Gentoo Developers provide universal packages with the Linux kernel that do not require manual configuration when building and are similar to packages with kernels offered in traditional binary distributions. An example of a problem arising from the manual kernel parameter tuning practiced in Gentoo is the lack of a unified set of default options that ensure operability after updates (in manual configuration, if the kernel fails to boot or crashes, it is unclear whether the issue is due to incorrect parameter settings or a bug in the kernel itself).
The developers aim to provide a ready-made and guaranteed functional kernel that can be installed
with minimal effort (as an ebuild, compiled similarly to other packages) and it will be automatically updated as part of the system's regular updates by the package manager (emerge --update @world). Currently, based on the core source code, the "", which supplements the previously available build script with a standard set of options . The vanilla-kernel package currently only implies building from source (provided in the form of an ), but there is also discussion about the possibility of producing binary kernel builds.
Among the advantages of manual kernel configuration is the ability to finely tune performance, exclude unnecessary components during assembly, reduce build time, and decrease the size of the resulting kernel (for instance, the kernel build from the author's proposal occupies 44 MB including modules, while a universal kernel occupies 294 MB). Among the disadvantages, the ease of making mistakes during configuration, potential update issues, non-portability, and difficulty in diagnosing problems are noted. The provision of binary builds is considered since universal kernels take significantly longer to compile due to their size, and delivering a ready kernel can simplify life for users of low-powered systems.
Source: opennet.ru
