Gentoo Wiki ArchivesGentoo Wiki   This article is part of the
HOWTO series. It has been suggested that this article or section
be merged into HOWTO Maintain Gentoo - "Best Practices".
(Discuss)    There are a number of major elements that define
any Linux distribution. One of the most important is the package
management philosophy or system that the distribution embraces.
For example, we can categorize distributions designed around RPM
as Red Hat based, or we can say that Ubuntu or Knoppix are
derived from Debian because they all use APT. The package
manager found at the heart of Gentoo Linux is known as Portage.
Portage sets itself apart from nearly all other package managers
in many ways. But the most significant difference is that it's
not actually a package manager at all, but rather what's known
as a meta-distribution engine. What this means is because of the
power, flexibility, and configurability of Portage, very few
Gentoo Linux installations are ever the same. Instead of being
merely a tool used to