1 .TH "EMERGE" "1" "Aug 2008" "Portage 2.2" "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 one of four main ways: an \fIebuild\fR,
32 a \fItbz2file\fR, a \fIset\fR, or an \fIatom\fR.
36 An \fIebuild\fR must be, at a minimum, a valid Portage
37 package directory name without a version or category, such as
38 \fBportage\fR or \fBpython\fR.
39 Both categories and version numbers may be used in addition, such
40 as \fBsys\-apps/portage\fR or \fB=python\-2.2.1\-r2\fR.
42 ignores a trailing slash so that filename completion can be used.
43 The \fIebuild\fR may also be an actual filename, such as
44 \fB/usr/portage/app\-admin/python/python\-2.2.1\-r2.ebuild\fR.
45 \fBWARNING:\fR The implementation of \fBemerge /path/to/ebuild\fR is broken and
46 so this syntax shouldn't be used.
49 A \fItbz2file\fR must be a valid .tbz2 created with \fBebuild
50 <package>\-<version>.ebuild package\fR or \fBemerge \-\-buildpkg
51 [category/]<package>\fR or \fBquickpkg /var/db/pkg/<category>/<package>\fR.
54 A \fIfile\fR must be a file or directory that has been installed by one or
55 more packages. For directories that are owned by multiple packages, all
56 owning packages to be selected. See the portageq(1) owners command if you
57 would like to query the owners of one or more files or directories.
60 A \fIset\fR is a convenient shorthand for a large group of
61 packages. Three sets are currently always available: \fBselected\fR,
62 \fBsystem\fR and \fBworld\fR. \fBselected\fR contains the user-selected
63 "world" packages that are listed in \fB/var/lib/portage/world\fR,
64 and nested sets that may be listed
65 in \fB/var/lib/portage/world_sets\fR. \fBsystem\fR refers to a set of
66 packages deemed necessary for your system to run properly. \fBworld\fR
67 encompasses both the \fBselected\fR and \fBsystem\fR sets. [See
68 \fBFILES\fR below for more information.] Other sets can exist depending
69 on the current configuration. The default set configuration is located
70 in \fB/usr/share/portage/config/sets.conf\fR. Note that a \fIset\fR
71 is generally used in conjunction with \fB\-\-update\fR. When used as
72 arguments to \fBemerge\fR sets have to be prefixed with \fB@\fR to be
73 recognized. Use the \fB\-\-list\-sets\fR action to display a list of
74 available package sets.
77 An \fIatom\fR describes bounds on a package that you wish to install.
78 \fISee portage(5) for the details on atom syntax.\fR For example,
79 \fB>=dev\-lang/python\-2.2.1\-r2\fR matches the latest available version of
80 Python greater than or equal to 2.2.1\-r2. Similarly,
81 \fB<dev\-lang/python\-2.0\fR matches the latest available version of Python
82 before 2.0. Note that in many shells you will need to escape characters such
83 as '<' and '='; use single\- or double\-quotes around the \fIatom\fR
84 to get around escaping problems.
88 If no action is specified, the action is to merge in the specified
89 packages, satisfying any dependencies that they may have. The
90 arguments can be \fIebuilds\fR, \fItbz2s\fR, \fIsets\fR, or
91 \fIatoms\fR. \fBNote that you need to use the \-\-usepkg
92 option if you want to install a tbz2\fR. The packages are added
93 to the \fBworld\fR file at the end, so that they are considered for
97 Cleans up the system by examining the installed packages and removing older
98 packages. This is accomplished by looking at each installed package and separating
99 the installed versions by \fBslot\fR. Clean will \fBremove all but the most recently
100 installed version in each \fbslot\fR. Clean should not remove unslotted packages.
101 Note: Most recently installed means most \fBrecent\fR, not highest version.
104 Run package specific actions needed to be executed after the emerge process
105 has completed. This usually entails configuration file setup or other similar
106 setups that the user may wish to run.
108 .BR "\-\-depclean (-c)"
109 Cleans the system by removing packages that are not associated
110 with explicitly merged packages. Depclean works by creating the
111 full dependency tree from the @world set,
112 then comparing it to installed packages. Packages installed, but
113 not part of the dependency tree, will be uninstalled by depclean.
114 See \fB\-\-with\-bdeps\fR for behavior with respect to build time dependencies
115 that are not strictly required. Packages that are part of the world set will
116 always be kept. They can be manually added to this set with \fIemerge
117 \-\-noreplace <atom>\fR. As a safety measure, depclean will not remove any
118 packages unless *all* required dependencies have been resolved. As a
119 consequence, it is often necessary to run \fIemerge \-\-update \-\-newuse
120 \-\-deep @world\fR prior to depclean.
123 Inexperienced users are advised to use \fB\-\-pretend\fR with this
124 option in order to see a preview of which packages
125 will be uninstalled. Always study the list of packages
126 to be cleaned for any obvious mistakes. Note that packages listed in
127 package.provided (see \fBportage\fR(5)) may be removed by
128 depclean, even if they are part of the world set.
