What Is Prefix & Root in Linux?
Gentoo Prefix is an operating system that lives within another operating system, such as on a Mac under OSX or under the Windows operating system. Like any Linux operating system, Prefix makes use of a root user to carry out system commands, and the restrictions and capabilities of the root user are similar to other operating systems.
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The Importance of Prefix
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Prefix acts as a second operating system whose purpose is to install packages on your computer (whether it be a Mac, Windows or other flavor of Linux machine) under variant directories so that they will not interfere with your main operating system. This allows for a great deal of experimentation and testing to be done within Prefix without having to worry about damaging your main operating system.
Versions of Prefix
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Prefix was built on the Gentoo Linux operating system, a flavor separate from the Red Hat and Fedora lines of Linux that spawned child variants like CentOS and Debian. Prefix is available for personal and commercial use as an open source program.
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What is Root
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The "root" user on a Linux machine is the user that has complete administrative control over the operating system. The root user can make any change to the operating system without warning or rebuke, including installing software, reconfiguring hardware and deleting the operating system completely.
How Does Root Relate to Prefix?
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Most Linux programs require temporary root access to be installed on a computer. Prefix allows you to install these same programs to your computer while avoiding this root user requirement. Prefix installs the software into alternate directories as well, so if you ever need to install the software in the native operating system the two installations will not conflict with each other.
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