PORTAGE

NAME

DESCRIPTION

All files in the make.profile directory may be tweaked via parent profiles when using cascading profiles. For more info, please see http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/releng/docs/cascading-profiles.xml

Note:

If you are looking for information on how to emerge something, please see emerge(1).

SYNOPSIS

/etc/portage/make.profile/ or /etc/make.profile/

site-specific overrides go in /etc/portage/profile/

deprecated
eapi
make.defaults
packages
packages.build
package.accept_keywords
package.keywords
package.mask
package.provided
package.unmask
package.use
package.use.force
package.use.mask
package.use.stable.force
package.use.stable.mask
parent
profile.bashrc
use.force
use.mask
use.stable.mask
use.stable.force
virtuals

/etc/portage/

bashrc
categories
color.map
license_groups
make.conf(5)
mirrors
modules
package.accept_keywords
package.accept_restrict
package.env
package.keywords
package.license
package.mask
package.properties
package.unmask
package.use
repos.conf

/etc/portage/env/

package-specific bashrc files

/etc/portage/profile/

site-specific overrides of /etc/portage/make.profile/

/etc/portage/sets/

user-defined package sets

/usr/portage/metadata/

layout.conf

/usr/portage/profiles/

arch.list
categories
info_pkgs
info_vars
license_groups
make.defaults
package.mask
package.unmask
package.use
package.use.force
package.use.mask
package.use.stable.force
package.use.stable.mask
profiles.desc
repo_name
thirdpartymirrors
use.desc
use.force
use.local.desc
use.mask
use.stable.mask
use.stable.force

/usr/share/portage/config/

make.globals

/var/cache/edb/

misc internal cache files

/var/db/pkg/

database to track installed packages

/var/lib/portage/

config
world
world_sets

GLOSSARY

DEPEND atom

An atom is either of the form category/package or consists of an operator followed by category/package followed by a hyphen and a version specification. An atom might be suffixed by a slot specification.
More reading: ebuild(5)

Extended Atom Syntax
The following atom syntax extensions are only supported in user configuration files and command line arguments for programs such as emerge(1):

Repository Constraints

Atoms with repository constraints have a '::' separator appended to the right side, followed by a repository name. Each repository name should correspond to the value of a repo_name entry from one of the repositories that is configured via the PORTDIR or PORTDIR_OVERLAY variables (see make.conf(5)).

Examples:

# match sed from the 'gentoo' repository
sys-apps/sed::gentoo
# match kdelibs from the 'kde-testing' repository
kde-base/kdelibs::kde-testing
# match empathy from the 'gnome' repository
net-im/empathy::gnome

Wildcard Patterns

Atoms containing wildcard patterns are of the form category/package, where the special '*' wildcard character substitutes for an arbitrary number of normal characters. More than one '*' character is allowed, but not two next to each other.

Examples:

# match anything with a version containing 9999, which can be used in
# package.mask to prevent emerge --autounmask from selecting live ebuilds
=*/*-*9999*
# match anything with a version containing _beta
=*/*-*_beta*
# match anything from the 'sys-apps' category
sys-apps/*
# match packages named 'zlib' from any category
*/zlib
# match any package from a category that begins with 'net-'
net-*/*
# match any package name from any category
*/*
# match any package from the 'gentoo' repository
*/*::gentoo

KEYWORD

Each architecture has a unique KEYWORD.
More reading: ebuild(5)

virtual

A DEPEND atom that is part of the "virtual" category. They are used when different packages can satisfy a dependency and only one of them is needed.
More reading: ebuild(5)

SPECIFIC FILE DESCRIPTIONS

/etc/portage/make.profile/ or /etc/make.profile/

This is usually just a symlink to the correct profile in /usr/portage/profiles/. Since it is part of the portage tree, it may easily be updated/regenerated by running `emerge --sync`. It defines what a profile is (usually arch specific stuff). If you need a custom profile, then you should make your own make.profile directory and populate it. However, if you just wish to override some settings, use /etc/portage/profile/ (it supports all of the same file types that make.profile does, except parent). Do NOT edit the settings in make.profile because they WILL be lost with the next `emerge --sync`. If both /etc/portage/make.profile/ and /etc/make.profile/ exist, then /etc/portage/make.profile/ will be preferred.

