[ale] Gentoo Today(was New Nvidia Drivers)

[Jeff Hubbs]

Omar Chanouha wrote:
> Really? I just started using Gentoo about 8mnths ago. 
For me it was about eight years ago.
> I had heard it
> used to be the "bleeding edge distro". 
That would be a misrepresentation.  Being versionless at the distro 
level, the maintainers of each package pretty much decide what versions 
of the package are stable on each of the supported architectures.  There 
may typically be one or two versions in the Portage tree that are newer; 
you as user are free to make Portage accept their use.  The user 
generally only does this when he or she has to, at his or her own risk 
(which is generally small; most of the time, "unstable" simply means 
"not verified to be stable")
> If so, I think it is better
> now. 
<shrug> "Same as it ever was...same as it ever was..." Well, except that 
Stage 1 and Stage 2 installs are deprecated (good riddance) and 
precompiled packages for the likes of OpenOffice and Firefox are the norm. 
> It defaults to emerging only packages deemed stable, and if you
> want the latest version of a certain package you can unmask it. You
> also have the option of unmasking all packages so you have the most
> current version of everything. 
Indeed you can...that's asking for it, but yes, it will let you...
> One of the reasons I love it is because
> it is so stable yet very customizable.
>
> I would be interested in getting someone's take on the subject who has
> used the distro for a while now. Do you like the "new" gentoo?
>   
It's easier to get a functional desktop machine or laptop than it used 
to be but it's still more of a hassle than it ought to be.  For servers 
and near-embedded, though, the way in which the distro just sort of 
disappears from one's thinking is the thing that has kept me with it for 
so long.
> Also, why did you have to recompile the kernel, it is just a module?
> Is this pre-module days?
>   
I had it backward; the kernel compile comes first.  It's just that the 
proprietary nVidia driver isn't part of the gentoo-sources package.  The 
nVidia package has both a kernel module and an X11 driver and it kind of 
splices the module into the tree when you emerge it.  See 
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/nvidia-guide.xml.

> Lastly, I do think it is odd that such an important package, with such
> a big bugfix wouldn't be pushed to stable sooner. Any thoughts?
I can't speak to that; take it up with the package maintainters. :)  
Better yet, become one and help perform the testing.