EMERGE(1) Portage EMERGE(1)NAMEemerge - Command-line interface to the Portage system
SYNOPSISemerge [options] [action] [ebuild | tbz2file | file | @set | atom] ...
emerge--sync | --version
emerge--info [atom]
emerge--search somestring
emerge--help
DESCRIPTIONemerge is the definitive command-line interface to the Portage system.
It is primarily used for installing packages, and emerge can automati‐
cally handle any dependencies that the desired package has. emerge can
also update the portage tree, making new and updated packages avail‐
able. emerge gracefully handles updating installed packages to newer
releases as well. It handles both source and binary packages, and it
can be used to create binary packages for distribution.
EBUILDS, TBZ2S, SETS AND ATOMS
emerge primarily installs packages. You can specify packages to
install in five possible ways: an atom, a set, an installed file, an
ebuild, or a tbz2file.
ebuild An ebuild must be, at a minimum, a valid Portage package direc‐
tory name without a version or category, such as portage or
python. Both categories and version numbers may be used in
addition, such as sys-apps/portage or =python-2.2.1-r2. emerge
ignores a trailing slash so that filename completion can be
used. The ebuild may also be an actual filename, such as
/usr/portage/app-admin/python/python-2.2.1-r2.ebuild. WARNING:
The implementation of emerge /path/to/ebuild is broken and so
this syntax shouldn't be used.
tbz2file
A tbz2file must be a valid .tbz2 created with ebuild <pack‐
age>-<version>.ebuild package or emerge--buildpkg [cate‐
gory/]<package> or quickpkg /var/db/pkg/<category>/<package>.
file A file must be a file or directory that has been installed by
one or more packages. If an absolute path is not used, then it
must begin with either "./" or "../". For directories that are
owned by multiple packages, all owning packages will be
selected. See the portageq(1) owners command if you would like
to query the owners of one or more files or directories.
set A set is a convenient shorthand for a large group of packages.
Three sets are currently always available: selected, system and
world. selected contains the user-selected "world" packages that
are listed in /var/lib/portage/world, and nested sets that may
be listed in /var/lib/portage/world_sets. system refers to a set
of packages deemed necessary for your system to run properly.
world encompasses both the selected and system sets. [See FILES
below for more information.] Other sets can exist depending on
the current configuration. The default set configuration is
located in the /usr/share/portage/config/sets directory. User
sets may be created by placing files in the /etc/portage/sets/
directory (see portage(5)). Note that a set is generally used in
conjunction with --update. When used as arguments to emerge sets
have to be prefixed with @ to be recognized. Use the --list-sets
action to display a list of available package sets.
atom An atom describes bounds on a package that you wish to install.
See ebuild(5) for the details on atom syntax. For example,
>=dev-lang/python-2.2.1-r2 matches the latest available version
of Python greater than or equal to 2.2.1-r2. Similarly,
<dev-lang/python-2.0 matches the latest available version of
Python before 2.0. Note that in many shells you will need to
escape characters such as '<' and '='; use single- or dou‐
ble-quotes around the atom to get around escaping problems. You
may also constrain an atom to match a specific SLOT by appending
a colon and a SLOT. Example: x11-libs/qt:3.
ACTIONS
No action
If no action is specified, the action is to merge in the speci‐
fied packages, satisfying any dependencies that they may have.
The arguments can be atoms, sets, installed files, ebuilds, or
tbz2s. Note that you need to use the --usepkg option if you
want to install a tbz2. The packages are added to the world
file at the end, so that they are considered for later updating.
--check-news
Scan all repositories for relevant unread GLEP 42 news items,
and display how many are found. See http://www.gen‐
too.org/proj/en/glep/glep-0042.html.
--clean
Cleans up the system by examining the installed packages and
removing older packages. This is accomplished by looking at
each installed package and separating the installed versions by
slot. Clean will remove all but the most recently installed
version in each slot. Clean should not remove unslotted pack‐
ages. Note: Most recently installed means most recent, not high‐
est version.
