1 .TH "EMERGE" "1" "May 2011" "Portage VERSION" "Portage"
3 emerge \- Command\-line interface to the Portage system
7 [\fIoptions\fR] [\fIaction\fR] [\fIebuild\fR | \fItbz2file\fR | \fIfile\fR | \fI@set\fR | \fIatom\fR] ...
10 \fB\-\-sync\fR | \fB\-\-version\fR
13 \fB\-\-info\fR [\fIatom\fR]
16 \fB\-\-search\fR \fIsomestring\fR
19 \fB\-\-help\fR [\fB\-\-verbose\fR]
21 \fBemerge\fR is the definitive command\-line interface to the Portage
22 system. It is primarily used for installing packages, and \fBemerge\fR
23 can automatically handle any dependencies that the desired package has.
24 \fBemerge\fR can also update the \fBportage tree\fR, making new and
25 updated packages available. \fBemerge\fR gracefully handles updating
26 installed packages to newer releases as well. It handles both source
27 and binary packages, and it can be used to create binary packages for
29 .SH "EBUILDS, TBZ2S, SETS AND ATOMS"
30 \fBemerge\fR primarily installs packages. You can specify
31 packages to install in five possible ways: an \fIatom\fR,
32 a \fIset\fR, an installed \fIfile\fR, an \fIebuild\fR, or
37 An \fIebuild\fR must be, at a minimum, a valid Portage
38 package directory name without a version or category, such as
39 \fBportage\fR or \fBpython\fR.
40 Both categories and version numbers may be used in addition, such
41 as \fBsys\-apps/portage\fR or \fB=python\-2.2.1\-r2\fR.
43 ignores a trailing slash so that filename completion can be used.
44 The \fIebuild\fR may also be an actual filename, such as
45 \fB/usr/portage/app\-admin/python/python\-2.2.1\-r2.ebuild\fR.
46 \fBWARNING:\fR The implementation of \fBemerge /path/to/ebuild\fR is broken and
47 so this syntax shouldn't be used.
50 A \fItbz2file\fR must be a valid .tbz2 created with \fBebuild
51 <package>\-<version>.ebuild package\fR or \fBemerge \-\-buildpkg
52 [category/]<package>\fR or \fBquickpkg /var/db/pkg/<category>/<package>\fR.
55 A \fIfile\fR must be a file or directory that has been installed by one or
56 more packages. If an absolute path is not used, then it must begin with
57 either "./" or "../". For directories that are owned by multiple packages, all
58 owning packages will be selected. See the portageq(1) owners command if you
59 would like to query the owners of one or more files or directories.
62 A \fIset\fR is a convenient shorthand for a large group of
63 packages. Three sets are currently always available: \fBselected\fR,
64 \fBsystem\fR and \fBworld\fR. \fBselected\fR contains the user-selected
65 "world" packages that are listed in \fB/var/lib/portage/world\fR,
66 and nested sets that may be listed
67 in \fB/var/lib/portage/world_sets\fR. \fBsystem\fR refers to a set of
68 packages deemed necessary for your system to run properly. \fBworld\fR
69 encompasses both the \fBselected\fR and \fBsystem\fR sets. [See
70 \fBFILES\fR below for more information.] Other sets can exist depending
71 on the current configuration. The default set configuration is located
72 in the \fB/usr/share/portage/config/sets\fR directory. Note that a \fIset\fR
73 is generally used in conjunction with \fB\-\-update\fR. When used as
74 arguments to \fBemerge\fR sets have to be prefixed with \fB@\fR to be
75 recognized. Use the \fB\-\-list\-sets\fR action to display a list of
76 available package sets.
79 An \fIatom\fR describes bounds on a package that you wish to install.
80 \fISee portage(5) for the details on atom syntax.\fR For example,
81 \fB>=dev\-lang/python\-2.2.1\-r2\fR matches the latest available version of
82 Python greater than or equal to 2.2.1\-r2. Similarly,
83 \fB<dev\-lang/python\-2.0\fR matches the latest available version of Python
84 before 2.0. Note that in many shells you will need to escape characters such
85 as '<' and '='; use single\- or double\-quotes around the \fIatom\fR
86 to get around escaping problems.
90 If no action is specified, the action is to merge in the specified
91 packages, satisfying any dependencies that they may have. The
92 arguments can be \fIatoms\fR, \fIsets\fR, installed \fIfiles\fR,
93 \fIebuilds\fR, or \fItbz2s\fR.
94 \fBNote that you need to use the \-\-usepkg
95 option if you want to install a tbz2\fR. The packages are added
96 to the \fBworld\fR file at the end, so that they are considered for
100 Cleans up the system by examining the installed packages and removing older
101 packages. This is accomplished by looking at each installed package and separating
102 the installed versions by \fBslot\fR. Clean will \fBremove all but the most recently
103 installed version in each \fbslot\fR. Clean should not remove unslotted packages.
104 Note: Most recently installed means most \fBrecent\fR, not highest version.
107 Run package specific actions needed to be executed after the emerge process
108 has completed. This usually entails configuration file setup or other similar
109 setups that the user may wish to run.
111 .BR "\-\-depclean (-c)"
112 Cleans the system by removing packages that are not associated
113 with explicitly merged packages. Depclean works by creating the
114 full dependency tree from the @world set,
115 then comparing it to installed packages. Packages installed, but
116 not part of the dependency tree, will be uninstalled by depclean.
117 See \fB\-\-with\-bdeps\fR for behavior with respect to build time dependencies
118 that are not strictly required. Packages that are part of the world set will
119 always be kept. They can be manually added to this set with \fIemerge
120 \-\-noreplace <atom>\fR. As a safety measure, depclean will not remove any
121 packages unless *all* required dependencies have been resolved. As a
122 consequence, it is often necessary to run \fIemerge \-\-update \-\-newuse
123 \-\-deep @world\fR prior to depclean. Also note that
124 depclean may break link level dependencies, especially when the
125 \fB\-\-depclean\-lib\-check\fR option is disabled. Thus, it is
126 recommended to use a tool such as \fBrevdep-rebuild\fR(1)
127 in order to detect such breakage.
