this post was submitted on 03 Dec 2025
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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I used Gentoo for a few years. I don't recommend it at all!
first off, there are no tangible advantages. it's not faster. it is more customizable (by use flags), but the only tangible advantage of those is bragging rights saying you kept a certain library off your system and saved 100kb. just enabling all features is more practical.
there are tangible disadvantages. a big system upgrade can take days. and often fails. and, the manual time you spend merging config files with dispatch-config is large.
I switched from Gentoo to debian after 3y of using Gentoo. i switched from debian to arch after about 10y later. been on arch for about 6y now. would not recommend Gentoo
Those things you listed are part of the fact, not all. Like saving 100kB. It does not matter in your 1TB hard drive, but it's night and day in embedded systems. No benefit for you isn't the same to no benefit.
the 100kb u save from the right use flags is nullified by the hundreds of mb needed to have the entire build tool chain on your system. there are dedicated distros for embedded systems that are much better suited. like alpine Linux. or LFS. (IIRC with LFS u can get the entire system installed 2 or 3 MB)