Gentoo Linux

A source-based distribution where nearly every package is compiled on your own machine from source rather than downloaded pre-built, giving fine-grained control over exactly how software is built.

Minimalist & DIYDIYsource-basedrolling-releaseadvanced-usersindependentDownload ↗Official site ↗Docs / Wiki ↗

Based on

Independent

First released

2000

Package manager

Portage (emerge, source-based)

Desktop environments

None by default (fully user-chosen and compiled)

Gentoo's Portage package manager compiles software from source at install time rather than fetching a pre-built binary, letting a user enable or disable specific compile-time features ('USE flags') per package -- strip out unwanted dependencies, enable hardware-specific optimizations, or build with support for exactly the features actually needed and nothing else. This gives Gentoo installations a level of customization no binary-package distribution can match, at the direct cost of significantly longer install and update times, since packages need to actually compile rather than just download. It's a rolling-release distribution at heart, and its documentation and configuration philosophy have influenced several other source-based or highly-customizable projects, including Pentoo (its security-focused derivative) and Funtoo (an independent fork).

MirrorNest doesn't mirror distro ISOs — installation media should always come straight from the project's own official download page (linked above), so you get the correct checksum/signature to verify against.