130 Inexperienced users are advised to use \fB\-\-pretend\fR with this
131 option in order to see a preview of which packages
132 will be uninstalled. Always study the list of packages
133 to be cleaned for any obvious mistakes. Note that packages listed in
134 package.provided (see \fBportage\fR(5)) may be removed by
135 depclean, even if they are part of the world set.
137 Depclean serves as a dependency aware
138 version of \fB\-\-unmerge\fR. When given one or more atoms, it will
139 unmerge matched packages that have no reverse dependencies. Use
140 \fB\-\-depclean\fR together with \fB\-\-verbose\fR to show reverse
143 .BR "\-\-deselect [ y | n ]"
144 Remove atoms and/or sets from the world file. This action is implied
145 by uninstall actions, including \fB-\-depclean\fR,
146 \fB-\-prune\fR and \fB-\-unmerge\fR. Use \fB-\-deselect=n\fR
147 in order to prevent uninstall actions from removing
148 atoms from the world file.
150 .BR "\-\-help " (\fB\-h\fR)
151 Displays help information for emerge. Adding one of the additional
152 arguments listed above will give you more specific help information
153 on that subject. The internal \fBemerge\fR help documentation is
154 updated more frequently than this man page; check it out if you
155 are having problems that this man page does not help resolve.
158 Produces a list of information to include in bug reports which aids the
159 developers when fixing the reported problem. \fBPlease include this
160 information when submitting a bug report.\fR Expanded output can be obtained
161 with the \fI\-\-verbose\fR option.
164 Displays a list of available package sets.
167 Transfers metadata cache from ${PORTDIR}/metadata/cache/ to
168 /var/cache/edb/dep/ as is normally done on the
169 tail end of an rsync update using \fBemerge \-\-sync\fR. This process
170 populates the cache database that portage uses for pre-parsed lookups of
171 package data. It does not populate cache for the overlays listed in
172 PORTDIR_OVERLAY. In order to generate cache for overlays, use \fB\-\-regen\fR.
173 In versions of portage >=2.1.5 the \-\-metadata action is totally unnecessary
174 unless the user has enabled FEATURES="metadata-transfer" in \fBmake.conf\fR(5).
176 .BR "\-\-prune " (\fB\-P\fR)
177 \fBWARNING: This action can remove important packages!\fR Removes all but the
178 highest installed version of a package from your system. Use \fB\-\-prune\fR
179 together with \fB\-\-verbose\fR to show reverse dependencies or with
180 \fB\-\-nodeps\fR to ignore all dependencies.
183 Causes portage to check and update the dependency cache of all ebuilds in the
184 portage tree. The cache is used to speed up searches and the building of
185 dependency trees. This command is not recommended for rsync users as rsync
186 updates the cache using server\-side caches. If you do not know the
187 differences between a 'rsync user' and some other user, then you are a 'rsync
188 user' :). Rsync users should simply run \fBemerge \-\-sync\fR to regenerate
189 the cache. After a portage update, rsync users may find it convenient to run
190 \fBemerge \-\-metadata\fR to rebuild the cache as portage does at the end of
191 a sync operation. In order to specify parallel \fB\-\-regen\fR behavior, use
192 the \fB\-\-jobs\fR and \fB\-\-load\-average\fR options. If you would like to
193 generate and distribute cache for use by others, use \fBegencache\fR(1).
195 .BR "\-\-resume" (\fB\-r\fR)
196 Resumes the most recent merge list that has been aborted due to an error.
197 Please note that this operation will only return an error on failure. If there
198 is nothing for portage to do, then portage will exit with a message and a
199 success condition. A resume list will persist until it has been completed in
200 entirety or until another aborted merge list replaces it. The resume history
201 is capable of storing two merge lists. After one resume list completes, it is
202 possible to invoke \-\-resume once again in order to resume an older list.
204 .BR "\-\-search " (\fB\-s\fR)
205 Searches for matches of the supplied string in the portage tree.
206 By default emerge uses a case-insensitive simple search, but you can
207 enable a regular expression search by prefixing the search string with %.
208 For example, \fBemerge \-\-search "%^kde"\fR searches for any package whose
209 name starts with "kde"; \fBemerge \-\-search "%gcc$"\fR searches for any
210 package that ends with "gcc"; \fBemerge \-\-search "office"\fR searches for
211 any package that contains the word "office". If you want to include the
212 category into the search string, prepend an @: \fBemerge \-\-search
213 "%@^dev-java.*jdk"\fR. If you want to search the package descriptions as well,
214 use the \fB\-\-searchdesc\fR action.
216 .BR "\-\-searchdesc " (\fB\-S\fR)
217 Matches the search string against the description field as well as
218 the package name. \fBTake caution\fR as the descriptions are also
219 matched as regular expressions.
222 This updates the portage tree that is located in the
223 directory that the PORTDIR variable refers to (default
224 location is /usr/portage). The SYNC variable specifies
225 the remote URI from which files will be synchronized.
226 The \fBPORTAGE_SYNC_STALE\fR variable configures
227 warnings that are shown when emerge \-\-sync has not
228 been executed recently.
231 The emerge \-\-sync action will modify and/or delete
232 files located inside the directory that the PORTDIR
233 variable refers to (default location is /usr/portage).
234 For more information, see the PORTDIR documentation in
235 the make.conf(5) man page.
238 The \fBemerge\-webrsync\fR program will download the entire
239 portage tree as a tarball, which is much faster than emerge
240 \-\-sync for first time syncs.