Any file in this directory, directories of other profiles or top-level "profiles" directory that begins with "package." or "use." can be more than just a flat file. If it is a directory, then all the files in that directory will be sorted in ascending alphabetical order by file name and summed together as if it were a single file. Note that this behavior is only supported since portage-2.1.6.7, and it is not included in PMS at this time.

Example:

${PORTDIR}/profiles/package.mask/removals
${PORTDIR}/profiles/package.mask/testing

deprecated

The existence of this file marks a profile as deprecated, meaning it is not supported by Gentoo anymore. The first line must be the profile to which users are encouraged to upgrade, optionally followed by some instructions explaining how they can upgrade.

Example:

default-linux/x86/2005.0
# emerge -n '>=sys-apps/portage-2.0.51'
# rm -f /etc/portage/make.profile
# ln -s /usr/portage/profiles/default-linux/alpha/2005.0 /etc/portage/make.profile

eapi

The first line of this file specifies the EAPI to which files in the same directory conform. See ebuild(5) for information about EAPI and related features. Beginning with EAPI 5, new USE configuration files are supported: use.stable.mask, use.stable.force, package.use.stable.mask and package.use.stable.force. These files behave similarly to previously supported USE configuration files, except that they only influence packages that are merged due to a stable keyword.

make.defaults

The profile default settings for Portage. The general format is described in make.conf(5). The make.defaults for your profile defines a few specific variables too:

ARCH

Architecture type (x86/ppc/hppa/etc...).

IUSE_IMPLICIT = [space delimited list of USE flags]

Defines implicit IUSE for ebuilds using EAPI 5 or later. Flags that come from USE_EXPAND or USE_EXPAND_UNPREFIXED variables do not belong in IUSE_IMPLICIT, since USE_EXPAND_VALUES_* variables are used to define implicit IUSE for those flags. See ebuild(5) for more information about IUSE.

USERLAND = GNU

Support BSD/cygwin/etc...

USE_EXPAND = [space delimited list of variable names]

Any variable listed here will be used to augment USE by inserting a new flag for every value in that variable, so USE_EXPAND="FOO" and FOO="bar bla" results in USE="foo_bar foo_bla".

USE_EXPAND_HIDDEN = [space delimited list of variable names]

Names of USE_EXPAND variables that should not be shown in the verbose merge list output of the emerge(1) command.

USE_EXPAND_IMPLICIT = [space delimited list of variable names]

Defines USE_EXPAND and USE_EXPAND_UNPREFIXED variables for which the corresponding USE flags may have implicit IUSE for ebuilds using EAPI 5 or later.

USE_EXPAND_UNPREFIXED = [space delimited list of variable names]

Any variable listed here will be used to augment USE by inserting a new flag for every value in that variable, so USE_EXPAND_UNPREFIXED="FOO" and FOO="bar bla" results in USE="bar bla".

USE_EXPAND_VALUES_ARCH = [space delimited list of ARCH values]

Defines ARCH values used to generate implicit IUSE for ebuilds using EAPI 5 or later.

USE_EXPAND_VALUES_ELIBC = [space delimited list of ELIBC values]

Defines ELIBC values used to generate implicit IUSE for ebuilds using EAPI 5 or later.

USE_EXPAND_VALUES_KERNEL = [space delimited list of KERNEL values]

Defines KERNEL values used to generate implicit IUSE for ebuilds using EAPI 5 or later.

USE_EXPAND_VALUES_USERLAND = [space delimited list of USERLAND values]

Defines USERLAND values used to generate implicit IUSE for ebuilds using EAPI 5 or later.

ELIBC = glibc

Support uClibc/BSD libc/etc...