--config
Run package specific actions needed to be executed after the
emerge process has completed. This usually entails configura‐
tion file setup or other similar setups that the user may wish
to run.
--depclean (-c)
Cleans the system by removing packages that are not associated
with explicitly merged packages. Depclean works by creating the
full dependency tree from the @world set, then comparing it to
installed packages. Packages installed, but not part of the
dependency tree, will be uninstalled by depclean. See
--with-bdeps for behavior with respect to build time dependen‐
cies that are not strictly required. Packages that are part of
the world set will always be kept. They can be manually added to
this set with emerge--noreplace <atom>. As a safety measure,
depclean will not remove any packages unless *all* required
dependencies have been resolved. As a consequence, it is often
necessary to run emerge--update --newuse --deep @world prior to
depclean. Also note that depclean may break link level dependen‐
cies, especially when the --depclean-lib-check option is dis‐
abled. Thus, it is recommended to use a tool such as revdep-
rebuild(1) in order to detect such breakage.
WARNING: Inexperienced users are advised to use --pretend or
--ask with this option in order to see a preview of which pack‐
ages will be uninstalled. Always study the list of packages to
be cleaned for any obvious mistakes. Note that packages listed
in package.provided (see portage(5)) may be removed by depclean,
even if they are part of the world set.
Depclean serves as a dependency aware version of --unmerge. When
given one or more atoms, it will unmerge matched packages that
have no reverse dependencies. Use --depclean together with
--verbose to show reverse dependencies.
--deselect [ y | n ]
Remove atoms and/or sets from the world file. This action is
implied by uninstall actions, including --depclean, --prune and
--unmerge. Use --deselect=n in order to prevent uninstall
actions from removing atoms from the world file.
--help (-h)
Displays help information for emerge. Adding one of the addi‐
tional arguments listed above will give you more specific help
information on that subject. The internal emerge help documen‐
tation is updated more frequently than this man page; check it
out if you are having problems that this man page does not help
resolve.
--info Produces a list of information to include in bug reports which
aids the developers when fixing the reported problem. Please
include this information when submitting a bug report. Expanded
output can be obtained with the --verbose option.
--list-sets
Displays a list of available package sets.
--metadata
Transfers metadata cache from ${PORTDIR}/metadata/md5-cache/ to
/var/cache/edb/dep/ as is normally done on the tail end of an
rsync update using emerge--sync. This process populates the
cache database that portage uses for pre-parsed lookups of pack‐
age data. It does not populate cache for the overlays listed in
PORTDIR_OVERLAY. In order to generate cache for overlays, use
--regen. In versions of portage >=2.1.5 the --metadata action
is totally unnecessary unless the user has enabled FEA‐
TURES="metadata-transfer" in make.conf(5).
--prune (-P)
Removes all but the highest installed version of a package from
your system. Use --prune together with --verbose to show reverse
dependencies or with --nodeps to ignore all dependencies. WARN‐
ING: This action can remove packages from your world file! Check
the emerge output of the next --depclean run carefully! Use
--depclean to avoid this issue.
--regen
Causes portage to check and update the dependency cache of all
ebuilds in the portage tree. The cache is used to speed up
searches and the building of dependency trees. This command is
not recommended for rsync users as rsync updates the cache using
server-side caches. If you do not know the differences between
a 'rsync user' and some other user, then you are a 'rsync user'
:). Rsync users should simply run emerge--sync to regenerate
the cache. After a portage update, rsync users may find it con‐
venient to run emerge--metadata to rebuild the cache as portage
does at the end of a sync operation. In order to specify paral‐
lel --regen behavior, use the --jobs and --load-average options.
If you would like to generate and distribute cache for use by
others, use egencache(1).
--resume(-r)
Resumes the most recent merge list that has been aborted due to
an error. This re-uses the arguments and options that were
given with the original command that's being resumed, and the
user may also provide additional options when calling --resume.