243 .BR "\-\-unmerge " (\fB\-C\fR)
244 \fBWARNING: This action can remove important packages!\fR Removes
245 all matching packages. This does no checking of dependencies, so
246 it may remove packages necessary for the proper operation of your
247 system. Its arguments can be \fIatoms\fR or
248 \fIebuilds\fR. For a dependency aware version of \fB\-\-unmerge\fR,
249 use \fB\-\-depclean\fR or \fB\-\-prune\fR.
251 .BR "\-\-version " (\fB\-V\fR)
252 Displays the version number of \fBemerge\fR.
255 .BR \-\-accept\-properties=ACCEPT_PROPERTIES
256 This option temporarily overrides the \fBACCEPT_PROPERTIES\fR
257 variable. The \fBACCEPT_PROPERTIES\fR variable is incremental,
258 which means that the specified setting is appended to the
259 existing value from your configuration. The special \fB-*\fR
260 token can be used to discard the existing configuration
261 value and start fresh. See the \fBMASKED PACKAGES\fR section
262 and \fBmake.conf\fR(5) for more information about
263 ACCEPT_PROPERTIES. A typical usage example for this option
264 would be to use \fI\-\-accept\-properties=\-interactive\fR to
265 temporarily mask interactive packages. With default
266 configuration, this would result in an effective
267 \fBACCEPT_PROPERTIES\fR value of "* -interactive".
269 .BR "\-\-alphabetical "
270 When displaying USE and other flag output, combines the enabled and
271 disabled lists into one list and sorts the whole list alphabetically.
273 .BR "\-\-ask [ y | n ] (\-a short option)"
274 Before performing the action, display what will take place (server info for
275 \fB\-\-sync\fR, \fB\-\-pretend\fR output for merge, and so forth), then ask
276 whether to proceed with the action or abort. Using \fB\-\-ask\fR is more
277 efficient than using \fB\-\-pretend\fR and then executing the same command
278 without \fB\-\-pretend\fR, as dependencies will only need to be calculated once.
279 \fBWARNING: If the "Enter" key is pressed at the prompt (with no other input),
280 it is interpreted as acceptance of the first choice. Note that the input
281 buffer is not cleared prior to the prompt, so an accidental press of the
282 "Enter" key at any time prior to the prompt will be interpreted as a choice!
283 Use the \-\-ask\-enter\-invalid option if you want a single "Enter" key
284 press to be interpreted as invalid input.\fR
286 .BR "\-\-ask\-enter\-invalid"
287 When used together with the \fB\-\-ask\fR option,
288 interpret a single "Enter" key press as
289 invalid input. This helps prevent accidental
290 acceptance of the first choice. This option is
291 intended to be set in the \fBmake.conf\fR(5)
292 \fBEMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS\fR variable.
294 .BR "\-\-autounmask [ y | n ]"
295 Automatically unmask packages and generate package.use
296 settings as necessary to satisfy dependencies. This
297 option is enabled by default. If any configuration
298 changes are required, then they will be displayed
299 after the merge list and emerge will immediately
300 abort. If the displayed configuration changes are
301 satisfactory, you should copy and paste them into
302 the specified configuration file(s), or enable the
303 \fB\-\-autounmask\-write\fR option.
305 .BR "\-\-autounmask\-write [ y | n ]"
306 If \-\-autounmask is enabled, changes are written
307 to config files, respecting \fBCONFIG_PROTECT\fR.
309 .BR \-\-backtrack=COUNT
310 Specifies an integer number of times to backtrack if
311 dependency calculation fails due to a conflict or an
312 unsatisfied dependency (default: \'10\').
314 .BR "\-\-binpkg\-respect\-use [ y | n ]"
315 Tells emerge to ignore binary packages if their use flags
316 don't match the current configuration. (default: \'n\')
318 .BR "\-\-buildpkg [ y | n ] (\-b short option)"
319 Tells emerge to build binary packages for all ebuilds processed in
320 addition to actually merging the packages. Useful for maintainers
321 or if you administrate multiple Gentoo Linux systems (build once,
322 emerge tbz2s everywhere) as well as disaster recovery. The package
323 will be created in the \fBPKGDIR\fR directory (see \fBmake.conf\fR(5)).
324 An alternative for already\-merged
325 packages is to use \fBquickpkg\fR(1) which creates a tbz2 from the
328 .BR "\-\-buildpkgonly " (\fB\-B\fR)
329 Creates binary packages for all ebuilds processed without actually
330 merging the packages. This comes with the caveat that all build-time
331 dependencies must already be emerged on the system.
333 .BR "\-\-changed\-use"
334 This is an alias for \fB\-\-reinstall=changed\-use\fR.
336 .BR "\-\-changelog " (\fB\-l\fR)
337 Use this in conjunction with the \fB\-\-pretend\fR option. This will
338 show the ChangeLog entries for all the packages that will be upgraded.
340 .BR "\-\-color < y | n >"
341 Enable or disable color output. This option will override \fINOCOLOR\fR
342 (see \fBmake.conf\fR(5)) and may also be used to force color output when stdout
343 is not a tty (by default, color is disabled unless stdout is a tty).
346 Used alongside \fB\-\-pretend\fR to cause the package name, new version,
347 and old version to be displayed in an aligned format for easy cut\-n\-paste.
349 .BR "\-\-complete\-graph [ y | n ]"
350 This causes \fBemerge\fR to consider the deep dependencies of all
351 packages from the world set. With this option enabled,
352 \fBemerge\fR will bail out if it determines that the given operation will
353 break any dependencies of the packages that have been added to the
354 graph. Like the \fB\-\-deep\fR option, the \fB\-\-complete\-graph\fR
355 option will significantly increase the time taken for dependency
356 calculations. Note that, unlike the \fB\-\-deep\fR option, the
357 \fB\-\-complete\-graph\fR option does not cause any more packages to
358 be updated than would have otherwise been updated with the option disabled.