PROFILE_ONLY_VARIABLES = ARCH

Prevent critical variables from being changed by the user in make.conf or the env.

PROFILE_ARCH

Distinguish machines classes that have the same ARCH. All sparc machines have ARCH=sparc but set this to either 'sparc32' or 'sparc64'.

BOOTSTRAP_USE

Special USE flags which may be needed when bootstrapping from stage1 to stage2.

packages

Provides the list of packages that compose the special system set.

Format:

- comments begin with # (no inline comments)
- one DEPEND atom per line
- packages to be added to the system set begin with a *
- atoms without * only appear for legacy reasons

Note: In a cascading profile setup, you can remove packages in children profiles which were added by parent profiles by prefixing the atom with a '-'.

Example:

# i am a comment !
# pull in a version of glibc less than 2.3
*<sys-libs/glibc-2.3
# pull in any version of bash
*app-shells/bash
# pull in a version of readline earlier than 4.2
*<sys-libs/readline-4.2

packages.build

A list of packages (one per line) that make up a stage1 tarball. Really only useful for stage builders.

package.provided

A list of packages (one per line) that portage should assume have been provided. Useful for porting to non-Linux systems. Basically, it's a list that replaces the emerge --inject syntax.

For example, if you manage your own copy of a 2.6 kernel, then you can tell portage that 'sys-kernel/development-sources-2.6.7' is already taken care of and it should get off your back about it.

Portage will not attempt to update a package that is listed here unless another package explicitly requires a version that is newer than what has been listed. Dependencies that are satisfied by package.provided entries may cause installed packages satisfying equivalent dependencies to be removed by emerge(1) --depclean actions (see the ACTIONS section of the emerge(1) man page for more information).

Virtual packages (virtual/*) should not be specified in package.provided. Depending on the type of virtual, it may be necessary to add an entry to the virtuals file and/or add a package that satisfies a virtual to package.provided.

Format:

- comments begin with # (no inline comments)
- one DEPEND atom per line
- relational operators are not allowed
- must include a version

Example:

# you take care of the kernel
sys-kernel/development-sources-2.6.7

# you installed your own special copy of QT
x11-libs/qt-3.3.0

# you have modular X but packages want monolithic
x11-base/xorg-x11-6.8

package.use.force and package.use.stable.force

Per-package USE flag forcing.

Note: In a cascading profile setup, you can remove USE flags in children profiles which were added by parent profiles by prefixing the flag with a '-'.

Format:

- comments begin with # (no inline comments)
- one DEPEND atom per line with space-delimited USE flags

Example:

# force docs for GTK 2.x
=x11-libs/gtk+-2* doc
# unforce mysql support for QT
x11-libs/qt -mysql

package.use.mask and package.use.stable.mask

Per-package USE flag masks.

Note: In a cascading profile setup, you can remove USE flags in children profiles which were added by parent profiles by prefixing the flag with a '-'.

Format:

- comments begin with # (no inline comments)
- one DEPEND atom per line with space-delimited USE flags

Example:

# mask docs for GTK 2.x
=x11-libs/gtk+-2* doc
# unmask mysql support for QT
x11-libs/qt -mysql

parent

This contains paths to the parent profiles (one per line). They may be either relative (to the location of the profile) or absolute. Most commonly this file contains '..' to indicate the directory above. Utilized only in cascading profiles.

When multiple parent profiles are specified, they are inherited in order from the first line to the last.

If layout.conf is new enough, you can also use the <repo>:<path> syntax. The <repo> is the same string as is stored in the repo_name file (or omitted to refer to the current repo), and <path> is a subdir starting at profiles/.

profile.bashrc

If needed, this file can be used to set up a special environment for ebuilds, different from the standard root environment. The syntax is the same as for any other bash script.

use.force and use.stable.force

Some USE flags don't make sense to disable under certain conditions. Here we list forced flags.

Note: In a cascading profile setup, you can remove USE flags in children profiles which were added by parent profiles by prefixing the flag with a '-'.