It is an error to provide atoms or sets as arguments to
--resume, since the arguments from the resumed command are used
instead. Please note that this operation will only return an
error on failure. If there is nothing for portage to do, then
portage will exit with a message and a success condition. A
resume list will persist until it has been completed in entirety
or until another aborted merge list replaces it. The resume
history is capable of storing two merge lists. After one resume
list completes, it is possible to invoke --resume once again in
order to resume an older list. The resume lists are stored in
/var/cache/edb/mtimedb, and may be explicitly discarded by run‐
ning `emaint --fix cleanresume` (see emaint(1)).
--search (-s)
Searches for matches of the supplied string in the portage tree.
By default emerge uses a case-insensitive simple search, but you
can enable a regular expression search by prefixing the search
string with %. For example, emerge--search "%^kde" searches
for any package whose name starts with "kde"; emerge--search
"%gcc$" searches for any package that ends with "gcc"; emerge--search "office" searches for any package that contains the
word "office". If you want to include the category into the
search string, prepend an @: emerge--search "%@^dev-java.*jdk".
If you want to search the package descriptions as well, use the
--searchdesc action.
--searchdesc (-S)
Matches the search string against the description field as well
as the package name. Take caution as the descriptions are also
matched as regular expressions.
--sync Updates repositories, for which sync-type and sync-uri
attributes are set in repos.conf. See portage(5) for more infor‐
mation. The PORTAGE_SYNC_STALE variable configures warnings
that are shown when emerge--sync has not been executed
recently.
WARNING: The emerge--sync action will revert local changes
(e.g. modifications or additions of files) inside repositories
synchronized using rsync.
NOTE: The emerge-webrsync program will download the entire
portage tree as a tarball, which is much faster than emerge--sync for first time syncs.
--unmerge (-C)
WARNING: This action can remove important packages! Removes all
matching packages. This does no checking of dependencies, so it
may remove packages necessary for the proper operation of your
system. Its arguments can be atoms or ebuilds. For a dependency
aware version of --unmerge, use --depclean or --prune.
--version (-V)
Displays the version number of emerge.
OPTIONS
--accept-properties=ACCEPT_PROPERTIES
This option temporarily overrides the ACCEPT_PROPERTIES vari‐
able. The ACCEPT_PROPERTIES variable is incremental, which means
that the specified setting is appended to the existing value
from your configuration. The special -* token can be used to
discard the existing configuration value and start fresh. See
the MASKED PACKAGES section and make.conf(5) for more informa‐
tion about ACCEPT_PROPERTIES. A typical usage example for this
option would be to use --accept-properties=-interactive to tem‐
porarily mask interactive packages. With default configuration,
this would result in an effective ACCEPT_PROPERTIES value of "*
-interactive".
--accept-restrict=ACCEPT_RESTRICT
This option temporarily overrides the ACCEPT_RESTRICT variable.
The ACCEPT_RESTRICT variable is incremental, which means that
the specified setting is appended to the existing value from
your configuration. The special -* token can be used to discard
the existing configuration value and start fresh. See the MASKED
PACKAGES section and make.conf(5) for more information about
ACCEPT_RESTRICT. A typical usage example for this option would
be to use --accept-restrict=-bindist to temporarily mask pack‐
ages that are not binary re-distributable. With default configu‐
ration, this would result in an effective ACCEPT_RESTRICT value
of "* -bindist".
--alphabetical
When displaying USE and other flag output, combines the enabled
and disabled lists into one list and sorts the whole list alpha‐
betically.
--ask [ y | n ] (-a short option)
Before performing the action, display what will take place
(server info for --sync, --pretend output for merge, and so
forth), then ask whether to proceed with the action or abort.
Using --ask is more efficient than using --pretend and then exe‐
cuting the same command without --pretend, as dependencies will
only need to be calculated once. WARNING: If the "Enter" key is
pressed at the prompt (with no other input), it is interpreted
as acceptance of the first choice. Note that the input buffer
is not cleared prior to the prompt, so an accidental press of
the "Enter" key at any time prior to the prompt will be inter‐
preted as a choice! Use the --ask-enter-invalid option if you
want a single "Enter" key press to be interpreted as invalid
input.