359 Using \fB\-\-with\-bdeps=y\fR together with \fB\-\-complete\-graph\fR makes
360 the graph as complete as possible.
362 .BR \-\-config\-root=DIR
363 Set the \fBPORTAGE_CONFIGROOT\fR environment variable.
365 .BR "\-\-debug " (\fB\-d\fR)
366 Tells emerge to run the emerge command in \fB\-\-debug\fR mode. In this
367 mode the bash build environment will run with the \-x option, causing
368 it to output verbose debugging information to stdout. This also enables
369 a plethora of other output (mostly dependency resolution messages).
371 .BR "\-\-deep [DEPTH] " (\fB\-D\fR)
373 \fBemerge\fR to consider the entire dependency tree of packages,
374 instead of checking only the immediate dependencies of the packages.
375 As an example, this catches updates in libraries that are not directly
376 listed in the dependencies of a package. Also see \fB\-\-with\-bdeps\fR for
377 behavior with respect to build time dependencies that are not strictly
380 .BR "\-\-depclean\-lib\-check [ y | n ]"
381 Account for library link-level dependencies during
382 \fB\-\-depclean\fR and \fB\-\-prune\fR actions. This
383 option is enabled by default. In some cases this can
384 be somewhat time\-consuming. This option is ignored
385 when FEATURES="preserve\-libs" is enabled in
386 \fBmake.conf\fR(5), since any libraries that have
387 consumers will simply be preserved.
389 .BR "\-\-emptytree " (\fB\-e\fR)
390 Reinstalls target atoms and their entire deep
391 dependency tree, as though no packages are currently
392 installed. You should run this with \fB\-\-pretend\fR
393 first to make sure the result is what you expect.
395 .BR "\-\-exclude " ATOMS
396 A space separated list of package names or slot atoms.
397 Emerge won't install any ebuild or binary package that
398 matches any of the given package atoms.
400 .BR "\-\-fail\-clean [ y | n ]"
401 Clean up temporary files after a build failure. This is
402 particularly useful if you have \fBPORTAGE_TMPDIR\fR on
403 tmpfs. If this option is enabled, you probably also want
404 to enable \fBPORT_LOGDIR\fR (see \fBmake.conf\fR(5)) in
405 order to save the build log.
407 .BR "\-\-fetchonly " (\fB\-f\fR)
408 Instead of doing any package building, just perform fetches for all
409 packages (fetch things from SRC_URI based upon USE setting).
411 .BR "\-\-fetch\-all\-uri " (\fB\-F\fR)
412 Instead of doing any package building, just perform fetches for all
413 packages (fetch everything in SRC_URI regardless of USE setting).
415 .BR "\-\-getbinpkg [ y | n ] (\-g short option)"
416 Using the server and location defined in \fIPORTAGE_BINHOST\fR (see
417 \fBmake.conf\fR(5)), portage will download the information from each binary
418 package found and it will use that information to help build the dependency
419 list. This option implies \fB\-k\fR. (Use \fB\-gK\fR for binary\-only
422 .BR "\-\-getbinpkgonly [ y | n ] (\-G short option)"
423 This option is identical to \fB\-g\fR, as above, except binaries from the
424 remote server are preferred over local packages if they are not identical.
426 .BR "\-\-ignore-default-opts"
427 Causes \fIEMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS\fR (see \fBmake.conf\fR(5)) to be ignored.
429 .BR "-j [JOBS], \-\-jobs[=JOBS]"
430 Specifies the number of packages to build simultaneously. If this option is
431 given without an argument, emerge will not limit the number of jobs that can
432 run simultaneously. Also see the related \fB\-\-load\-average\fR option.
433 Note that interactive packages currently force a setting
434 of \fI\-\-jobs=1\fR. This issue can be temporarily avoided
435 by specifying \fI\-\-accept\-properties=\-interactive\fR.
437 .BR "\-\-keep\-going [ y | n ]"
438 Continue as much as possible after an error. When an error occurs,
439 dependencies are recalculated for remaining packages and any with
440 unsatisfied dependencies are automatically dropped. Also see
441 the related \fB\-\-skipfirst\fR option.
443 .BR \-\-load\-average=LOAD
444 Specifies that no new builds should be started if there are other builds
445 running and the load average is at least LOAD (a floating-point number).
446 This option is recommended for use in combination with \fB\-\-jobs\fR in
447 order to avoid excess load. See \fBmake\fR(1) for information about
448 analogous options that should be configured via \fBMAKEOPTS\fR in
451 .BR "\-\-misspell\-suggestions < y | n >"
452 Enable or disable misspell suggestions. By default, emerge will show
453 a list of packages with similar names when a package doesn't exist.
454 The \fIEMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS\fR variable may be used to disable this
457 .BR "\-\-newuse " (\fB\-N\fR)
458 Tells emerge to include installed packages where USE
459 flags have changed since compilation. This option
460 also implies the \fB\-\-selective\fR option.
461 USE flag changes include:
463 A USE flag was added to a package.
464 A USE flag was removed from a package.
465 A USE flag was turned on for a package.
466 A USE flag was turned off for a package.
468 USE flags may be toggled by your profile as well as your USE and package.use
469 settings. If you would like to skip rebuilds for which disabled flags have
470 been added to or removed from IUSE, see the related
471 \-\-reinstall=changed\-use option.
474 Causes portage to disregard merge records indicating that a config file
475 inside of a \fBCONFIG_PROTECT\fR directory has been merged already. Portage
476 will normally merge those files only once to prevent the user from
477 dealing with the same config multiple times. This flag will cause the
478 file to always be merged.
