff here. Are the kernel video drivers installed?
    Most modern graphics devices need firmware to work -- did you
    install sys-kernel/linux-firmware?

    At the very least, you now know how the installers in other distros
    work. Cheers.

    [Mesa]: https://packages.gentoo.org/packages/media-libs/mesa
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  • From Distro Lackey@dl@lackey.com to comp.os.linux.advocacy on Tue Apr 14 03:20:43 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

    On Tue, 14 Apr 2026 01:03:50 +0200, 🇵🇱Jacek Marcin Jaworski🇵🇱 wrote:


    7. Compilation was also very surprising for me: on my 8 threads / 24GB
    RAM machine Thunderbird and Firefox compilations failed due to eat all
    RAM memory. I tune USE flags in order to compile them, I try this few
    times, and each time I must wait over 2 hours for Thunderbird and over 4 hours for Firefox;


    Although this does not address your concerns about Gentoo, I just
    want to point out that compiling a browser, any browser, is really
    a waste of time.

    Browsers have evolved (devolved?) into behemoths that rival OSs in
    complexity. I consider this to be totally ridiculous. A browser
    should be simple and just display web pages. But people are demanding
    that the browser assume the role of the OS itself. This is especially
    true with the migration of a lot software from local hardware to remote servers.

    Firefox takes a LONG time to build. I've never tried to do it but
    2 hours seems a bit understated. I have heard that Chromium requires
    close to 24 hours to build from source.

    Regarding browsers, I just use the distributed binaries. I shut
    most capabilities off, via about:config, so that the net result is
    fairly minimal.

    The only exception is Palemoon, which builds in less than an hour,
    but Palemoon exhibits other problems that I have yet to debug
    and report.

    The World Wide Web has become a chaotic nightmare the GNU/Linux
    user can perhaps never adequately control.



    Now I switch to other distro,


    I do not strictly use Gentoo. I just use Gentoo Portage for
    the automated building of packages.

    When assembling a new system, I just copy all my config files
    (basically just the /etc and /root directories) to an empty
    drive and then rebuild the "world" (i.e. all packages) onto
    the new drive. (This is done by pointing the "ROOT" variable
    to the new drive.)

    Of course, I am omitting a lot of detail but overall it works
    very well.

    I should publish the method but I doubt if others would be
    interested.

    --- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From jmj@jmj@energokod.gda.pl to comp.os.linux.advocacy on Wed Apr 15 03:53:17 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

    W dniu 14.04.2026 o 05:20, Distro Lackey pisze:
    On Tue, 14 Apr 2026 01:03:50 +0200, 🇵🇱Jacek Marcin Jaworski🇵🇱 wrote:


    7. Compilation was also very surprising for me: on my 8 threads / 24GB
    RAM machine Thunderbird and Firefox compilations failed due to eat all
    RAM memory. I tune USE flags in order to compile them, I try this few
    times, and each time I must wait over 2 hours for Thunderbird and over 4
    hours for Firefox;


    Although this does not address your concerns about Gentoo, I just
    want to point out that compiling a browser, any browser, is really
    a waste of time.

    Browsers have evolved (devolved?) into behemoths that rival OSs in complexity. I consider this to be totally ridiculous. A browser
    should be simple and just display web pages. But people are demanding
    that the browser assume the role of the OS itself. This is especially
    true with the migration of a lot software from local hardware to remote servers.

    Right!

    Firefox takes a LONG time to build. I've never tried to do it but
    2 hours seems a bit understated.

    Firefox compilation on my 8 thread / 24GB RAM laptop took 4 hours not 2.

    Regarding browsers, I just use the distributed binaries.