--ask-enter-invalid
When used together with the --ask option, interpret a single
"Enter" key press as invalid input. This helps prevent acciden‐
tal acceptance of the first choice. This option is intended to
be set in the make.conf(5) EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS variable.
--autounmask [ y | n ]
Automatically unmask packages and generate package.use settings
as necessary to satisfy dependencies. This option is enabled by
default. If any configuration changes are required, then they
will be displayed after the merge list and emerge will immedi‐
ately abort. If the displayed configuration changes are satis‐
factory, you should copy and paste them into the specified con‐
figuration file(s), or enable the --autounmask-write option. The
EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS variable may be used to disable this option
by default in make.conf(5).
--autounmask-unrestricted-atoms [ y | n ]
If --autounmask is enabled, keyword and mask changes using the
´=´ operator will be written. With this option, ´>=´ operators
will be used whenever possible. USE and license changes always
use the latter behavior.
--autounmask-keep-masks [ y | n ]
If --autounmask is enabled, no package.unmask or ** keyword
changes will be created. This leads to unsatisfied dependencies
if no other solution exists.
--autounmask-write [ y | n ]
If --autounmask is enabled, changes are written to config files,
respecting CONFIG_PROTECT and --ask. If the corresponding pack‐
age.* is a file, the changes are appended to it, if it is a
directory, changes are written to the lexicographically last
file. This way it is always ensured that the new changes take
precedence over existing changes.
--backtrack=COUNT
Specifies an integer number of times to backtrack if dependency
calculation fails due to a conflict or an unsatisfied dependency
(default: ´10´).
--binpkg-respect-use [ y | n ]
Tells emerge to ignore binary packages if their use flags don't
match the current configuration. (default: ´n´)
--buildpkg [ y | n ] (-b short option)
Tells emerge to build binary packages for all ebuilds processed
in addition to actually merging the packages. Useful for main‐
tainers or if you administrate multiple Gentoo Linux systems
(build once, emerge tbz2s everywhere) as well as disaster recov‐
ery. The package will be created in the PKGDIR directory (see
make.conf(5)). An alternative for already-merged packages is to
use quickpkg(1) which creates a tbz2 from the live filesystem.
--buildpkg-exclude ATOMS
A space separated list of package atoms for which no binary
packages should be built. This option overrides all possible
ways to enable building of binary packages.
--buildpkgonly (-B)
Creates binary packages for all ebuilds processed without actu‐
ally merging the packages. This comes with the caveat that all
build-time dependencies must already be emerged on the system.
--changed-use
Tells emerge to include installed packages where USE flags have
changed since installation. This option also implies the
--selective option. Unlike --newuse, the --changed-use option
does not trigger reinstallation when flags that the user has not
enabled are added or removed.
NOTE: This option ignores the state of the "test" USE flag,
since that flag has a special binding to FEATURES="test" (see
make.conf(5) for more information about FEATURES settings).
--changelog (-l)
Use this in conjunction with the --pretend option. This will
show the ChangeLog entries for all the packages that will be
upgraded.
--color < y | n >
Enable or disable color output. This option will override
NOCOLOR (see make.conf(5)) and may also be used to force color
output when stdout is not a tty (by default, color is disabled
unless stdout is a tty).
--columns
Used alongside --pretend to cause the package name, new version,
and old version to be displayed in an aligned format for easy
cut-n-paste.
--complete-graph [ y | n ]
This causes emerge to consider the deep dependencies of all
packages from the world set. With this option enabled, emerge
will bail out if it determines that the given operation will
break any dependencies of the packages that have been added to
the graph. Like the --deep option, the --complete-graph option
will significantly increase the time taken for dependency calcu‐
lations. Note that, unlike the --deep option, the --com‐
plete-graph option does not cause any more packages to be
updated than would have otherwise been updated with the option
disabled. Using --with-bdeps=y together with --complete-graph
makes the graph as complete as possible.
