Components of this operating system are downloaded as source code and compiled locally on the user's computer.

Individual dependencies can be selected or deselected, saving valuable hard drive space and freeing RAM and CPU cycles.

Using a source-based distribution is one way to unlock the full performance of a computer, as many binary distros compile their software for a wide audience, not a particular group, such as users of a specific processor.

This allows for the most up-to-date system, unlike Gentoo, another popular source-based distribution, which maintains its own customized cache of packages.

A month later, Kyle Sallee brought his version of Sorcerer back online with a new license that prevented forking, dropping GNU/Linux from the name.

[4][5] Source Mage's tagline is "Linux so advanced, it may as well be magic" (a reference to Clarke's third law),[6] and its commands have a "sorcerous theme".

Besides POSIX-compliant tools, core components require only bash,[6] sed and either gawk or mawk, instead of more heavyweight languages like Perl or Python.