    Sorry, but this is contradictory to Gentoo concept! It is so stupid that sounds like kind of schizophrenia.
    BTW: Poles also accuse me to be schizophrenia sick, but they have not
    any evidence for me like yours above.
    --
    Jacek Marcin Jaworski, Pruszcz Gd., woj. Pomorskie, Polska 🇵🇱, EU 🇪🇺;
    tel.: +48-609-170-742, najlepiej w godz.: 5:00-5:55 lub 16:00-17:25; <jmj@energokod.gda.pl>, gpg: 4A541AA7A6E872318B85D7F6A651CC39244B0BFA;
    Domowa s. WWW: <https://energokod.gda.pl>;
    Mini Netykieta: <https://energokod.gda.pl/MiniNetykieta.html>;
    Mailowa Samoobrona: <https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/pl>.
    UWAGA:
    NIE ZACIĄGAJ "UKRYTEGO DŁUGU"! PŁAĆ ZA PROG. FOSS I INFO. INTERNETOWE! CZYTAJ DARMOWY: "17. Raport Totaliztyczny - Patroni Kontra Bankierzy": <https://energokod.gda.pl/raporty-totaliztyczne/17.%20Patroni%20Kontra%20Bankierzy.pdf>
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  • From jmj@jmj@energokod.gda.pl to comp.os.linux.advocacy on Wed Apr 15 03:54:11 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

    W dniu 14.04.2026 o 04:17, makendo pisze:
      - The handbook part on installing the kernel lists every option, but
        for an easy life, just go with sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-bin.

    Sorry, but this is contradictory to Gentoo concept! It is so stupid that sounds like kind of schizophrenia.
    BTW: Poles also accuse me to be schizophrenia sick, but they have not
    any evidence for me like yours above.
    --
    Jacek Marcin Jaworski, Pruszcz Gd., woj. Pomorskie, Polska 🇵🇱, EU 🇪🇺;
    tel.: +48-609-170-742, najlepiej w godz.: 5:00-5:55 lub 16:00-17:25; <jmj@energokod.gda.pl>, gpg: 4A541AA7A6E872318B85D7F6A651CC39244B0BFA;
    Domowa s. WWW: <https://energokod.gda.pl>;
    Mini Netykieta: <https://energokod.gda.pl/MiniNetykieta.html>;
    Mailowa Samoobrona: <https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/pl>.
    UWAGA:
    NIE ZACIĄGAJ "UKRYTEGO DŁUGU"! PŁAĆ ZA PROG. FOSS I INFO. INTERNETOWE! CZYTAJ DARMOWY: "17. Raport Totaliztyczny - Patroni Kontra Bankierzy": <https://energokod.gda.pl/raporty-totaliztyczne/17.%20Patroni%20Kontra%20Bankierzy.pdf>
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  • From jmj@jmj@energokod.gda.pl to comp.os.linux.advocacy on Wed Apr 15 04:06:17 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

    W dniu 15.04.2026 o 03:54, 🇵🇱Jacek Marcin Jaworski🇵🇱 pisze:
    W dniu 14.04.2026 o 04:17, makendo pisze:
       - The handbook part on installing the kernel lists every option, but
         for an easy life, just go with sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-bin.

    Sorry, but this is contradictory to Gentoo concept! It is so stupid that sounds like kind of schizophrenia.
    BTW: Poles also accuse me to be schizophrenia sick, but they have not
    any evidence for me like yours above.

    What I mean was: install Gentoo binary packages which not follow
    configured USE flags are contradictory to Gentoo concept, and thus it is
    not acceptable for me.
    --
    Jacek Marcin Jaworski, Pruszcz Gd., woj. Pomorskie, Polska 🇵🇱, EU 🇪🇺;
    tel.: +48-609-170-742, najlepiej w godz.: 5:00-5:55 lub 16:00-17:25; <jmj@energokod.gda.pl>, gpg: 4A541AA7A6E872318B85D7F6A651CC39244B0BFA;
    Domowa s. WWW: <https://energokod.gda.pl>;
    Mini Netykieta: <https://energokod.gda.pl/MiniNetykieta.html>;
    Mailowa Samoobrona: <https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/pl>.
    UWAGA:
    NIE ZACIĄGAJ "UKRYTEGO DŁUGU"! PŁAĆ ZA PROG. FOSS I INFO. INTERNETOWE! CZYTAJ DARMOWY: "17. Raport Totaliztyczny - Patroni Kontra Bankierzy": <https://energokod.gda.pl/raporty-totaliztyczne/17.%20Patroni%20Kontra%20Bankierzy.pdf>
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  • From jmj@jmj@energokod.gda.pl to comp.os.linux.advocacy on Wed Apr 15 04:06:42 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

    W dniu 15.04.2026 o 03:53, 🇵🇱Jacek Marcin Jaworski🇵🇱 pisze:

    Regarding browsers, I just use the distributed binaries.