Format:

- comments begin with # (no inline comments)
- one USE flag per line

use.mask and use.stable.mask

Some USE flags don't make sense on some archs (for example altivec on non-ppc or mmx on non-x86), or haven't yet been tested. Here we list the masked ones.

Note: In a cascading profile setup, you can remove USE flags in children profiles which were added by parent profiles by prefixing the flag with a '-'.

Format:

- comments begin with # (no inline comments)
- one USE flag per line

Example:

# mask doc
doc
# unmask mysql
-mysql

virtuals

The virtuals file controls default preferences for virtuals that are defined via the PROVIDE ebuild variable (see ebuild(5)). Since Gentoo now uses GLEP 37 virtuals instead of PROVIDE virtuals, the virtuals file is irrelevant for all Gentoo ebuilds. However, it is still possible for third-parties to distribute ebuilds that make use of PROVIDE.

Format:

- comments begin with # (no inline comments)
- one virtual and DEPEND atom base pair per line

Example:

# use net-mail/ssmtp as the default mta
virtual/mta           net-mail/ssmtp
# use app-dicts/aspell-en as the default dictionary
virtual/aspell-dict   app-dicts/aspell-en

/etc/portage/

Any file in this directory that begins with "package." can be more than just a flat file. If it is a directory, then all the files in that directory will be sorted in ascending alphabetical order by file name and summed together as if it were a single file.

Example:

/etc/portage/package.accept_keywords/common
/etc/portage/package.accept_keywords/e17
/etc/portage/package.accept_keywords/kde

bashrc

If needed, this file can be used to set up a special environment for ebuilds, different from the standard root environment. The syntax is the same as for any other bash script.

Additional package-specific bashrc files can be created in /etc/portage/env.

categories

A simple list of valid categories that may be used in /usr/portage, PORTDIR_OVERLAY, and PKGDIR (see make.conf(5)). This allows for custom categories to be created.

Format:

- one category per line

Example:

app-hackers
media-other

color.map

Contains variables customizing colors. See color.map(5).

make.conf

The global custom settings for Portage. See make.conf(5).

mirrors

Whenever portage encounters a mirror:// style URI it will look up the actual hosts here. If the mirror set is not found here, it will check the global mirrors file at /usr/portage/profiles/thirdpartymirrors. You may also set a special mirror type called "local". This list of mirrors will be checked before GENTOO_MIRRORS and will be used even if the package has RESTRICT="mirror" or RESTRICT="fetch".

Format:

- comments begin with # (no inline comments)
- mirror type followed by a list of hosts

Example:

# local private mirrors used only by my company
local ftp://192.168.0.3/mirrors/gentoo http://192.168.0.4/distfiles

# people in japan would want to use the japanese mirror first
sourceforge http://keihanna.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge

# people in tawain would want to use the local gnu mirror first
gnu ftp://ftp.nctu.edu.tw/UNIX/gnu/

modules

This file can be used to override the metadata cache implementation. In practice, portdbapi.auxdbmodule is the only variable that the user will want to override.

Example:

portdbapi.auxdbmodule = portage.cache.sqlite.database

After changing the portdbapi.auxdbmodule setting, it may be necessary to transfer or regenerate metadata cache. Users of the rsync tree need to run `emerge --metadata` if they have enabled FEATURES="metadata-transfer" in make.conf(5). In order to regenerate metadata for repositories listed in PORTDIR_OVERLAY or a cvs tree, run `emerge --regen` (see emerge(1)). If you use something like the sqlite module and want to keep all metadata in that format alone (useful for querying), enable FEATURES="metadata-transfer" in make.conf(5).

package.accept_keywords and package.keywords

Per-package ACCEPT_KEYWORDS. Useful for mixing unstable packages in with a normally stable system or vice versa. This will allow ACCEPT_KEYWORDS to be augmented for a single package. If both package.accept_keywords and package.keywords are present, both of them will be used, and values from package.accept_keywords will override values from package.keywords. The package.accept_keywords file is intended to replace the package.keywords file, since profiles support a different form of package.keywords which modifies effective KEYWORDS (rather than ACCEPT_KEYWORDS).

