Virtual Newsletter about Software Freedom

August 25, 2026

Portage as a ports system
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The idea behind Portage is good, but Portage is not implemented that well.

Portage uses Python 3, which makes it unportable.
A more portable implementation (like pure C) would be much better.

Portage design is good though, for many reasons.
It's very powerful with what it allows you to do.
GSRC is okay too, but it is not as powerful.
The "USE" system in Portage is one of the contributing reasons behind it's powerfulness.

I doubt GSRC will be extended to do such, as the maintainer doesn't modify much of the actual GSRC code anymore.

But nonetheless, Portage is a pretty good ports system.

- NexusSfan

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