480 .BR "\-\-nodeps " (\fB\-O\fR)
481 Merges specified packages without merging any dependencies. Note that
482 the build may fail if the dependencies aren't satisfied.
484 .BR "\-\-noreplace " (\fB\-n\fR)
485 Skips the packages specified on the command\-line that have already
486 been installed. Without this option, any packages, ebuilds, or deps
487 you specify on the command\-line \fBwill\fR cause Portage to remerge
488 the package, even if it is already installed. Note that Portage will
489 not remerge dependencies by default. Also note that this option takes
490 precedence over options such as \fB\-\-newuse\fR, preventing a package
491 from being reinstalled even though the corresponding USE flag settings
495 Disables the spinner for the session. The spinner is active when the
496 terminal device is determined to be a TTY. This flag disables it regardless.
498 .BR "\-\-usepkg\-exclude " ATOMS
499 A space separated list of package names or slot atoms. Emerge will ignore
500 matching binary packages.
502 .BR "\-\-rebuild\-exclude " ATOMS
503 A space separated list of package names or slot atoms. Emerge will not rebuild
504 matching packages due to \fB\-\-rebuild\fR.
506 .BR "\-\-rebuild\-ignore " ATOMS
507 A space separated list of package names or slot atoms. Emerge will not rebuild
508 packages that depend on matching packages due to \fB\-\-rebuild\fR.
510 .BR "\-\-oneshot " (\fB\-1\fR)
511 Emerge as normal, but do not add the packages to the world file
514 .BR "\-\-onlydeps " (\fB\-o\fR)
515 Only merge (or pretend to merge) the dependencies of the packages
516 specified, not the packages themselves.
518 .BR "\-\-package\-moves [ y | n ]"
519 Perform package moves when necessary. This option
520 is enabled by default. \fBWARNING:\fR This option
521 should remain enabled under normal circumstances.
522 Do not disable it unless you know what you are
525 .BR "\-\-pretend " (\fB\-p\fR)
526 Instead of actually performing the merge, simply display what *would*
527 have been installed if \fB\-\-pretend\fR weren't used. Using \fB\-\-pretend\fR
528 is strongly recommended before installing an unfamiliar package. In
533 N new (not yet installed)
534 S new SLOT installation (side-by-side versions)
535 U updating (to another version)
536 D downgrading (best version seems lower)
537 R replacing (remerging same version))
538 F fetch restricted (must be manually downloaded)
539 f fetch restricted (already downloaded)
540 I interactive (requires user input)
541 B blocked by another package (unresolved conflict)
542 b blocked by another package (automatically resolved conflict)
545 .BR "\-\-quiet [ y | n ] (\-q short option)"
546 Results may vary, but the general outcome is a reduced or condensed
547 output from portage's displays.
549 .BR "\-\-quiet\-build [ y | n ]"
550 Redirect all build output to logs alone, and do not
551 display it on stdout.
553 .BR \-\-quiet\-unmerge\-warn
554 Disable the warning message that's shown prior to
555 \fB\-\-unmerge\fR actions. This option is intended
556 to be set in the \fBmake.conf\fR(5)
557 \fBEMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS\fR variable.
559 .BR "\-\-rebuild\-if\-new\-rev [ y | n ]"
560 Rebuild packages when dependencies that are used at both build\-time and
561 run\-time are built, if the dependency is not already installed with the
562 same version and revision.
564 .BR "\-\-rebuild\-if\-new\-ver [ y | n ]"
565 Rebuild packages when dependencies that are used at both build\-time and
566 run\-time are built, if the dependency is not already installed with the
567 same version. Revision numbers are ignored.
569 .BR "\-\-rebuild\-if\-unbuilt [ y | n ]"
570 Rebuild packages when dependencies that are used at both build\-time and
573 .BR "\-\-rebuilt\-binaries [ y | n ]"
574 Replace installed packages with binary packages that have
575 been rebuilt. Rebuilds are detected by comparison of
576 BUILD_TIME package metadata. This option is enabled
577 automatically when using binary packages
578 (\fB\-\-usepkgonly\fR or \fB\-\-getbinpkgonly\fR) together with
579 \fB\-\-update\fR and \fB\-\-deep\fR.
581 .BR "\-\-rebuilt\-binaries\-timestamp=TIMESTAMP"
582 This option modifies emerge's behaviour only if
583 \fB\-\-rebuilt\-binaries\fR is given. Only binaries that
584 have a BUILD_TIME that is larger than the given TIMESTAMP
585 and that is larger than that of the installed package will
586 be considered by the rebuilt\-binaries logic.
588 .BR "\-\-reinstall changed\-use"
589 Tells emerge to include installed packages where USE flags have
590 changed since installation. Unlike \fB\-\-newuse\fR, this option does
591 not trigger reinstallation when flags that the user has not
592 enabled are added or removed.
594 .BR "\-\-reinstall\-atoms " ATOMS
595 A space separated list of package names or slot atoms. Emerge will treat
596 matching packages as if they are not installed, and reinstall them if
600 Set the \fBROOT\fR environment variable.
602 .BR "\-\-root\-deps[=rdeps]"
603 If no argument is given then build\-time dependencies of packages for
604 \fBROOT\fR are installed to
605 \fBROOT\fR instead of /. If the \fBrdeps\fR argument is given then discard
606 all build\-time dependencies of packages for \fBROOT\fR. This option is
607 only meaningful when used together with \fBROOT\fR and it should not
608 be enabled under normal circumstances. For currently supported
609 \fBEAPI\fR values, the build-time dependencies are specified in the
610 \fBDEPEND\fR variable. However, behavior may change for new
611 \fBEAPI\fRs when related extensions are added in the future.
613 .BR "\-\-select [ y | n ]"
614 Add specified packages to the world set (inverse of
615 \fB\-\-oneshot\fR). This is useful if you want to
616 use \fBEMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS\fR to make
617 \fB\-\-oneshot\fR behavior default.