Format:

- comment lines begin with # (no inline comments)
- one DEPEND atom per line followed by additional KEYWORDS
- lines without any KEYWORDS imply unstable host arch

Example:
# always use unstable libgd
media-libs/libgd ~x86
# only use stable mplayer
media-video/mplayer -~x86
# always use unstable netcat
net-analyzer/netcat

Note: In addition to the normal values from ACCEPT_KEYWORDS package.keywords supports three special tokens:

*  package is visible if it is stable on any architecture
~* package is visible if it is in testing on any architecture
** package is always visible (KEYWORDS are ignored completely)

Additional Note: If you encounter the -* KEYWORD, this indicates that the package is known to be broken on all systems which are not otherwise listed in KEYWORDS. For example, a binary only package which is built for x86 will look like:

games-fps/quake3-demo-1.11.ebuild:KEYWORDS="-* x86"

If you wish to accept this package anyways, then use one of the other keywords in your package.accept_keywords like this:

games-fps/quake3-demo x86

package.accept_restrict

This will allow ACCEPT_RESTRICT (see make.conf(5)) to be augmented for a single package.

Format:

- comment lines begin with # (no inline comments)
- one DEPEND atom per line followed by additional RESTRICT tokens

package.env

Per-package environment variable settings. Entries refer to environment files that are placed in the /etc/portage/env/ directory and have the same format as make.conf(5).

Format:

- comment lines begin with # (no inline comments)
- one DEPEND atom per line followed by name(s) of environment file(s)

Example:

# use environment variables from /etc/portage/env/glibc.conf for the glibc package
sys-libs/glibc glibc.conf

package.license

This will allow ACCEPT_LICENSE (see make.conf(5)) to be augmented for a single package.

Format:

- comment lines begin with # (no inline comments)
- one DEPEND atom per line followed by additional licenses or groups

package.mask

A list of package atoms to mask. Useful if specific versions of packages do not work well for you. For example, you swear by the Nvidia drivers, but only versions earlier than 1.0.4496. No problem!

Format:

- comment lines begin with # (no inline comments)
- one DEPEND atom per line

Example:

# mask out versions 1.0.4496 of the nvidia
# drivers and later
>=media-video/nvidia-kernel-1.0.4496
>=media-video/nvidia-glx-1.0.4496

package.properties

This will allow ACCEPT_PROPERTIES (see make.conf(5)) to be augmented for a single package.

Format:

- comment lines begin with # (no inline comments)
- one DEPEND atom per line followed by additional properties

package.unmask

Just like package.mask above, except here you list packages you want to unmask. Useful for overriding the global package.mask file (see above). Note that this does not override packages that are masked via KEYWORDS.

package.use

Per-package USE flags. Useful for tracking local USE flags or for enabling USE flags for certain packages only. Perhaps you develop GTK and thus you want documentation for it, but you don't want documentation for QT. Easy as pie my friend!

Format:

- comments begin with # (no inline comments)
- one DEPEND atom per line with space-delimited USE flags

Example:

# turn on docs for GTK 2.x
=x11-libs/gtk+-2* doc
# disable mysql support for QT
x11-libs/qt -mysql

repos.conf

Specifies site-specific repository configuration information. Note that configuration settings which are specified here do not apply to tools such as repoman(1) and egencache(1), since operations performed by these tools are inherently not site-specific. WARNING: Use of repos.conf is generally not recommended since resulting changes in eclass inheritance (especially due to eclass-overrides) may trigger performance issues under some circumstances (see bug #124041).

