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Unmasking the hidden gems of Void Linux | Animesh Sahu
(animeshz.github.io)
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this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2024
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The author would likely really enjoy gentoo. Imo it has all those benefits and a little more, plus its more popular.
They are similar but one is mainly a source based distro which can also install binary packages while void is the other way around. Each has its advantages and downsides.
You already said it, but even if you want mostly binaries, gentoo is becoming a distribution that can do that. So I don't think this is something that sets them apart.
Plus, gentoo handles compilations so well, it is almost as simple as binary package managers.
I haven't compared it myself but xbps is supposedly much faster than portage for binary packages. I know it ain't really an important metric but still.
I think void has better binary package support though. I don't have the statistics but it seems that still not all gentoo packages are offered in binary form, especially on arm or legacy x86. I also think GURU is source only which is sometimes an issue when installing some obscure software.
Is void different? Does it have a user repository that provides binaries directly?
My familiarity is with AUR, which does not provide the binaries directly. I suppose you can write a PKGBUILD that only installs a binary, but you could do the same with ebuild.
On binary support, I imagine you're right. Binary support in gentoo is new. I imagine it will only get better.
well my point was that obscure software is "often" (in my experience) packaged only in GURU, while void has official packages. My guess is that it is because GURU is official-ish while void has no such thing so there is bigger "pressure" to build binaries.
I didn't look much into void, but when I did, gentoo's repository is much larger and there are many packages that I'd call obscure that happen to be in the main repos.
The situations I've had to reach to guru are rare. I bet that gentoo has more obscure stuff in its main repo, though I don't have the numbers to prove it.
I also don't have any numbers. It was anecdotal evidence, I'm sure your experience is different. I mean it probably doesn't even matter whether it's source based because these obscure packages should compile pretty fast anyways.
idk I guess my initial argument should be changed to something like "each does some things differently, one might prefer one or the other, in my experience void does binary packages a bit better although it doesn't really matter tbh"