COMP 3000 2011 Report: Funtoo Linux

Background

Funtoo Linux is a distribution that aims to improve the core technologies of Gentoo. It is a source-based distribution which features a git-based Portage tree, GPT/GUID boot support, enhanced network configuration and native UTF-8 support. <ref>http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=funtoo, </ref> It is targeted at experienced linux users. Like Gentoo, it is extremely configurable, and sometimes referred to as a meta-distribution.<ref>http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/about.xml</ref>

Funtoo Linux can be obtained through the Funtoo Wiki, or it can be forked from Github:

Funtoo Linux Download Page	http://www.funtoo.org/wiki/Download
Funtoo Linux Github	https://github.com/Funtoo

Since it is hard to say what size it is. That said, the core system (ie. the stage3 tarball) is 110M.

Installation

To perform a Funtoo install, you must use an existing linux system or a live CD. Unlike Gentoo, Funtoo does not have a dedicated live CD. That is because its Metro build tool does not support live CD builds yet. Instead, it recommends the use of SystemRescueCD, a linux system rescue disk, because it comes with all the software you need for the installation.

History

Funtoo's history is closely tied to that of Gentoo. Daniel Robbins was the project creator, chief architect and project leader of the Gentoo development team until April 26, 2004, where he had to leave because of personal issues. <ref>http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.nfp/65</ref> Before leaving, Daniel created a non-profit foundation, Gentoo Technologies, which would hold all of the Gentoo copyrights. <ref>http://linux.sys-con.com/node/44614,Founder of Gentoo Linux, Daniel Robbins, Resigns as Chief Architect.</ref>

Here's Daniel Robbins letter of resignation:<ref>http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.nfp/73, Daniel Robbins' resignation post.</ref>

From: Daniel Robbins <drobbins@...>
Subject: Resigning from development role
Newsgroups: gmane.linux.gentoo.nfp
Date: 2004-04-26 17:48:49 GMT

Hi All,

As of today, I am resigning from my development responsibilities for Gentoo.
This includes my role as Chief Architect and as manager of release
engineering. I am not appointing a replacement Chief Architect. For releng,
Zhen is doing an excellent job leading this effort and I would like him to
be able to continue his work in this area.

Regards,

Daniel

Terms

Source-based distribution

A source-based distribution is a distribution that all of the packages are downloaded as source and compiled, as opposed to downloading a precompiled binary. <ref>https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arch_Compared_to_Other_Distributions#Source-based</ref>

Advantages of source-based distributions (ex. Gentoo, Funtoo)

• Packages are optimized for your hardware.
• You can exclude unwanted features from packages in order to minimize dependencies and reduce the binary size. For example, if your system uses Gnome, in most cases you will never need the KDE component of a package. In Funtoo/Gentoo, you are able to do this via 'use' flags.
• Improved security: You can actually inspect the source of the package instead of trusting that the binary your distribution provides is not malicious.

Advantages of binary-based distributions (ex. Debian, Fedora)

• Much faster to install large programs such as Firefox.
• More user-friendly, since the user does not have to deal with compilation issues.

References

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