Example:

[DEFAULT]
# make gentoo the main repo (aka PORTDIR), which makes it the default master
# repository for repostories that do not specify masters
main-repo = gentoo
# make all repositories inherit eclasses from the java-overlay and
# java-experimental repositories, with eclasses from java-experimental
# taking precedence over those from java-overlay
eclass-overrides = java-overlay java-experimental

[gentoo]
# repos with higher priorities are preferred when ebuilds with equal versions
# are found in multiple repos (see the `emerge --info --verbose` repo
# display for a listing of repos and their corresponding priorities).
priority = 9999
# disable all eclass overrides for ebuilds from the gentoo repository
eclass-overrides =
# when processing metadata/layout.conf from other repositories, substitute
# 'gentoo' in place of references to repositories named 'foo' and 'bar',
# and discard the 'baz' alias contained in gentoo's layout.conf
aliases = foo bar -baz

[kde-testing]
# override the metadata/layout.conf masters setting from the kde-testing repo
masters = gentoo kde

[python]
# override the metadata/layout.conf masters setting from the python repo,
# so that settings won't be inherited from those masters, and so that
# those master repos won't be required as dependencies (the user must
# ensure that any required dependencies such as eclasses are satisfied)
masters =

/etc/portage/env/

In this directory additional package-specific bashrc files can be created. Note that if package-specific environment variable settings are all that's needed, then /etc/portage/package.env should be used instead of the bashrc approach that is described here. Also note that special variables such as FEATURES and INSTALL_MASK will not produce the intended results if they are set in bashrc, and therefore /etc/portage/package.env should be used instead.

Portage will source all of these bashrc files after /etc/portage/bashrc in the following order:

step].

/etc/portage/env/${CATEGORY}/${PN}

step].

/etc/portage/env/${CATEGORY}/${PN}:${SLOT}

step].

/etc/portage/env/${CATEGORY}/${P}

step].

/etc/portage/env/${CATEGORY}/${PF}

/etc/portage/sets/

For each file in this directory, a package set is created with its name corresponding to the name of the file. Each file should contain a list of package atoms and nested package sets, one per line. When a package set is referenced as an emerge(1) argument or when it is referenced as a nested package set (inside of another package set), the set name is prefixed with @.

Also see /var/lib/portage/world_sets and the emerge(1) --list-sets option.

/usr/portage/metadata/

layout.conf

Specifies information about the repository layout. A "masters" attribute is supported, which is used to specify names of repositories which satisfy dependencies on eclasses and/or ebuilds. Each repository name should correspond the value of a repo_name entry from one of the repositories that is configured via the PORTDIR or PORTDIR_OVERLAY variables (see make.conf(5)). Repositories listed toward the right of the masters list take precedence over those listed toward the left of the list. An "aliases" attribute is also supported, which behaves like an "aliases" attribute in repos.conf. Site-specific overrides to layout.conf settings may be specified in /etc/portage/repos.conf. Settings in repos.conf take precedence over settings in layout.conf, except tools such as repoman(1) and egencache(1) will entirely ignore repos.conf since their operations are inherently not site-specific.

Example:

# Specify the repository name (if there is a different setting in
# profiles/repo_name, then this layout.conf setting will take precedence)
repo-name = foo-overlay

# eclasses provided by java-overlay take precedence over identically named
# eclasses that are provided by gentoo
masters = gentoo java-overlay

# indicate that this repo can be used as a substitute for foo-overlay
aliases = foo-overlay

# indicate that ebuilds with the specified EAPIs are banned
eapis-banned = 0 1

# indicate that ebuilds with the specified EAPIs are deprecated
eapis-deprecated = 2 3

# sign commits in this repo, which requires Git >=1.7.9, and
# key configured by `git config user.signingkey key_id`
sign-commits = true

# do not sign Manifest files in this repo
sign-manifests = false

# Manifest files only contain DIST entries
thin-manifests = true

# indicate that this repo requires manifests for each package, and is
# considered a failure if a manifest file is missing/incorrect
use-manifests = strict

# customize the set of hashes generated for Manifest entries
manifest-hashes = SHA256 SHA512 WHIRLPOOL

# indicate that this repo enables repoman's --echangelog=y option automatically
update-changelog = true

# indicate that this repo contains both md5-dict and pms cache formats,
# which may be generated by egencache(1)
cache-formats = md5-dict pms

