Gentoo

Gentoo may refer to:

Gentoo Linux

Gentoo Linux (pronounced /ˈdʒɛntuː/ JEN-too) is a computer operating system based on the Linux kernel and built using the Portage package management system. It is distributed as free and open-source software. Unlike a binary software distribution, the source code is compiled locally according to the user's preferences and is often optimized for the specific type of computer. Precompiled binaries are available for some very large packages and for packages whose source code has not been released.

The "Gentoo" name comes from the fast-swimming Gentoo penguin. It was chosen to reflect the potential speed improvements of machine-specific optimization. Gentoo package management is designed to be modular, portable, easy to maintain, and flexible. Gentoo is sometimes described as a meta-distribution, "because of its near-unlimited adaptability", in that the majority of users have configurations and sets of installed programs which are unique to themselves.

History

Gentoo Linux was initially created by Daniel Robbins as the Enoch Linux distribution. The goal was to create a distribution without precompiled binaries that was tuned to the hardware and only included required programs. At least one version of Enoch was distributed: version 0.75, in December 1999.

Gentoo (slang)

Gentoo, also spelled Gentue or Jentue, was a term used by Europeans for the native inhabitants of India before the word Hindu—with its religious connotation—was used to distinguish a group from Muslims and members of other religious groups in India.

Gentio and Gentoo terms were applied historically to indigenous peoples of India; later, to Telugu-speaking persons and their language in then Madras Province (now the Andhra region), as opposed to the Malbars, or Tamil speakers and their language (in what is now Tamil Nadu). An example from the Monsignor Sebastiao Rodolfo Dalgado is "moros, gentivos e maos christãos." It was also an Anglo-Indian slang term used in the 17th and 18th centuries; however, in the 20th century the word became derogatory.

Etymology

It is unclear why Indians were called Gentoo. As Portuguese people arrived in India for trade, religious conversions, and colonisation before other Europeans, it is possible that the word was derived from the Portuguese word Gentio - a gentile, a heathen, or native. The Portuguese also appear to have used it to distinguish the aborigines of India from Muslims - the Moros or Moors.