--complete-graph-if-new-use < y | n >
Trigger the --complete-graph behavior if USE or IUSE will change
for an installed package. This option is enabled by default.
--complete-graph-if-new-ver < y | n >
Trigger the --complete-graph behavior if an installed package
version will change (upgrade or downgrade). This option is
enabled by default.
--config-root=DIR
Set the PORTAGE_CONFIGROOT environment variable.
--debug (-d)
Tells emerge to run the emerge command in --debug mode. In this
mode the bash build environment will run with the -x option,
causing it to output verbose debugging information to stdout.
This also enables a plethora of other output (mostly dependency
resolution messages).
--deep [DEPTH] (-D)
This flag forces emerge to consider the entire dependency tree
of packages, instead of checking only the immediate dependencies
of the packages. As an example, this catches updates in
libraries that are not directly listed in the dependencies of a
package. Also see --with-bdeps for behavior with respect to
build time dependencies that are not strictly required.
--depclean-lib-check [ y | n ]
Account for library link-level dependencies during --depclean
and --prune actions. This option is enabled by default. If FEA‐
TURES="preserve-libs" is enabled in make.conf(5), and pre‐
serve-libs is not restricted for any of the packages selected
for removal, then this option is ignored because any libraries
that have consumers will simply be preserved.
--digest
Prevent corruption from being noticed. The `repoman manifest`
command is the preferred way to generate manifests and it is
capable of doing an entire repository or category at once (see
repoman(1)).
--dynamic-deps < y | n >
In dependency calculations, substitute the dependencies of
installed packages with the dependencies of corresponding
unbuilt ebuilds from source repositories. This causes the effec‐
tive dependencies of installed packages to vary dynamically when
source ebuild dependencies are modified. This option is enabled
by default.
WARNING: If you want to disable --dynamic-deps, then it may be
necessary to first run fixpackages(1) in order to get the best
results. The fixpackages(1) command performs two different oper‐
ations that can also be performed separately by the `emaint
--fix moveinst` and `emaint --fix movebin` commands (see
emaint(1)).
--emptytree (-e)
Reinstalls target atoms and their entire deep dependency tree,
as though no packages are currently installed. You should run
this with --pretend first to make sure the result is what you
expect.
--exclude ATOMS
A space separated list of package names or slot atoms. Emerge
won't install any ebuild or binary package that matches any of
the given package atoms.
--fail-clean [ y | n ]
Clean up temporary files after a build failure. This is particu‐
larly useful if you have PORTAGE_TMPDIR on tmpfs. If this option
is enabled, you probably also want to enable PORT_LOGDIR (see
make.conf(5)) in order to save the build log.
--fetchonly (-f)
Instead of doing any package building, just perform fetches for
all packages (fetch things from SRC_URI based upon USE setting).
--fetch-all-uri (-F)
Instead of doing any package building, just perform fetches for
all packages (fetch everything in SRC_URI regardless of USE set‐
ting).
--getbinpkg [ y | n ] (-g short option)
Using the server and location defined in PORTAGE_BINHOST (see
make.conf(5)), portage will download the information from each
binary package found and it will use that information to help
build the dependency list. This option implies -k. (Use -gK
for binary-only merging.)
--getbinpkgonly [ y | n ] (-G short option)
This option is identical to -g, as above, except binaries from
the remote server are preferred over local packages if they are
not identical.
--ignore-default-opts
Causes EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS (see make.conf(5)) to be ignored.
--ignore-built-slot-operator-deps < y | n >
Ignore the slot/sub-slot := operator parts of dependencies that
have been recorded when packages where built. This option is
intended only for debugging purposes, and it only affects built
packages that specify slot/sub-slot := operator dependencies
which are supported beginning with EAPI 5.