130 Depclean serves as a dependency aware
131 version of \fB\-\-unmerge\fR. When given one or more atoms, it will
132 unmerge matched packages that have no reverse dependencies. Use
133 \fB\-\-depclean\fR together with \fB\-\-verbose\fR to show reverse
136 .BR "\-\-deselect[=n]"
137 Remove atoms from the world file. This action is implied
138 by uninstall actions, including \fB-\-depclean\fR,
139 \fB-\-prune\fR and \fB-\-unmerge\fR. Use \fB-\-deselect=n\fR
140 in order to prevent uninstall actions from removing
141 atoms from the world file.
143 .BR "\-\-help " (\fB\-h\fR)
144 Displays help information for emerge. Adding one of the additional
145 arguments listed above will give you more specific help information
146 on that subject. The internal \fBemerge\fR help documentation is
147 updated more frequently than this man page; check it out if you
148 are having problems that this man page does not help resolve.
151 Produces a list of information to include in bug reports which aids the
152 developers when fixing the reported problem. \fBPlease include this
153 information when submitting a bug report.\fR Expanded output can be obtained
154 with the \fI\-\-verbose\fR option.
157 Displays a list of available package sets.
160 Transfers metadata cache from ${PORTDIR}/metadata/cache/ to
161 /var/cache/edb/dep/ as is normally done on the
162 tail end of an rsync update using \fBemerge \-\-sync\fR. This process
163 populates the cache database that portage uses for pre-parsed lookups of
164 package data. It does not populate cache for the overlays listed in
165 PORTDIR_OVERLAY. In order to generate cache for overlays, use \fB\-\-regen\fR.
166 In versions of portage >=2.1.5 the \-\-metadata action is totally unnecessary
167 unless the user has enabled FEATURES="metadata-transfer" in \fBmake.conf\fR(5).
169 .BR "\-\-prune " (\fB\-P\fR)
170 \fBWARNING: This action can remove important packages!\fR Removes all but the
171 highest installed version of a package from your system. Use \fB\-\-prune\fR
172 together with \fB\-\-verbose\fR to show reverse dependencies or with
173 \fB\-\-nodeps\fR to ignore all dependencies.
176 Causes portage to check and update the dependency cache of all ebuilds in the
177 portage tree. The cache is used to speed up searches and the building of
178 dependency trees. This command is not recommended for rsync users as rsync
179 updates the cache using server\-side caches. If you do not know the
180 differences between a 'rsync user' and some other user, then you are a 'rsync
181 user' :). Rsync users should simply run \fBemerge \-\-sync\fR to regenerate
182 the cache. After a portage update, rsync users may find it convenient to run
183 \fBemerge \-\-metadata\fR to rebuild the cache as portage does at the end of
184 a sync operation. In order to specify parallel \fB\-\-regen\fR behavior, use
185 the \fB\-\-jobs\fR and \fB\-\-load\-average\fR options. If you would like to
186 generate and distribute cache for use by others, use \fBegencache\fR(1).
188 .BR "\-\-resume" (\fB\-r\fR)
189 Resumes the most recent merge list that has been aborted due to an error.
190 Please note that this operation will only return an error on failure. If there
191 is nothing for portage to do, then portage will exit with a message and a
192 success condition. A resume list will persist until it has been completed in
193 entirety or until another aborted merge list replaces it. The resume history
194 is capable of storing two merge lists. After one resume list completes, it is
195 possible to invoke \-\-resume once again in order to resume an older list.
197 .BR "\-\-search " (\fB\-s\fR)
198 Searches for matches of the supplied string in the portage tree.
199 By default emerge uses a case-insensitive simple search, but you can
200 enable a regular expression search by prefixing the search string with %.
201 For example, \fBemerge \-\-search "%^kde"\fR searches for any package whose
202 name starts with "kde"; \fBemerge \-\-search "%gcc$"\fR searches for any
203 package that ends with "gcc"; \fBemerge \-\-search "office"\fR searches for
204 any package that contains the word "office". If you want to include the
205 category into the search string, prepend an @: \fBemerge \-\-search
206 "%@^dev-java.*jdk"\fR. If you want to search the package descriptions as well,
207 use the \fB\-\-searchdesc\fR action.
209 .BR "\-\-searchdesc " (\fB\-S\fR)
210 Matches the search string against the description field as well as
211 the package name. \fBTake caution\fR as the descriptions are also
212 matched as regular expressions.
215 Initiates a portage tree update with one of the rsync.gentoo.org
216 mirrors. \fBNote that any changes you have made to the portage
217 tree will be erased\fR. Except for special circumstances,
218 this uses \fBrsync\fR to do the update. See \fBmake.conf\fR(5)'s
219 description of PORTDIR_OVERLAY for a method to avoid deletions.