# indicate that this repo contains profiles that may use directories for
# package.mask, package.provided, package.use, package.use.force,
# package.use.mask, package.use.stable.force, package.use.stable.mask,
# use.force, use.mask, use.stable.force, and use.stable.mask.
# profile-formats = portage-1
# indicate that paths such as 'gentoo:targets/desktop' or ':targets/desktop' in
# profile parent files can be used to express paths relative to the root
# 'profiles' directory of a repository (when the repo name is omitted before
# the colon, it refers to the current repository the parent file is inside)
profile-formats = portage-2

/usr/portage/profiles/

Global Gentoo settings that are controlled by the developers. To override these settings, you can use the files in /etc/portage/.

arch.list

A list of all valid KEYWORDS. This does not include modifiers.

Format:

- one KEYWORD per line

Example:

x86
ppc
sparc

categories

A simple list of valid categories that may be used in /usr/portage, PORTDIR_OVERLAY, and PKGDIR (see make.conf(5)).

Format:

- one category per line

Example:

app-admin
dev-lang
games-strategy
sys-kernel

info_pkgs

A list of all the packages which will be displayed when you run `emerge info`.

info_vars

A list of all the variables which will be displayed when you run `emerge info`.

license_groups

This contains groups of licenses that may be specifed in the ACCEPT_LICENSE variable (see make.conf(5)). Refer to GLEP 23 for further information: http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/glep/glep-0023.html.

Format:

- comments begin with # (no inline comments)
- one group name, followed by list of licenses and nested groups
- nested groups are prefixed with the '@' symbol

Example:

# The FSF-APPROVED group includes the entire GPL-COMPATIBLE group and more.
FSF-APPROVED @GPL-COMPATIBLE Apache-1.1 BSD-4 MPL-1.0 MPL-1.1
# The GPL-COMPATIBLE group includes all licenses compatible with the GNU GPL.
GPL-COMPATIBLE Apache-2.0 BSD BSD-2 GPL-2 GPL-3 LGPL-2.1 LGPL-3 X11 ZLIB

package.accept_keywords

Per-package ACCEPT_KEYWORDS for profiles. This has the same format and behavior as /etc/portage/package.accept_keywords, including the ability to list atoms without any keywords in order to accept unstable variants of all stable keywords listed in ACCEPT_KEYWORDS.

package.keywords

Per-profile KEYWORDS. Useful for cases in which the effective KEYWORDS of a given package should vary depending on which profile the user has selected.

Format:

- comment lines begin with # (no inline comments)
- one DEPEND atom per line followed by additional KEYWORDS

Example:

# add stable keyword to libgd
media-libs/libgd x86
# remove stable keyword from mplayer and add unstable keyword
media-video/mplayer -x86 ~x86
# remove all keywords from netcat
net-analyzer/netcat -*

package.mask

This contains a list of DEPEND atoms for packages that should not be installed in any profile. Useful for adding the latest KDE betas and making sure no one accidentally upgrades to them. Also useful for quickly masking specific versions due to security issues. ALWAYS include a comment explaining WHY the package has been masked and WHO is doing the masking.

Format:

- comments begin with # (no inline comments)
- one DEPEND atom per line

Example:

# masked for security reasons
<sys-libs/zlib-1.1.4
# <caleb@gentoo.org> (10 Sep 2003)
# new kde betas
=kde-base/kde-3.2.0_beta1
=kde-base/kdeaccessibility-3.2.0_beta1

profiles.desc

List all the current stable and development profiles. If a profile is listed here, then it will be checked by repoman. Format:

- comments begin with # (no inline comments)
- one profile list per line in format: arch dir status
- arch must be listed in arch.list
- dir is relative to profiles.desc
- status must be 'stable', 'dev', or 'exp'

Example:

alpha        default/linux/alpha/10.0    stable
m68k         default/linux/m68k/10.0     dev
x86          default/linux/x86/10.0      stable
x86-linux    prefix/linux/x86            exp

repo_name

The first line of the file should define a unique repository name. The name may contain any of the characters [A-Za-z0-9_-]. It must not begin with a hyphen. If the repo-name attribute is specified in layout.conf, then that setting will take precedence.

thirdpartymirrors

Controls the mapping of mirror:// style URIs to actual lists of mirrors. Keeps us from overloading a single server.

