certainly find the answer on the net. The solution will talk about the
same versions of packages you are using etc. But on Gentoo if you have
a problem it depends on what use flags you are using, which version of
gcc and such. So while in Gentoo is a lot more interesting to solve
problems in Debian it's usually done quicker. OTOH, on Debian it's a
lot more hassle to try out new gcc's or compile your glibc with NTPL
support for example (or install the latest KDE for that matter).
Both in Debian and Gentoo you "could" schedule a cron job to update
all packages on your system, but with apt you really don't have to
care about those updates. Each and every upgrade i had to do so far
worked flawlessly and no configuration has ever changed because of an
upgrade. On Gentoo, if you let upgrades run overnight and never look
back at it you're in for some headaches.
Configuration files need to be merged manually, even if you just
rebuilt the same version portage installs a new config file in another
location and keeps asking you to merge the two versions.
Downloaded sources are left in a temporary directory after the package
has been installed, filling up your disk pretty quick, so you'll
either have to schedule an additional command to clean up that
directory or do it manually.
While Gentoo offers more packages than Debian, their packages are also
more up to date and most of the time you can choose between multiple
versions of a package. This also means that Debian's packages are a
lot better tested and reliable than Gentoo's, especially in
combination with other packages (if you don't install deb's from all
over the net).
It also shows that Debian is a lot older and mature than Gentoo. APT
is more or less finished, but every so often there is an upgrade to
portage. Portage is even going through a rewrite at the moment. Gentoo
is evolving very fast but I think that on servers a mature and stable
distribution is a better option.
So what's my point then. Well while Debian or any other distro might
be a better choice in a production environment, Gentoo still is a lot
more fun and excitement on a box where you want to tinker and get to
know your system and such. In Gentoo you can emerge beta's, cvs
versions, recompile your packages with or without support for a
feature and more of those goodies. In Gentoo you get a lot more power
and control, but you also get the power to mess up your entire system.
In Gentoo you configure a lot more manually than in Debian and it
generally takes more commitment than Debian.
Gentoo is the greatest distro to learn about linux, to play with
linux, to tinker with computers, ... But if your installation serves
another purpose, go with another distribution.