    Sorry, but this is contradictory to Gentoo concept! It is so stupid that sounds like kind of schizophrenia.
    What I mean was: install Gentoo binary packages which not follow
    configured USE flags are contradictory to Gentoo concept, and thus it is
    not acceptable for me.
    --
    Jacek Marcin Jaworski, Pruszcz Gd., woj. Pomorskie, Polska 🇵🇱, EU 🇪🇺;
    tel.: +48-609-170-742, najlepiej w godz.: 5:00-5:55 lub 16:00-17:25; <jmj@energokod.gda.pl>, gpg: 4A541AA7A6E872318B85D7F6A651CC39244B0BFA;
    Domowa s. WWW: <https://energokod.gda.pl>;
    Mini Netykieta: <https://energokod.gda.pl/MiniNetykieta.html>;
    Mailowa Samoobrona: <https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/pl>.
    UWAGA:
    NIE ZACIĄGAJ "UKRYTEGO DŁUGU"! PŁAĆ ZA PROG. FOSS I INFO. INTERNETOWE! CZYTAJ DARMOWY: "17. Raport Totaliztyczny - Patroni Kontra Bankierzy": <https://energokod.gda.pl/raporty-totaliztyczne/17.%20Patroni%20Kontra%20Bankierzy.pdf>
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  • From Distro Lackey@dl@lackey.com to comp.os.linux.advocacy on Wed Apr 15 02:30:09 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

    On Wed, 15 Apr 2026 04:06:42 +0200, 🇵🇱Jacek Marcin Jaworski🇵🇱 wrote:

    W dniu 15.04.2026 o 03:53, 🇵🇱Jacek Marcin Jaworski🇵🇱 pisze:

    Regarding browsers, I just use the distributed binaries.

    Sorry, but this is contradictory to Gentoo concept! It is so stupid that
    sounds like kind of schizophrenia.
    What I mean was: install Gentoo binary packages which not follow
    configured USE flags are contradictory to Gentoo concept, and thus it is
    not acceptable for me.


    Firefox is updated so frequently (at least once a week) that a dedicated machine would need to run full time just to keep building the new versions.

    A browser is not a fundamental system program. It is only used for incidental connections to remote servers. Therefore, using a binary version is only
    a very minor "violation" of the Gentoo concept.

    But I certainly would built Firefox from source if it did not require
    so much time. In 4 hours I could likely rebuild all of the 400 packages
    in my entire system.

    --- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From makendo@makendo@makendo.invalid to comp.os.linux.advocacy on Thu Apr 16 16:12:01 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

    在 2026/4/15 10:06, 🇵🇱Jacek Marcin Jaworski🇵🇱 写道:
    W dniu 15.04.2026 o 03:54, 🇵🇱Jacek Marcin Jaworski🇵🇱 pisze:
    W dniu 14.04.2026 o 04:17, makendo pisze:
       - The handbook part on installing the kernel lists every option, but >>>      for an easy life, just go with sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-bin.

    Sorry, but this is contradictory to Gentoo concept! It is so stupid
    that sounds like kind of schizophrenia.
    BTW: Poles also accuse me to be schizophrenia sick, but they have not
    any evidence for me like yours above.

    What I mean was: install Gentoo binary packages which not follow
    configured USE flags are contradictory to Gentoo concept, and thus it is
    not acceptable for me.

    I suggested sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-bin purely because it is generic,
    and it works even if you don't know enough about your hardware. I myself
    used sys-kernel/gentoo-sources with a hardware-specific configuration
    back when I was using Gentoo.

    The way Linux veterans do things might not be entirely suitable for the
    less experienced.
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