221 .BR "\-\-unmerge " (\fB\-C\fR)
222 \fBWARNING: This action can remove important packages!\fR Removes
223 all matching packages. This does no checking of dependencies, so
224 it may remove packages necessary for the proper operation of your
225 system. Its arguments can be \fIatoms\fR or
226 \fIebuilds\fR. For a dependency aware version of \fB\-\-unmerge\fR,
227 use \fB\-\-depclean\fR or \fB\-\-prune\fR.
229 .BR "\-\-update " (\fB\-u\fR)
230 Updates packages to the best version available, which may not always be the
231 highest version number due to masking for testing and development.
233 specified on the command line are greedy, meaning that unspecific atoms may
234 match multiple installed versions of slotted packages.
236 .BR "\-\-version " (\fB\-V\fR)
237 Displays the version number of \fBemerge\fR.
240 .BR \-\-accept\-properties=ACCEPT_PROPERTIES
241 This option temporarily overrides the \fBACCEPT_PROPERTIES\fR
242 variable. The \fBACCEPT_PROPERTIES\fR variable is incremental,
243 which means that the specified setting is appended to the
244 existing value from your configuration. The special \fB-*\fR
245 token can be used to discard the existing configuration
246 value and start fresh. See the \fBMASKED PACKAGES\fR section
247 and \fBmake.conf\fR(5) for more information about
248 ACCEPT_PROPERTIES. A typical usage example for this option
249 would be to use \fI\-\-accept\-properties=\-interactive\fR to
250 temporarily mask interactive packages. With default
251 configuration, this would result in an effective
252 \fBACCEPT_PROPERTIES\fR value of "* -interactive".
254 .BR "\-\-alphabetical "
255 When displaying USE and other flag output, combines the enabled and
256 disabled lists into one list and sorts the whole list alphabetically.
258 .BR "\-\-ask " (\fB\-a\fR)
259 Before performing the action, display what will take place (server info for
260 \fB\-\-sync\fR, \fB\-\-pretend\fR output for merge, and so forth), then ask
261 whether to proceed with the action or abort. Using \fB\-\-ask\fR is more
262 efficient than using \fB\-\-pretend\fR and then executing the same command
263 without \fB\-\-pretend\fR, as dependencies will only need to be calculated once.
264 \fBWARNING: If the "Enter" key is pressed at the prompt (with no other input),
265 it is interpreted as acceptance of the first choice. Note that the input
266 buffer is not cleared prior to the prompt, so an accidental press of the
267 "Enter" key at any time prior to the prompt will be interpreted as a choice!
268 Use the \-\-ask\-enter\-invalid option if you want a single "Enter" key
269 press to be interpreted as invalid input.\fR
271 .BR "\-\-ask\-enter\-invalid"
272 When used together with the \fB\-\-ask\fR option,
273 interpret a single "Enter" key press as
274 invalid input. This helps prevent accidental
275 acceptance of the first choice. This option is
276 intended to be set in the \fBmake.conf\fR(5)
277 \fBEMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS\fR variable.
279 .BR \-\-backtrack=COUNT
280 Specifies an integer number of times to backtrack if
281 dependency calculation fails due to a conflict or an
282 unsatisfied dependency (default: \'5\').
284 .BR "\-\-binpkg\-respect\-use < y | n >"
285 Tells emerge to ignore binary packages if their use flags
286 don't match the current configuration. (default: \'n\')
288 .BR "\-\-buildpkg " (\fB\-b\fR)
289 Tells emerge to build binary packages for all ebuilds processed in
290 addition to actually merging the packages. Useful for maintainers
291 or if you administrate multiple Gentoo Linux systems (build once,
292 emerge tbz2s everywhere) as well as disaster recovery. The package
293 will be created in the \fBPKGDIR\fR directory (see \fBmake.conf\fR(5)).
294 An alternative for already\-merged
295 packages is to use \fBquickpkg\fR(1) which creates a tbz2 from the
298 .BR "\-\-buildpkgonly " (\fB\-B\fR)
299 Creates binary packages for all ebuilds processed without actually
300 merging the packages. This comes with the caveat that all build-time
301 dependencies must already be emerged on the system.
303 .BR "\-\-changed\-use"
304 This is an alias for \fB\-\-reinstall=changed\-use\fR.
306 .BR "\-\-changelog " (\fB\-l\fR)
307 Use this in conjunction with the \fB\-\-pretend\fR option. This will
308 show the ChangeLog entries for all the packages that will be upgraded.
310 .BR "\-\-color < y | n >"
311 Enable or disable color output. This option will override \fINOCOLOR\fR
312 (see \fBmake.conf\fR(5)) and may also be used to force color output when stdout
313 is not a tty (by default, color is disabled unless stdout is a tty).
316 Used alongside \fB\-\-pretend\fR to cause the package name, new version,
317 and old version to be displayed in an aligned format for easy cut\-n\-paste.
