I use Gentoo Linux to power this website. I chose it because:

• I wanted to learn about Linux
• It has a great package management system
• I figure I can make the most out of the hardware (dual-P3 600 MHz, 1GB RAM), by compiling my programs with the correct platform
• I could configure the system the way I wanted to

Recently, there have been some interesting articles about Gentoo’s suitability for Server-use.

• Original Article: Why Gentoo Shouldn’t Be On Your Server
• Slashdot Discussion: Gentoo Server Considered Harmful
• Supplementary Articles: Gentoo Forum Thread

Other people have been saying the same thing:

• Julian’s Blog: Some Quick Words On Gentoo GNU/Linux
• xaprb.com: To Gentoo or Not to Gentoo?

My personal take on this is that Gentoo IS a hobbyist Distribution. Setup (back in 2002 anyways—the last time I installed Gentoo) was a pain—although I hear it’s much better now—and “Bleeding-edge” is just risky as a server OS. I would only use Gentoo if I had a proper staging environment to push binary-builds to production servers.

I’ve ran Gentoo as a desktop briefly—until a Gnome 2.1x update hosed my installation. Since then, Desktop use has been the realm of Ubuntu.

However, as an OS for a personal Server—it’s been great for me. I even convinced Kevin to use it after his server got hacked. Incredibly, I’m still running off the same installation that I did back when I was living with Kevin at Pantages (2002). All I’ve done is “emerge -uvD World” once every 2 weeks and about 10 minutes updating configuration files a month to keep the server up-to-date. Next to the occasional kernel upgrade (once a quarter), profile update and a full recompile when GCC is updated—the experience has been awesome.

Finally, the community is tight and responsive. They also have great documentation (although their Wiki can use a bit of work). Honestly, I can’t really ask for much more.

Update: Josh’s Blog writes a passionate defense for Gentoo as a server.

-T