-j [JOBS], --jobs[=JOBS]
Specifies the number of packages to build simultaneously. If
this option is given without an argument, emerge will not limit
the number of jobs that can run simultaneously. Also see the
related --load-average option. Similarly to the --quiet-build
option, the --jobs option causes all build output to be redi‐
rected to logs. Note that interactive packages currently force
a setting of --jobs=1. This issue can be temporarily avoided by
specifying --accept-properties=-interactive.
--keep-going [ y | n ]
Continue as much as possible after an error. When an error
occurs, dependencies are recalculated for remaining packages and
any with unsatisfied dependencies are automatically dropped.
Also see the related --skipfirst option.
--load-average [LOAD]
Specifies that no new builds should be started if there are
other builds running and the load average is at least LOAD (a
floating-point number). With no argument, removes a previous
load limit. This option is recommended for use in combination
with --jobs in order to avoid excess load. See make(1) for
information about analogous options that should be configured
via MAKEOPTS in make.conf(5).
--misspell-suggestions < y | n >
Enable or disable misspell suggestions. By default, emerge will
show a list of packages with similar names when a package
doesn't exist. The EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS variable may be used to
disable this option by default.
--newuse (-N)
Tells emerge to include installed packages where USE flags have
changed since compilation. This option also implies the --selec‐
tive option. USE flag changes include:
A USE flag was added to a package. A USE flag was removed from
a package. A USE flag was turned on for a package. A USE flag
was turned off for a package.
USE flags may be toggled by your profile as well as your USE and
package.use settings. If you would like to skip rebuilds for
which disabled flags have been added to or removed from IUSE,
see the related --changed-use option. If you would like to skip
rebuilds for specific packages, see the --exclude option.
NOTE: This option ignores the state of the "test" USE flag,
since that flag has a special binding to FEATURES="test" (see
make.conf(5) for more information about FEATURES settings).
--noconfmem
Causes portage to disregard merge records indicating that a con‐
fig file inside of a CONFIG_PROTECT directory has been merged
already. Portage will normally merge those files only once to
prevent the user from dealing with the same config multiple
times. This flag will cause the file to always be merged.
--nodeps (-O)
Merges specified packages without merging any dependencies.
Note that the build may fail if the dependencies aren't satis‐
fied.
--noreplace (-n)
Skips the packages specified on the command-line that have
already been installed. Without this option, any package atoms
or package sets you specify on the command-line will cause
Portage to remerge the package, even if it is already installed.
Note that Portage will not remerge dependencies by default. This
option can be used to update the world file without rebuilding
the packages.
--nospinner
Disables the spinner for the session. The spinner is active
when the terminal device is determined to be a TTY. This flag
disables it regardless.
--usepkg-exclude ATOMS
A space separated list of package names or slot atoms. Emerge
will ignore matching binary packages.
--rebuild-exclude ATOMS
A space separated list of package names or slot atoms. Emerge
will not rebuild matching packages due to --rebuild.
--rebuild-ignore ATOMS
A space separated list of package names or slot atoms. Emerge
will not rebuild packages that depend on matching packages due
to --rebuild.
--oneshot (-1)
Emerge as normal, but do not add the packages to the world file
for later updating.
--onlydeps (-o)
Only merge (or pretend to merge) the dependencies of the pack‐
ages specified, not the packages themselves.
--package-moves [ y | n ]
Perform package moves when necessary. This option is enabled by
default. Package moves are typically applied immediately after a
--sync action. They are applied in an incremental fashion, using
only the subset of the history of package moves which have been
added or modified since the previous application of package
moves.
WARNING: This option should remain enabled under normal circum‐
stances. Do not disable it unless you know what you are doing.
NOTE: The fixpackages(1) command can be used to exhaustively
apply the entire history of package moves, regardless of whether
or not any of the package moves have been previously applied.
--pkg-format
Specify which binary package format will be created as target.
Possible choices now are tar and rpm or their combinations.
--prefix=DIR
Set the EPREFIX environment variable.