319 .BR "\-\-complete\-graph[=n]"
320 This causes \fBemerge\fR to consider the deep dependencies of all
321 packages from the world set. With this option enabled,
322 \fBemerge\fR will bail out if it determines that the given operation will
323 break any dependencies of the packages that have been added to the
324 graph. Like the \fB\-\-deep\fR option, the \fB\-\-complete\-graph\fR
325 option will significantly increase the time taken for dependency
326 calculations. Note that, unlike the \fB\-\-deep\fR option, the
327 \fB\-\-complete\-graph\fR option does not cause any more packages to
328 be updated than would have otherwise been updated with the option disabled.
330 .BR \-\-config\-root=DIR
331 Set the \fBPORTAGE_CONFIGROOT\fR environment variable.
333 .BR "\-\-debug " (\fB\-d\fR)
334 Tells emerge to run the emerge command in \fB\-\-debug\fR mode. In this
335 mode the bash build environment will run with the \-x option, causing
336 it to output verbose debugging information to stdout. This also enables
337 a plethora of other output (mostly dependency resolution messages).
339 .BR "\-\-deep [DEPTH] " (\fB\-D\fR)
341 \fBemerge\fR to consider the entire dependency tree of packages,
342 instead of checking only the immediate dependencies of the packages.
343 As an example, this catches updates in libraries that are not directly
344 listed in the dependencies of a package. Also see \fB\-\-with\-bdeps\fR for
345 behavior with respect to build time dependencies that are not strictly
348 .BR "\-\-emptytree " (\fB\-e\fR)
349 Reinstalls all world packages and their dependencies to the current USE
350 specifications while differing from the installed set of packages as
351 little as possible. You should run with \fB\-\-pretend\fR first to make
352 sure the result is what you expect.
354 .BR "\-\-fail\-clean[=n]"
355 Clean up temporary files after a build failure. This is
356 particularly useful if you have \fBPORTAGE_TMPDIR\fR on
357 tmpfs. If this option is enabled, you probably also want
358 to enable \fBPORT_LOGDIR\fR (see \fBmake.conf\fR(5)) in
359 order to save the build log.
361 .BR "\-\-fetchonly " (\fB\-f\fR)
362 Instead of doing any package building, just perform fetches for all
363 packages (fetch things from SRC_URI based upon USE setting).
365 .BR "\-\-fetch\-all\-uri " (\fB\-F\fR)
366 Instead of doing any package building, just perform fetches for all
367 packages (fetch everything in SRC_URI regardless of USE setting).
369 .BR "\-\-getbinpkg[=n] " (\fB\-g\fR)
370 Using the server and location defined in \fIPORTAGE_BINHOST\fR (see
371 \fBmake.conf\fR(5)), portage will download the information from each binary
372 package found and it will use that information to help build the dependency
373 list. This option implies \fB\-k\fR. (Use \fB\-gK\fR for binary\-only
376 .BR "\-\-getbinpkgonly[=n] " (\fB\-G\fR)
377 This option is identical to \fB\-g\fR, as above, except binaries from the
378 remote server are preferred over local packages if they are not identical.
380 .BR "\-\-ignore-default-opts"
381 Causes \fIEMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS\fR (see \fBmake.conf\fR(5)) to be ignored.
383 .BR "-j [JOBS], \-\-jobs[=JOBS]"
384 Specifies the number of packages to build simultaneously. If this option is
385 given without an argument, emerge will not limit the number of jobs that can
386 run simultaneously. Also see the related \fB\-\-load\-average\fR option.
387 Note that interactive packages currently force a setting
388 of \fI\-\-jobs=1\fR. This issue can be temporarily avoided
389 by specifying \fI\-\-accept\-properties=\-interactive\fR.
391 .BR "\-\-keep\-going[=n]"
392 Continue as much as possible after an error. When an error occurs,
393 dependencies are recalculated for remaining packages and any with
394 unsatisfied dependencies are automatically dropped. Also see
395 the related \fB\-\-skipfirst\fR option.
397 .BR \-\-load\-average=LOAD
398 Specifies that no new builds should be started if there are other builds
399 running and the load average is at least LOAD (a floating-point number).
400 This option is recommended for use in combination with \fB\-\-jobs\fR in
401 order to avoid excess load. See \fBmake\fR(1) for information about
402 analogous options that should be configured via \fBMAKEOPTS\fR in
405 .BR "\-\-newuse " (\fB\-N\fR)
406 Tells emerge to include installed packages where USE
407 flags have changed since compilation. This option
408 also implies the \fB\-\-selective\fR option.
409 USE flag changes include:
411 A USE flag was added to a package.
412 A USE flag was removed from a package.
413 A USE flag was turned on for a package.
414 A USE flag was turned off for a package.
416 USE flags may be toggled by your profile as well as your USE and package.use
420 Causes portage to disregard merge records indicating that a config file
421 inside of a \fBCONFIG_PROTECT\fR directory has been merged already. Portage
422 will normally merge those files only once to prevent the user from
423 dealing with the same config multiple times. This flag will cause the
424 file to always be merged.