619 .BR "\-\-selective [ y | n ]"
620 This is similar to the \fB\-\-noreplace\fR option, except that it
621 does not take precedence over options such as \fB\-\-newuse\fR.
622 Some options, such as \fB\-\-update\fR, imply \fB\-\-selective\fR.
623 Use \fB\-\-selective=n\fR if you want to forcefully disable
624 \fB\-\-selective\fR, regardless of options like \fB\-\-update\fR.
627 This option is only valid when used with \fB\-\-resume\fR. It removes the
628 first package in the resume list. Dependencies are recalculated for
629 remaining packages and any that have unsatisfied dependencies or are
630 masked will be automatically dropped. Also see the related
631 \fB\-\-keep\-going\fR option.
633 .BR "\-\-tree " (\fB\-t\fR)
634 Shows the dependency tree for the given target by indenting dependencies.
635 This is only really useful in combination with \fB\-\-emptytree\fR or
636 \fB\-\-update\fR and \fB\-\-deep\fR.
638 .BR "\-\-unordered\-display"
639 By default the displayed merge list is sorted using the
640 order in which the packages will be merged. When
641 \fB\-\-tree\fR is used together with this option, this
642 constraint is removed, hopefully leading to a more
643 readable dependency tree.
645 .BR "\-\-update " (\fB\-u\fR)
646 Updates packages to the best version available, which may
647 not always be the highest version number due to masking
648 for testing and development. Package atoms specified on
649 the command line are greedy, meaning that unspecific
650 atoms may match multiple versions of slotted packages.
652 .BR "\-\-use\-ebuild\-visibility [ y | n ]"
653 Use unbuilt ebuild metadata for visibility
654 checks on built packages.
656 .BR "\-\-useoldpkg\-atoms " ATOMS
657 A space separated list of package names or slot atoms. Emerge will prefer
658 matching binary packages over newer unbuilt packages.
660 .BR "\-\-usepkg [ y | n ] (\-k short option)"
661 Tells emerge to use binary packages (from $PKGDIR) if they are available, thus
662 possibly avoiding some time\-consuming compiles. This option is useful for CD
663 installs; you can export PKGDIR=/mnt/cdrom/packages and then use this option to
664 have emerge "pull" binary packages from the CD in order to satisfy dependencies.
666 .BR "\-\-usepkgonly [ y | n ] (\-K short option)"
667 Tells emerge to only use binary packages (from $PKGDIR). All the binary
668 packages must be available at the time of dependency calculation or emerge
669 will simply abort. Portage does not use $PORTDIR when calculating dependency
670 information so all masking information is ignored.
672 .BR "\-\-verbose " (\fB\-v\fR)
673 Tell emerge to run in verbose mode. Currently this flag causes emerge to print
674 out GNU info errors, if any, and to show the USE flags that will be used for
675 each package when pretending. The following symbols are affixed to USE flags
676 in order to indicate their status:
682 Symbol Location Meaning
684 - prefix not enabled (either disabled or removed)
685 * suffix transition to or from the enabled state
686 % suffix newly added or removed
687 () circumfix forced, masked, or removed
690 .BR "\-\-with\-bdeps < y | n >"
691 In dependency calculations, pull in build time dependencies
692 that are not strictly required. This defaults to \'n\' for
693 installation actions, meaning they will not be installed, and
694 \'y\' for the \fB\-\-depclean\fR action, meaning they will not be removed.
695 This setting can be added to
696 \fBEMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS\fR (see make.conf(5)) and later overridden via the
698 .SH "ENVIRONMENT OPTIONS"
700 \fBROOT\fR = \fI[path]\fR
701 Use \fBROOT\fR to specify the target root filesystem to be used for
702 merging packages or ebuilds. This variable can be set via the \fB\-\-root\fR
703 option or in \fBmake.conf\fR(5) (the command line overrides other settings).
707 \fBPORTAGE_CONFIGROOT\fR = \fI[path]\fR
708 Use \fBPORTAGE_CONFIGROOT\fR to specify the location for various portage
710 (see \fBFILES\fR for a detailed list of configuration files). This variable
711 can be set via the \fB\-\-config\-root\fR option.
715 When utilizing \fBemerge\fR with the \fB\-\-pretend\fR and \fB\-\-verbose\fR
716 flags, the output may be a little hard to understand at first. This section
717 explains the abbreviations.
719 .B [blocks B ] app\-text/dos2unix ("app\-text/dos2unix" is blocking app\-text/hd2u\-0.8.0)
720 Dos2unix is Blocking hd2u from being emerged. Blockers are defined when
721 two packages will clobber each others files, or otherwise cause some form
722 of breakage in your system. However, blockers usually do not need to be
723 simultaneously emerged because they usually provide the same functionality.
725 .B [ebuild N ] app\-games/qstat\-25c
726 Qstat is New to your system, and will be emerged for the first time.
728 .B [ebuild NS ] dev-libs/glib-2.4.7
729 You already have a version of glib installed, but a 'new' version in
730 a different SLOT is available.
732 .B [ebuild R ] sys\-apps/sed\-4.0.5
733 Sed 4.0.5 has already been emerged, but if you run the command, then
734 portage will Re\-emerge the specified package (sed in this case).
736 .B [ebuild F ] media\-video/realplayer\-8\-r6
737 The realplayer package requires that you Fetch the sources manually.
738 When you attempt to emerge the package, if the sources are not found,
739 then portage will halt and you will be provided with instructions on how
740 to download the required files.