--pretend (-p)
Instead of actually performing the merge, simply display what
*would* have been installed if --pretend weren't used. Using
--pretend is strongly recommended before installing an unfamil‐
iar package. In the printout:
N new (not yet installed)
S new SLOT installation (side-by-side versions)
U updating (to another version)
D downgrading (best version seems lower)
r reinstall (forced for some reason, possibly due to slot or sub-slot)
R replacing (remerging same version)
F fetch restricted (must be manually downloaded)
f fetch restricted (already downloaded)
I interactive (requires user input)
B blocked by another package (unresolved conflict)
b blocked by another package (automatically resolved conflict)
--quiet [ y | n ] (-q short option)
Results may vary, but the general outcome is a reduced or con‐
densed output from portage's displays.
--quiet-build [ y | n ]
Redirect all build output to logs alone, and do not display it
on stdout. If a build failure occurs for a single package, the
build log will be automatically displayed on stdout (unless the
--quiet-fail option is enabled). If there are multiple build
failures (due to options like --keep-going or --jobs), then the
content of the log files will not be displayed, and instead the
paths of the log files will be displayed together with the cor‐
responding die messages. Note that interactive packages cur‐
rently force all build output to be displayed on stdout. This
issue can be temporarily avoided by specifying --accept-proper‐
ties=-interactive.
--quiet-fail [ y | n ]
Suppresses display of the build log on stdout when build output
is hidden due to options such as --jobs, --quiet, or
--quiet-build. Only the die message and the path of the build
log will be displayed on stdout.
--quiet-repo-display
In the package merge list display, suppress ::repository output,
and instead use numbers to indicate which repositories package
come from.
--quiet-unmerge-warn
Disable the warning message that's shown prior to --unmerge
actions. This option is intended to be set in the make.conf(5)
EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS variable.
--rebuild-if-new-slot [ y | n ]
Automatically rebuild or reinstall packages when slot/sub-slot
:= operator dependencies can be satisfied by a newer slot, so
that older packages slots will become eligible for removal by
the --depclean action as soon as possible. This option only
affects packages that specify slot/sub-slot := dependencies
which are supported beginning with EAPI 5. Since this option
requires checking of reverse dependencies, it enables --com‐
plete-graph mode whenever a new slot is installed. This option
is enabled by default.
NOTE: If you want to skip all rebuilds involving slot-operator
dependecies (including those that involve sub-slot changes
alone), then --ignore-built-slot-operator-deps=y is the option
that you are looking for, since --rebuild-if-new-slot does not
affect rebuilds triggered by sub-slot changes alone.
--rebuild-if-new-rev [ y | n ]
Rebuild packages when build-time dependencies are built from
source, if the dependency is not already installed with the same
version and revision.
--rebuild-if-new-ver [ y | n ]
Rebuild packages when build-time dependencies are built from
source, if the dependency is not already installed with the same
version. Revision numbers are ignored.
--rebuild-if-unbuilt [ y | n ]
Rebuild packages when build-time dependencies are built from
source.
--rebuilt-binaries [ y | n ]
Replace installed packages with binary packages that have been
rebuilt. Rebuilds are detected by comparison of BUILD_TIME pack‐
age metadata. This option is enabled automatically when using
binary packages (--usepkgonly or --getbinpkgonly) together with
--update and --deep.
--rebuilt-binaries-timestamp=TIMESTAMP
This option modifies emerge's behaviour only if --rebuilt-bina‐
ries is given. Only binaries that have a BUILD_TIME that is
larger than the given TIMESTAMP and that is larger than that of
the installed package will be considered by the rebuilt-binaries
logic.
--reinstall changed-use
This is an alias for --changed-use.
--reinstall-atoms ATOMS
A space separated list of package names or slot atoms. Emerge
will treat matching packages as if they are not installed, and
reinstall them if necessary.
--root=DIR
Set the ROOT environment variable.
--root-deps[=rdeps]
If no argument is given then build-time dependencies of packages
for ROOT are installed to ROOT instead of /. If the rdeps argu‐
ment is given then discard all build-time dependencies of pack‐
ages for ROOT. This option is only meaningful when used
together with ROOT and it should not be enabled under normal
circumstances!