426 .BR "\-\-nodeps " (\fB\-O\fR)
427 Merges specified packages without merging any dependencies. Note that
428 the build may fail if the dependencies aren't satisfied.
430 .BR "\-\-noreplace " (\fB\-n\fR)
431 Skips the packages specified on the command\-line that have already
432 been installed. Without this option, any packages, ebuilds, or deps
433 you specify on the command\-line \fBwill\fR cause Portage to remerge
434 the package, even if it is already installed. Note that Portage will
435 not remerge dependencies by default. Also note that this option takes
436 precedence over options such as \fB\-\-newuse\fR, preventing a package
437 from being reinstalled even though the corresponding USE flag settings
441 Disables the spinner for the session. The spinner is active when the
442 terminal device is determined to be a TTY. This flag disables it regardless.
444 .BR "\-\-oneshot " (\fB\-1\fR)
445 Emerge as normal, but do not add the packages to the world file
448 .BR "\-\-onlydeps " (\fB\-o\fR)
449 Only merge (or pretend to merge) the dependencies of the packages
450 specified, not the packages themselves.
452 .BR "\-\-pretend " (\fB\-p\fR)
453 Instead of actually performing the merge, simply display what *would*
454 have been installed if \fB\-\-pretend\fR weren't used. Using \fB\-\-pretend\fR
455 is strongly recommended before installing an unfamiliar package. In
460 N new (not yet installed)
461 S new SLOT installation (side-by-side versions)
462 U updating (to another version)
463 D downgrading (best version seems lower)
464 R replacing (remerging same version))
465 F fetch restricted (must be manually downloaded)
466 f fetch restricted (already downloaded)
467 I interactive (requires user input)
468 B blocked by another package (unresolved conflict)
469 b blocked by another package (automatically resolved conflict)
472 .BR "\-\-quiet " (\fB\-q\fR)
473 Results may vary, but the general outcome is a reduced or condensed
474 output from portage's displays.
477 Redirect all build output to logs alone, and do not
478 display it on stdout.
480 .BR \-\-quiet\-unmerge\-warn
481 Disable the warning message that's shown prior to
482 \fB\-\-unmerge\fR actions. This option is intended
483 to be set in the \fBmake.conf\fR(5)
484 \fBEMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS\fR variable.
486 .BR "\-\-rebuilt\-binaries[=n]"
487 Replace installed packages with binary packages that have
488 been rebuilt. Rebuilds are detected by comparison of
489 BUILD_TIME package metadata. This option is enabled
490 automatically when using binary packages
491 (\fB\-\-usepkgonly\fR or \fB\-\-getbinpkgonly\fR) together with
492 \fB\-\-update\fR and \fB\-\-deep\fR.
494 .BR "\-\-reinstall changed\-use"
495 Tells emerge to include installed packages where USE flags have
496 changed since installation. Unlike \fB\-\-newuse\fR, this option does
497 not trigger reinstallation when flags that the user has not
498 enabled are added or removed.
501 Set the \fBROOT\fR environment variable.
503 .BR "\-\-root\-deps[=rdeps]"
504 If no argument is given then build\-time dependencies of packages for
505 \fBROOT\fR are installed to
506 \fBROOT\fR instead of /. If the \fBrdeps\fR argument is given then discard
507 all build\-time dependencies of packages for \fBROOT\fR. This option is
508 only meaningful when used together with \fBROOT\fR and it should not
509 be enabled under normal circumstances. For currently supported
510 \fBEAPI\fR values, the build-time dependencies are specified in the
511 \fBDEPEND\fR variable. However, behavior may change for new
512 \fBEAPI\fRs when related extensions are added in the future.
515 Add specified packages to the world set (inverse of
516 \fB\-\-oneshot\fR). This is useful if you want to
517 use \fBEMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS\fR to make
518 \fB\-\-oneshot\fR behavior default.
520 .BR "\-\-selective"[=n]
521 This is similar to the \fB\-\-noreplace\fR option, except that it
522 does not take precedence over options such as \fB\-\-newuse\fR.
523 Some options, such as \fB\-\-update\fR, imply \fB\-\-selective\fR.
524 Use \fB\-\-selective=n\fR if you want to forcefully disable
525 \fB\-\-selective\fR, regardless of options like \fB\-\-update\fR.
528 This option is only valid when used with \fB\-\-resume\fR. It removes the
529 first package in the resume list. Dependencies are recalculated for
530 remaining packages and any that have unsatisfied dependencies or are
531 masked will be automatically dropped. Also see the related
532 \fB\-\-keep\-going\fR option.
534 .BR "\-\-tree " (\fB\-t\fR)
535 Shows the dependency tree for the given target by indenting dependencies.
536 This is only really useful in combination with \fB\-\-emptytree\fR or
537 \fB\-\-update\fR and \fB\-\-deep\fR.
539 .BR "\-\-unordered\-display"
540 By default the displayed merge list is sorted using the
541 order in which the packages will be merged. When
542 \fB\-\-tree\fR is used together with this option, this
543 constraint is removed, hopefully leading to a more
544 readable dependency tree.
