[vox-tech] gentoo's "portage" vs. debian's "apt-get"

[Jonathan Stickel]

It is time for me to move away from RedHat.  At the moment, I am 
considering Gentoo and Debian (with the libranet installer).

A distribution specific feature I consider important is the method for 
installing and updating software.  I know that Debian uses "apt-get", 
and I have seen a number of posts on this list with apt-get examples. 
Gentoo's website advertises "portage" as its method for installing and 
updating, using the "emerge" command.

I'd like to hear (concisely) pros/cons of these two methods; whether 
they just work, or if they require some tinkering; and the availability 
of software through each.

Please avoid "but my distro is best" responses ;-)

Thanks!
Jonathan