742 .B [ebuild f ] media\-video/realplayer\-8\-r6
743 The realplayer package's files are already downloaded.
745 .B [ebuild U ] net\-fs/samba\-2.2.8_pre1 [2.2.7a]
746 Samba 2.2.7a has already been emerged and can be Updated to version
749 .B [ebuild UD] media\-libs/libgd\-1.8.4 [2.0.11]
750 Libgd 2.0.11 is already emerged, but if you run the command, then
751 portage will Downgrade to version 1.8.4 for you.
753 This may occur if a newer version of a package has been masked because it is
754 broken or it creates a security risk on your system and a fix has not been
757 Another reason this may occur is if a package you are trying to emerge requires
758 an older version of a package in order to emerge successfully. In this case,
759 libgd 2.x is incompatible with libgd 1.x. This means that packages that were
760 created with libgd 1.x will not compile with 2.x and must downgrade libgd first
761 before they can emerge.
763 .B [ebuild U ] sys\-devel/distcc\-2.16 [2.13\-r1] USE="ipv6* \-gtk \-qt%"
764 Here we see that the make.conf variable \fBUSE\fR affects how this package is
765 built. In this example, ipv6 optional support is enabled and both gtk and qt
766 support are disabled. The asterisk following ipv6 indicates that ipv6 support
767 was disabled the last time this package was installed. The percent sign
768 following qt indicates that the qt option has been added to the package since
769 it was last installed. For information about all \fBUSE\fR symbols, see the
770 \fB\-\-verbose\fR option documentation above.
772 \fB*Note:\fR Flags that haven't changed since the last install are only
773 displayed when you use the \fB\-\-pretend\fR and \fB\-\-verbose\fR options.
774 Using the \fB\-\-quiet\fR option will prevent all information from being
777 .B [ebuild U *] sys\-apps/portage\-2.2.0_alpha6 [2.1.9.25]
778 Portage 2.1.9.25 is installed, but if you run the command, then
779 portage will upgrade to version 2.2.0_alpha6. In this case,
780 the \fB*\fR symbol is displayed, in order to indicate that version
781 2.2.0_alpha6 is masked by missing keyword. This type of masking
782 display is disabled by the \fB\-\-quiet\fR option if the
783 \fB\-\-verbose\fR option is not enabled simultaneously.
784 The following symbols are used to indicate various types
797 \fBNOTE:\fR The unstable keyword symbol (~) will not be shown in cases
798 in which the corresponding unstable keywords have been accepted
799 globally via \fBACCEPT_KEYWORDS\fR.
804 You should almost always precede any package install or update attempt with a
805 \fB\-\-pretend\fR install or update. This lets you see how much will be
806 done, and shows you any blocking packages that you will have to rectify.
807 This goes doubly so for the \fBsystem\fR and \fBworld\fR sets, which can
808 update a large number of packages if the portage tree has been particularly
811 You also want to typically use \fB\-\-update\fR, which ignores packages that
812 are already fully updated but updates those that are not.
814 When you install a package with uninstalled dependencies and do
815 not explicitly state those dependencies in the list of parameters,
816 they will not be added to the world file. If you want them to be
817 detected for world updates, make sure to explicitly list them as
818 parameters to \fBemerge\fR.
820 \fBUSE variables\fR may be specified on the command line to
821 override those specified in the default locations, letting you
822 avoid using some dependencies you may not want to have. \fBUSE
823 flags specified on the command line are NOT remembered\fR. For
824 example, \fBenv USE="\-X \-gnome" emerge mc\fR will emerge mc with
825 those USE settings (on Bourne-compatible shells you may omit the \fBenv\fR
826 part). If you want those USE settings to be more
827 permanent, you can put them in /etc/portage/package.use instead.
829 If \fBemerge \-\-update system\fR or \fBemerge \-\-update world\fR
830 fails with an error message, it may be that an ebuild uses some
831 newer feature not present in this version of \fBemerge\fR. You
832 can use \fBemerge \-\-update portage\fR to upgrade to the lastest
833 version, which should support any necessary new features.
834 .SH "MASKED PACKAGES"
835 \fINOTE: Please use caution when using development packages. Problems
836 and bugs resulting from misusing masked packages drains Gentoo
837 developer time. Please be sure you are capable of handling any problems
840 Masks in \fBportage\fR have many uses: they allow a
841 testing period where the packages can be used in live machines; they
842 prevent the use of a package when it will fail; and they mask existing
843 packages that are broken or could pose a security risk. Read below
844 to find out how to unmask in various cases. Also note that if you give
845 \fBemerge\fR an ebuild, then all forms of masking will be ignored and
846 \fBemerge\fR will attempt to emerge the package.
849 When packages are masked for \fBbacktracking\fR, it means that the dependency
850 resolver has temporarily masked them in order to avoid dependency conflicts
851 and/or unsatisfied dependencies. This type of mask is typically accompanied
852 by a message about a missed package update which has been skipped in order to
853 avoid dependency conflicts and/or unsatisfied dependencies.
856 The \fBpackage.mask\fR file primarily blocks the use of packages that cause
857 problems or are known to have issues on different systems. It resides in
858 \fI/usr/portage/profiles\fR.
861 Use the \fBACCEPT_CHOSTS\fR variable in \fBmake.conf\fR(5) to control
862 \fBCHOST\fR acceptance.
865 The \fBEAPI\fR variable in an \fBebuild\fR(5) file is used to mask packages
866 that are not supported by the current version of portage. Packages masked by
867 \fBEAPI\fR can only be installed after portage has been upgraded.
870 The \fBKEYWORDS\fR variable in an \fBebuild\fR file is also used for masking
871 a package still in testing. There are architecture\-specific keywords for
872 each package that let \fBportage\fR know which systems are compatible with
873 the package. Packages which compile on an architecture, but have not been
874 proven to be "stable", are masked with a tilde (\fB~\fR) in front of the
875 architecture name. \fBemerge\fR examines the \fBACCEPT_KEYWORDS\fR environment
876 variable to allow or disallow the emerging of a package masked by
877 \fBKEYWORDS\fR. To inform \fBemerge\fR that it should build these 'testing'
878 versions of packages, you should update your
879 \fI/etc/portage/package.accept_keywords\fR
880 file to list the packages you want the
881 \'testing\' version. See \fBportage\fR(5) for more information.