546 .BR "\-\-use\-ebuild\-visibility[=n]"
547 Use unbuilt ebuild metadata for visibility
548 checks on built packages.
550 .BR "\-\-usepkg[=n] " (\fB\-k\fR)
551 Tells emerge to use binary packages (from $PKGDIR) if they are available, thus
552 possibly avoiding some time\-consuming compiles. This option is useful for CD
553 installs; you can export PKGDIR=/mnt/cdrom/packages and then use this option to
554 have emerge "pull" binary packages from the CD in order to satisfy dependencies.
556 .BR "\-\-usepkgonly[=n] " (\fB\-K\fR)
557 Tells emerge to only use binary packages (from $PKGDIR). All the binary
558 packages must be available at the time of dependency calculation or emerge
559 will simply abort. Portage does not use $PORTDIR when calculating dependency
560 information so all masking information is ignored.
562 .BR "\-\-verbose " (\fB\-v\fR)
563 Tell emerge to run in verbose mode. Currently this flag causes emerge to print
564 out GNU info errors, if any, and to show the USE flags that will be used for
565 each package when pretending. The following symbols are affixed to USE flags
566 in order to indicate their status:
572 Symbol Location Meaning
574 - prefix not enabled (either disabled or removed)
575 * suffix transition to or from the enabled state
576 % suffix newly added or removed
577 () circumfix forced, masked, or removed
580 .BR "\-\-with\-bdeps < y | n >"
581 In dependency calculations, pull in build time dependencies
582 that are not strictly required. This defaults to \'n\' for
583 installation actions, meaning they will not be installed, and
584 \'y\' for the \fB\-\-depclean\fR action, meaning they will not be removed.
585 This setting can be added to
586 \fBEMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS\fR (see make.conf(5)) and later overridden via the
588 .SH "ENVIRONMENT OPTIONS"
590 \fBROOT\fR = \fI[path]\fR
591 Use \fBROOT\fR to specify the target root filesystem to be used for
592 merging packages or ebuilds. This variable can be set via the \fB\-\-root\fR
593 option or in \fBmake.conf\fR(5) (the command line overrides other settings).
597 \fBPORTAGE_CONFIGROOT\fR = \fI[path]\fR
598 Use \fBPORTAGE_CONFIGROOT\fR to specify the location for various portage
600 (see \fBFILES\fR for a detailed list of configuration files). This variable
601 can be set via the \fB\-\-config\-root\fR option.
605 When utilizing \fBemerge\fR with the \fB\-\-pretend\fR and \fB\-\-verbose\fR
606 flags, the output may be a little hard to understand at first. This section
607 explains the abbreviations.
609 .B [blocks B ] app\-text/dos2unix ("app\-text/dos2unix" is blocking app\-text/hd2u\-0.8.0)
610 Dos2unix is Blocking hd2u from being emerged. Blockers are defined when
611 two packages will clobber each others files, or otherwise cause some form
612 of breakage in your system. However, blockers usually do not need to be
613 simultaneously emerged because they usually provide the same functionality.
615 .B [ebuild N ] app\-games/qstat\-25c
616 Qstat is New to your system, and will be emerged for the first time.
618 .B [ebuild NS ] dev-libs/glib-2.4.7
619 You already have a version of glib installed, but a 'new' version in
620 a different SLOT is available.
622 .B [ebuild R ] sys\-apps/sed\-4.0.5
623 Sed 4.0.5 has already been emerged, but if you run the command, then
624 portage will Re\-emerge the specified package (sed in this case).
626 .B [ebuild F ] media\-video/realplayer\-8\-r6
627 The realplayer package requires that you Fetch the sources manually.
628 When you attempt to emerge the package, if the sources are not found,
629 then portage will halt and you will be provided with instructions on how
630 to download the required files.
632 .B [ebuild f ] media\-video/realplayer\-8\-r6
633 The realplayer package's files are already downloaded.
635 .B [ebuild U ] net\-fs/samba\-2.2.8_pre1 [2.2.7a]
636 Samba 2.2.7a has already been emerged and can be Updated to version
639 .B [ebuild UD] media\-libs/libgd\-1.8.4 [2.0.11]
640 Libgd 2.0.11 is already emerged, but if you run the command, then
641 portage will Downgrade to version 1.8.4 for you.
643 This may occur if a newer version of a package has been masked because it is
644 broken or it creates a security risk on your system and a fix has not been
647 Another reason this may occur is if a package you are trying to emerge requires
648 an older version of a package in order to emerge successfully. In this case,
649 libgd 2.x is incompatible with libgd 1.x. This means that packages that were
650 created with libgd 1.x will not compile with 2.x and must downgrade libgd first
651 before they can emerge.
