Gentoo for Mac OS X
16 November 2005
Gentoo for Mac OS X is a package management system. It allows you to use the Gentoo portage tree to compile programs to run natively under Mac OS X. You get all the normal Gentoo Portage tools such as Emerge.
Gentoo for OS X is not to be confused with PowerPC Gentoo. PPC Gentoo is a complete GNU/Linux system for Macs, you would use that instead of Mac OS X.
You can install from source with apt-get from Fink, but you would probably use the binaries. One would use the Gentoo way because you like the advantages that come with compiling from source and you are prepared to wait a long time for your programs to compile and install.
In the PC world, there are thousands of different hardware configurations, so Gentoo allows you to have the best possible system by compiling programs for your exact hardware. The Mac world is different, there are tens rather than thousands of models. However there are still some advantages to compiling from source if you want the very latest bleeding-edge versions and total control over your system.
To get started with Gentoo for MacOS, download the installer (a dmg file) from the Gentoo for Mac OS X homepage. When you open this file and click on the icon, it opens an installer like any other:
Click the buttons and read the instructions. As with all the package managers in this series, you need to have` 'X-Code Tools' installed first`_.
Using Gentoo for OS X
The basic commands are the same on any Gentoo system. Firstly you need to be root in order to use portage:
sudo su
Then you can update your package database:
emerge --sync
Then you can install an application and its dependencies:
emerge lynx
You can also upgrade all your installed packages:
emerge world
Before you get too trigger happy with it you should read the short guide as Gentoo will give you the power (off by default) to upgrade select parts (the open-source parts) of your Mac OS X install. There are also a couple of one-time configuration commands you must run to introduce Gentoo to your Mac OS X install.