884 The \fBLICENSE\fR variable in an \fBebuild\fR file can be used to mask
885 packages based on licensing restrictions. \fBemerge\fR examines the
886 \fBACCEPT_LICENSE\fR environment variable to allow or disallow the emerging
887 of a package masked by \fBLICENSE\fR. See \fBmake.conf\fR(5) for information
888 about \fBACCEPT_LICENSE\fR, and see \fBportage\fR(5) for information about
889 \fI/etc/portage/package.license\fR.
892 The \fBPROPERTIES\fR variable in an \fBebuild\fR file can be used to mask
893 packages based on properties restrictions. \fBemerge\fR examines the
894 \fBACCEPT_PROPERTIES\fR environment variable to allow or disallow the emerging
895 of a package masked by \fBPROPERTIES\fR. See \fBmake.conf\fR(5) for information
896 about \fBACCEPT_PROPERTIES\fR, and see \fBportage\fR(5) for information about
897 \fI/etc/portage/package.properties\fR. Use the \fB\-\-accept\-properties\fR
898 option to temporarily override \fBACCEPT_PROPERTIES\fR.
899 .SH "CONFIGURATION FILES"
900 Portage has a special feature called "config file protection". The purpose of
901 this feature is to prevent new package installs from clobbering existing
902 configuration files. By default, config file protection is turned on for /etc
903 and the KDE configuration dirs; more may be added in the future.
905 When Portage installs a file into a protected directory tree like /etc, any
906 existing files will not be overwritten. If a file of the same name already
907 exists, Portage will change the name of the to\-be\-installed file from 'foo' to
908 \'._cfg0000_foo\'. If \'._cfg0000_foo\' already exists, this name becomes
909 \'._cfg0001_foo\', etc. In this way, existing files are not overwritten,
910 allowing the administrator to manually merge the new config files and avoid any
913 In addition to protecting overwritten files, Portage will not delete any files
914 from a protected directory when a package is unmerged. While this may be a
915 little bit untidy, it does prevent potentially valuable config files from being
916 deleted, which is of paramount importance.
918 Protected directories are set using the \fICONFIG_PROTECT\fR variable, normally
919 defined in make.globals. Directory exceptions to the CONFIG_PROTECTed
920 directories can be specified using the \fICONFIG_PROTECT_MASK\fR variable. To find
921 files that need to be updated in /etc, type \fBfind /etc \-iname \'._cfg????_*\'\fR.
923 You can disable this feature by setting \fICONFIG_PROTECT="\-*"\fR in /etc/make.conf.
924 Then, Portage will mercilessly auto\-update your config files. Alternatively,
925 you can leave Config File Protection on but tell Portage that it can overwrite
926 files in certain specific /etc subdirectories. For example, if you wanted
927 Portage to automatically update your rc scripts and your wget configuration,
928 but didn't want any other changes made without your explicit approval, you'd
929 add this to /etc/make.conf:
931 .I CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/wget /etc/rc.d"
933 Tools such as dispatch\-conf, cfg\-update, and etc\-update are also available to
934 aid in the merging of these files. They provide interactive merging and can
935 auto\-merge trivial changes.
937 Please report any bugs you encounter through our website:
939 \fBhttp://bugs.gentoo.org/\fR
941 Please include the output of \fBemerge \-\-info\fR when you submit your
945 Daniel Robbins <drobbins@gentoo.org>
946 Geert Bevin <gbevin@gentoo.org>
947 Achim Gottinger <achim@gentoo.org>
948 Nicholas Jones <carpaski@gentoo.org>
949 Phil Bordelon <phil@thenexusproject.org>
950 Mike Frysinger <vapier@gentoo.org>
951 Marius Mauch <genone@gentoo.org>
952 Jason Stubbs <jstubbs@gentoo.org>
953 Brian Harring <ferringb@gmail.com>
954 Zac Medico <zmedico@gentoo.org>
957 Here is a common list of files you will probably be interested in. For a
958 complete listing, please refer to the \fBportage\fR(5) man page.
960 .B /usr/share/portage/config/sets/
961 Contains the default set configuration.
963 .B /var/lib/portage/world
964 Contains a list of all user\-specified packages. You can safely edit
965 this file, adding packages that you want to be considered in \fBworld\fR
966 set updates and removing those that you do not want to be considered.
969 Contains variables for the build process, overriding those in
972 .B /etc/portage/color.map
973 Contains variables customizing colors.
975 .B /etc/dispatch\-conf.conf
976 Contains settings to handle automatic updates/backups of configuration
979 .B /etc/make.profile/make.defaults
980 Contains profile\-specific variables for the build process. \fBDo not
983 .B /usr/portage/profiles/use.desc
984 Contains the master list of USE flags with descriptions of their
985 functions. \fBDo not edit this file\fR.
987 .B /etc/make.profile/virtuals
988 Contains a list of default packages used to resolve virtual dependencies.
989 \fBDo not edit this file\fR.
991 .B /etc/make.profile/packages
992 Contains a list of packages used for the base system. The \fBsystem\fR
993 and \fBworld\fR sets consult this file. \fBDo not edit this file\fR.
995 .B /usr/share/portage/config/make.globals
996 Contains the default variables for the build process. \fBDo not edit
999 .BR "emerge \-\-help",
1007 A number of helper applications reside in \fI/usr/lib/portage/bin\fR.
1009 The \fBapp\-portage/gentoolkit\fR package contains useful scripts such as
1010 \fBequery\fR (a package query tool).
projects / portage.git / blob