653 .B [ebuild U ] sys\-devel/distcc\-2.16 [2.13\-r1] USE="ipv6* \-gtk \-qt%"
654 Here we see that the make.conf variable \fBUSE\fR affects how this package is
655 built. In this example, ipv6 optional support is enabled and both gtk and qt
656 support are disabled. The asterisk following ipv6 indicates that ipv6 support
657 was disabled the last time this packages was installed. The percent sign
658 following qt indicates that the qt option has been added to the package since
659 it was last installed. For information about all \fBUSE\fR symbols, see the
660 \fB\-\-verbose\fR option documentation above.
662 \fB*Note:\fR Flags that haven't changed since the last install are only
663 displayed when you use the \fB\-\-pretend\fR and \fB\-\-verbose\fR options.
664 Using the \fB\-\-quiet\fR option will prevent all information from being
667 You should almost always precede any package install or update attempt with a
668 \fB\-\-pretend\fR install or update. This lets you see how much will be
669 done, and shows you any blocking packages that you will have to rectify.
670 This goes doubly so for the \fBsystem\fR and \fBworld\fR sets, which can
671 update a large number of packages if the portage tree has been particularly
674 You also want to typically use \fB\-\-update\fR, which ignores packages that
675 are already fully updated but updates those that are not.
677 When you install a package with uninstalled dependencies and do
678 not explicitly state those dependencies in the list of parameters,
679 they will not be added to the world file. If you want them to be
680 detected for world updates, make sure to explicitly list them as
681 parameters to \fBemerge\fR.
683 \fBUSE variables\fR may be specified on the command line to
684 override those specified in the default locations, letting you
685 avoid using some dependencies you may not want to have. \fBUSE
686 flags specified on the command line are NOT remembered\fR. For
687 example, \fBenv USE="\-X \-gnome" emerge mc\fR will emerge mc with
688 those USE settings (on Bourne-compatible shells you may omit the \fBenv\fR
689 part). If you want those USE settings to be more
690 permanent, you can put them in /etc/portage/package.use instead.
692 If \fBemerge \-\-update system\fR or \fBemerge \-\-update world\fR
693 fails with an error message, it may be that an ebuild uses some
694 newer feature not present in this version of \fBemerge\fR. You
695 can use \fBemerge \-\-update portage\fR to upgrade to the lastest
696 version, which should support any necessary new features.
697 .SH "MASKED PACKAGES"
698 \fINOTE: Please use caution when using development packages. Problems
699 and bugs resulting from misusing masked packages drains Gentoo
700 developer time. Please be sure you are capable of handling any problems
703 Masks in \fBportage\fR have many uses: they allow a
704 testing period where the packages can be used in live machines; they
705 prevent the use of a package when it will fail; and they mask existing
706 packages that are broken or could pose a security risk. Read below
707 to find out how to unmask in various cases. Also note that if you give
708 \fBemerge\fR an ebuild, then all forms of masking will be ignored and
709 \fBemerge\fR will attempt to emerge the package.
712 When packages are masked for \fBbacktracking\fR, it means that the dependency
713 resolver has temporarily masked them in order to avoid dependency conflicts
714 and/or unsatisfied dependencies. This type of mask is typically accompanied
715 by a message about a missed package update which has been skipped in order to
716 avoid dependency conflicts and/or unsatisfied dependencies.
719 The \fBpackage.mask\fR file primarily blocks the use of packages that cause
720 problems or are known to have issues on different systems. It resides in
721 \fI/usr/portage/profiles\fR.
724 Use the \fBACCEPT_CHOSTS\fR variable in \fBmake.conf\fR(5) to control
725 \fBCHOST\fR acceptance.
728 The \fBEAPI\fR variable in an \fBebuild\fR(5) file is used to mask packages
729 that are not supported by the current version of portage. Packages masked by
730 \fBEAPI\fR can only be installed after portage has been upgraded.
733 The \fBKEYWORDS\fR variable in an \fBebuild\fR file is also used for masking
734 a package still in testing. There are architecture\-specific keywords for
735 each package that let \fBportage\fR know which systems are compatible with
736 the package. Packages which compile on an architecture, but have not been
737 proven to be "stable", are masked with a tilde (\fB~\fR) in front of the
738 architecture name. \fBemerge\fR examines the \fBACCEPT_KEYWORDS\fR environment
739 variable to allow or disallow the emerging of a package masked by
740 \fBKEYWORDS\fR. To inform \fBemerge\fR that it should build these 'testing'
741 versions of packages, you should update your
742 \fI/etc/portage/package.keywords\fR file to list the packages you want the
743 \'testing\' version. See \fBportage\fR(5) for more information.
746 The \fBLICENSE\fR variable in an \fBebuild\fR file can be used to mask
747 packages based on licensing restrictions. \fBemerge\fR examines the
748 \fBACCEPT_LICENSE\fR environment variable to allow or disallow the emerging
749 of a package masked by \fBLICENSE\fR. See \fBmake.conf\fR(5) for information
750 about \fBACCEPT_LICENSE\fR, and see \fBportage\fR(5) for information about
751 \fI/etc/portage/package.license\fR.
