The Gentoo Linux distribution introduces repository of ready-made binary packages
The developers of Gentoo Linux, known for their focus on building an environment through the assembly of programs from source code, have announced the introduction of a repository of ready-made binary packages. Previously, Gentoo only provided metadata for assembly, allowing users to compile binary packages on one system and use them on other computers. However, the project will now officially provide binary packages for direct download from their servers.
Users will have the option to use these binary packages alongside packages assembled from original source code, allowing for customization of their system. The availability of binary packages will accelerate the distribution on low-power computers and optimize the installation process, as users can focus on compiling only the most important components from source code.
For architectures other than AMD64 and ARM64, the binary packages are limited to basic system components and receive weekly updates. However, for AMD64 and ARM64 systems, the binary packages also include user applications such as Libreoffice, Docker, KDE, and GNOME. Overall, there are over 20 GB of binary packages available on the Gentoo mirrors, with daily updates for the stable Gentoo branch.
The binary packages for AMD64/X86-64 systems are compiled with flags “-march = x86-64 -Mtune = generic -2 -pipe”, while those for ARM64/Aarch64 systems are compiled with flags “-O2 -pipe”. Users can rebuild packages from source texts with specific optimizations for their CPU by adjusting the desired options.
To ensure the authenticity of the binary packages, the same keys used to certify the Stages brings are utilized to provide digital signatures. However, signature verification is only performed for packages in GPKG format, which have recently become the default in the project’s repositories. Older XPAK packages, which were previously the default, can still be installed without verification. To enable strict package verification, users can prohibit the installation of packages without a digital signature check by modifying the Features setting to “BINPKG-REQUEST-SIGNATURE” in Make.conf.
For more information, please visit https://www.gentoo.org/news/2023/12/29/gentoo-binary.html.