Are you referring to manual installation of packages or using the package management system to install packages in alternate locations? If it's the latter:
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/gentoo/amd64/187813 (Though I admit I do the former so I can't say I've tried these.) If it's the former though, I've always just created a directory somewhere as a sandbox and created a file in /etc/env.d to set up my path, library locations, etc. I don't know how apt and friends handle alternate installation directories so I can't comment on them. However, from what I hear, installing packages in alternate directories does appear to be a place where Gentoo's portage has fumbled. Thomas On Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 09:38:31AM -0400, Michael P. Soulier wrote: > On Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 4:49 AM, Paul Malherbe<p...@tartan.co.za> wrote: > > I totally agree with your comments. I have been using gentoo in corporate > > environments for the past 5 years mainly as servers but also as desktop > > systems and yet have to find another distro to compare with its flexibility > > and package management. > > I'm using Ubuntu on my laptop, and I'm experimenting with Gentoo on my > desktop. My only issue with Gentoo is that often I find the regular > upgrades somewhat painful, requiring too much intimate knowledge of > the software involved. > > For customization in Ubuntu or Debian, I find it simple enough to grab > tarballs and build them in custom locations. I've actually had more > problems doing this in Gentoo, which is odd since Gentoo is > source-based. > > As a busy father of two, I find I often just can't keep up with the > changes in the Gentoo world. I only have so much time, and sysadmining > my boxes should be a small part of my day, not a full-time job. > > Mike >