754 The \fBPROPERTIES\fR variable in an \fBebuild\fR file can be used to mask
755 packages based on properties restrictions. \fBemerge\fR examines the
756 \fBACCEPT_PROPERTIES\fR environment variable to allow or disallow the emerging
757 of a package masked by \fBPROPERTIES\fR. See \fBmake.conf\fR(5) for information
758 about \fBACCEPT_PROPERTIES\fR, and see \fBportage\fR(5) for information about
759 \fI/etc/portage/package.properties\fR. Use the \fB\-\-accept\-properties\fR
760 option to temporarily override \fBACCEPT_PROPERTIES\fR.
761 .SH "CONFIGURATION FILES"
762 Portage has a special feature called "config file protection". The purpose of
763 this feature is to prevent new package installs from clobbering existing
764 configuration files. By default, config file protection is turned on for /etc
765 and the KDE configuration dirs; more may be added in the future.
767 When Portage installs a file into a protected directory tree like /etc, any
768 existing files will not be overwritten. If a file of the same name already
769 exists, Portage will change the name of the to\-be\-installed file from 'foo' to
770 \'._cfg0000_foo\'. If \'._cfg0000_foo\' already exists, this name becomes
771 \'._cfg0001_foo\', etc. In this way, existing files are not overwritten,
772 allowing the administrator to manually merge the new config files and avoid any
775 In addition to protecting overwritten files, Portage will not delete any files
776 from a protected directory when a package is unmerged. While this may be a
777 little bit untidy, it does prevent potentially valuable config files from being
778 deleted, which is of paramount importance.
780 Protected directories are set using the \fICONFIG_PROTECT\fR variable, normally
781 defined in /etc/make.globals. Directory exceptions to the CONFIG_PROTECTed
782 directories can be specified using the \fICONFIG_PROTECT_MASK\fR variable. To find
783 files that need to be updated in /etc, type \fBfind /etc \-iname \'._cfg????_*\'\fR.
785 You can disable this feature by setting \fICONFIG_PROTECT="\-*"\fR in /etc/make.conf.
786 Then, Portage will mercilessly auto\-update your config files. Alternatively,
787 you can leave Config File Protection on but tell Portage that it can overwrite
788 files in certain specific /etc subdirectories. For example, if you wanted
789 Portage to automatically update your rc scripts and your wget configuration,
790 but didn't want any other changes made without your explicit approval, you'd
791 add this to /etc/make.conf:
793 .I CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/wget /etc/rc.d"
795 Tools such as dispatch\-conf, cfg\-update, and etc\-update are also available to
796 aid in the merging of these files. They provide interactive merging and can
797 auto\-merge trivial changes.
799 Please report any bugs you encounter through our website:
801 \fBhttp://bugs.gentoo.org/\fR
803 Please include the output of \fBemerge \-\-info\fR when you submit your
807 Daniel Robbins <drobbins@gentoo.org>
808 Geert Bevin <gbevin@gentoo.org>
809 Achim Gottinger <achim@gentoo.org>
810 Nicholas Jones <carpaski@gentoo.org>
811 Phil Bordelon <phil@thenexusproject.org>
812 Mike Frysinger <vapier@gentoo.org>
813 Marius Mauch <genone@gentoo.org>
814 Jason Stubbs <jstubbs@gentoo.org>
815 Brian Harring <ferringb@gmail.com>
816 Zac Medico <zmedico@gentoo.org>
819 Here is a common list of files you will probably be interested in. For a
820 complete listing, please refer to the \fBportage\fR(5) man page.
822 .B /usr/share/portage/config/sets.conf
823 Contains the default set configuration.
825 .B /var/lib/portage/world
826 Contains a list of all user\-specified packages. You can safely edit
827 this file, adding packages that you want to be considered in \fBworld\fR
828 set updates and removing those that you do not want to be considered.
831 Contains variables for the build process, overriding those in
834 .B /etc/portage/color.map
835 Contains variables customizing colors.
837 .B /etc/dispatch\-conf.conf
838 Contains settings to handle automatic updates/backups of configuration
841 .B /etc/make.profile/make.defaults
842 Contains profile\-specific variables for the build process. \fBDo not
845 .B /usr/portage/profiles/use.desc
846 Contains the master list of USE flags with descriptions of their
847 functions. \fBDo not edit this file\fR.
849 .B /etc/make.profile/virtuals
850 Contains a list of default packages used to resolve virtual dependencies.
851 \fBDo not edit this file\fR.
853 .B /etc/make.profile/packages
854 Contains a list of packages used for the base system. The \fBsystem\fR
855 and \fBworld\fR sets consult this file. \fBDo not edit this file\fR.
858 Contains the default variables for the build process. \fBDo not edit
861 .BR "emerge \-\-help",
869 A number of helper applications reside in \fI/usr/lib/portage/bin\fR.
871 The \fBapp\-portage/gentoolkit\fR package contains useful scripts such as
872 \fBequery\fR (a package query tool).