TIP package.keywords

From Gentoo Linux Wiki

Tip by HerrZattacke

The Tip below is kind of outdated. If your system grows you might want to consider putting all the keyworded packages in one file.

Example: you want foo/foo to be keyworded but the dependency requires that foo/foobar and foo/barbar have to be keyworded too. Then you could either do as the Tip below suggested it or do the following.

# mkdir -p /etc/portage/package.keywords                                    # yes we create a directory not a file!!!
# echo "foo/foo" > /etc/portage/package.keywords/foo                        # the name for the file can be chosen freely
# echo -e "foo/foobar \nfoo/barbar" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords/foo

You could also use it for package.use, package.unmask and so on.

You do not have to use the ~arch anymore unless you want to install a ~x86 package on an ~amd64 machine.

Tip by solka

Using the file /etc/portage/package.keywords is very simple. Just create the directory /etc/portage if it doesn't exist and touch package.keywords.

# mkdir /etc/portage
# cd /etc/portage
# touch package.keywords

Then you only have to add the package you want to add followed by the ~arch flag, for instance this is my file.

 ## Beginning amule 2.0.0r2 dependencies
 >=sys-libs/zlib-1.2.1 ~x86
 >=net-misc/curl-7.11.0 ~x86
 >=x11-libs/wxGTK-2.4.2 ~x86
 sys-devel/gdb ~x86

 ## Miscellaneous
 dev-libs/libcoyotl ~x86
 dev-libs/libevocosm ~x86
 dev-lang/fpc ~x86
 net-dialup/gammu ~x86
 sys-devel/acovea ~x86
 media-fonts/corefonts ~x86
 =dev-ruby/rails-1.1* ~x86

 ## xorg-x11
 x11-base/xorg-x11 ~x86 
 x11-terms/xterm ~x86
 sys-apps/utempter ~x86
 media-video/nvidia-kernel ~x86
 media-video/nvidia-glx ~x86
 media-video/eselect-opengl ~x86
 media-viedo/eselect ~x86
 x11-wm/fluxbox ~x86
 gnome-extra/gdesklets-core ~x86
 media-gfx/gimp ~x86
 >=x11-base/opengl-update-1.7 ~x86 
 
 ## Desklets
 x11-plugins/desklet-clock ~x86
 x11-plugins/desklet-cornerxmms ~x86
 x11-plugins/desklet-cpuinfo ~x86
 x11-plugins/desklet-diskinfo ~x86
 x11-plugins/desklet-goodweather ~x86
 x11-plugins/desklet-ltvariations ~x86
 x11-plugins/desklet-meminfo ~x86
 x11-plugins/desklet-multitail ~x86
 x11-plugins/desklet-networkinfo ~x86
 x11-plugins/desklet-psidisplays ~x86
 x11-plugins/desklet-psisensors ~x86
 x11-plugins/desklet-starterbar ~x86
 x11-plugins/desklet-sysinfo ~x86
 x11-plugins/desklet-temperature ~x86
 x11-plugins/desklet-weather ~x86 
 
 ## Others
 app-admin/torsmo ~x86
 app-editors/vim ~x86
 app-editors/vim-core ~x86
 mail-client/sylpheed-claws-cvs ~x86
 net-www/mozilla-firefox ~x86
 sys-apps/athcool ~x86

You can also define the version of the package you want to add by simply specifying it and adding a = before the package, for instance

=x11-base/opengl-update-1.7 ~x86

You can use wildcards in the version in a similar fashion.

=dev-ruby/rails-1.1* ~x86

This will unmask versions 1.1.0, 1.1.1 etc. Note, this will not work if you put a period before the wildcard, i.e. =dev-ruby/rails-1.1.* ~x86

You can use the less < and major > symbols too in order to specify which versions you want to unmask.

>=x11-base/opengl-update-1.7 ~x86

<=x11-base/opengl-update-1.7 ~x86

You can use ~ in order to unmask a specific version as well as all revision bumps, for instance this will unmask firefox-0.9.1 as well as any future revisions such as -0.9.1-r1, -0.9.1-r2, etc. It will not unmask -0.9.2 or any other version.

~net-www/mozilla-firefox-0.9.1 ~x86

The package sys-kernel/linux-headers requires -* instead of ~x86, for instance

=sys-kernel/linux-headers-2.6.5 -*

There are two more keywords you can use: * means to unmask the package when it becomes stable on any architecture, and ~* means the same for unstable status. You would typically use those without a version specifier, for example for arch testing.

See http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=171464 for more information.

It's simple, isn't it?

If you get tired editing packages.keywords and packages.use by hand, you can use flagedit instead. See HOWTO_Use_Portage_Correctly#TimeSavers