Format:

- comments begin with # (no inline comments)
- mirror type followed by a list of hosts

Example:

sourceforge http://aleron.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge http://unc.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge

gentoo http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/gentoo/distfiles/ ftp://ftp.gtlib.cc.gatech.edu/pub/gentoo/distfiles

kernel http://www.kernel.org/pub http://www.us.kernel.org/pub

use.desc

All global USE flags must be listed here with a description of what they do.

Format:

- comments begin with # (no inline comments)
- use flag - some description

Example:

3dfx - Adds support for 3dfx video cards
acl - Adds support for Access Control Lists
doc - Adds extra documentation

use.local.desc

All local USE flags are listed here along with the package and a description. This file is automatically generated from the metadata.xml files that are included with each individual package. Refer to GLEP 56 for further information: http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/glep/glep-0056.html.

Format:
- comments begin with # (no inline comments)
- package:use flag - description

Example:
app-editors/nano:justify - Toggles the justify option
dev-libs/DirectFB:fusion - Adds Multi Application support
games-emulation/xmess:net - Adds network support

/usr/share/portage/config/

make.globals

The global default settings for Portage. This comes from the portage package itself. Settings in make.conf or package.env override values here. The format is described extensivly in make.conf(5).

/var/cache/edb/

This directory is used to store internal portage cache files. The names and purpose of these files are not documented on purpose so as to keep down bitrot as internals change. If you aren't working on portage internally, then the details most likely do not matter to you.

This entire directory can be safely deleted. It is highly recommended you do not do this however as it can be a time consuming process to generate them all again.

/var/db/pkg/

All installed package information is recorded here. If portage thinks you have a package installed, it is usually because it is listed here.

The format follows somewhat closely that of the portage tree. There is a directory for each category and a package-version subdirectory for each package you have installed.

Inside each package directory are misc files that describe the installed contents of the package as well as build time information (so that the package can be unmerged without needing the portage tree).

The exact file contents and format are not described here again so that things can be changed quickly. Generally though there is one file per environment variable that "matters" (like CFLAGS) with the contents stored inside of it. Another common file is the CONTENTS file which lists the path and hashes of all objects that the package installed onto your system.

/var/lib/portage/

config

Hashes which are used to determine whether files in config protected directories have been modified since being installed. Files which have not been modified will automatically be unmerged.

world

Every time you emerge a package, the package that you requested is recorded here. Then when you run `emerge world -up`, the list of packages is read from this file. Note that this does not mean that the packages that were installed as dependencies are listed here. For example, if you run `emerge mod_wsgi` and you do not have apache already, then "www-apache/mod_wsgi" is recorded in the world file but "www-servers/apache" is not. For more information, review emerge(1).

Format:

- one DEPEND atom base per line

Example:

games-misc/fortune-mod-gentoo-dev
dev-libs/uclibc
app-cdr/cdemu

world_sets

This is like the world file but instead of package atoms it contains packages sets which always begin with the @ character. Use /etc/portage/sets/ to define user package sets.

Example:

@kde

REPORTING BUGS

AUTHORS

Marius Mauch <genone@gentoo.org>
Mike Frysinger <vapier@gentoo.org>
Drake Wyrm <wyrm@haell.com>
Arfrever Frehtes Taifersar Arahesis <arfrever@gentoo.org>

SEE ALSO

Index

NAME

DESCRIPTION

SYNOPSIS

GLOSSARY

SPECIFIC FILE DESCRIPTIONS

REPORTING BUGS

AUTHORS

SEE ALSO