A free operating system based on either Linux or FreeBSD that’s optimized and customized to efficiently operate in server, workstation, desktop and gaming environments. Pronounced as it appears (“gen-too”), Gentoo takes its name from the Gentoo penguin, which is the fastest swimming species of penguins.
At the heart of Gentoo is a unique software distribution system called Portage that simplifies Gentoo updates and enables user to build their entire system from source, with complete control over which packages are or aren’t installed. The Gentoo distribution is actively maintained by a group of more than 300 developers.
See Linux and operating system terms in Webopedia, and learn more about Open Source in Webopedia’s “Did You Know…?” section
