From Source Distros?

[JJ Neff]

I'm playing a lot with this sun box (ultra10).  I ve had Solaris 7,8,9 on it. 
Debian and now I'm installing gentoo.

Installing gentoo makes me wonder, what is the true value in installing a "from
source" distro.  I have been working on it for days and still dont have a
running system.  It takes 3-4 days to get to a desktop like environment
(KDE,GNOME etc) 

Debian takes me about one-3 hours total if I have a fast Internet connection or
cds only.  - I tried LFS a few times but always ran out of time.  

So other than the ever heard "perfectly optimized OS" which I don't know if I
believe since who knows ALL the optimization options of every piece of
software.  Please lets discuss the pros and cons (not a fight but a discussion
please:-)

I know others here use Slackware and some gentoo so what am I gaining by having
every last file compiled fom source?

Thanks

JJN

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