Does not affect EAPIs that support HDEPEND. Experimental EAPI
5-hdepend provides HDEPEND as a new means to adjust installation
into "/" and ROOT. If ebuilds using EAPIs which do not support
HDEPEND are built in the same emerge run as those using EAPIs
which do support HDEPEND, this option affects only the former.
--select [ y | n ] (-w short option)
Add specified packages to the world set (inverse of --oneshot).
This is useful if you want to use EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS to make
--oneshot behavior default.
--selective [ y | n ]
This is identical to the --noreplace option. Some options, such
as --update, imply --selective. Use --selective=n if you want
to forcefully disable --selective, regardless of options like
--changed-use, --newuse, --noreplace, or --update.
--skipfirst
This option is only valid when used with --resume. It removes
the first package in the resume list. Dependencies are recalcu‐
lated for remaining packages and any that have unsatisfied
dependencies or are masked will be automatically dropped. Also
see the related --keep-going option.
--tree (-t)
Shows the dependency tree for the given target by indenting
dependencies. This is only really useful in combination with
--emptytree or --update and --deep.
--unordered-display
By default the displayed merge list is sorted using the order in
which the packages will be merged. When --tree is used together
with this option, this constraint is removed, hopefully leading
to a more readable dependency tree.
--update (-u)
Updates packages to the best version available, which may not
always be the highest version number due to masking for testing
and development. Package atoms specified on the command line are
greedy, meaning that unspecific atoms may match multiple ver‐
sions of slotted packages.
--use-ebuild-visibility [ y | n ]
Use unbuilt ebuild metadata for visibility checks on built pack‐
ages.
--useoldpkg-atoms ATOMS
A space separated list of package names or slot atoms. Emerge
will prefer matching binary packages over newer unbuilt pack‐
ages.
--usepkg [ y | n ] (-k short option)
Tells emerge to use binary packages (from $PKGDIR) if they are
available, thus possibly avoiding some time-consuming compiles.
This option is useful for CD installs; you can export
PKGDIR=/mnt/cdrom/packages and then use this option to have
emerge "pull" binary packages from the CD in order to satisfy
dependencies.
--usepkgonly [ y | n ] (-K short option)
Tells emerge to only use binary packages (from $PKGDIR). All
the binary packages must be available at the time of dependency
calculation or emerge will simply abort. Portage does not use
$PORTDIR when calculating dependency information so all masking
information is ignored.
--verbose [ y | n ] (-v short option)
Tell emerge to run in verbose mode. Currently this flag causes
emerge to print out GNU info errors, if any, and to show the USE
flags that will be used for each package when pretending. The
following symbols are affixed to USE flags in order to indicate
their status:
Symbol Location Meaning
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
- prefix not enabled (either disabled or removed)
* suffix transition to or from the enabled state
% suffix newly added or removed
() circumfix forced, masked, or removed
{} circumfix state is bound to FEATURES settings
--verbose-conflicts
Make slot conflicts more verbose. Note that this may in some
cases output hundreds of packages for slot conflicts.
--verbose-main-repo-display
In the package merge list display, print ::repository even for
main repository.
--with-bdeps < y | n >
In dependency calculations, pull in build time dependencies that
are not strictly required. This defaults to ´n´ for installation
actions, meaning they will not be installed, and ´y´ for the
--depclean action, meaning they will not be removed. This set‐
ting can be added to EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS (see make.conf(5)) and
later overridden via the command line.
ENVIRONMENT OPTIONS
EPREFIX = [path]
Use EPREFIX to specify the target prefix to be used for merging
packages or ebuilds. This variable can be set via the --prefix
option or in make.conf(5) (the command line overrides other set‐
tings).
Defaults to the prefix where portage is currently installed.
ROOT = [path]
Use ROOT to specify the target root filesystem to be used for
merging packages or ebuilds. This variable can be set via the
--root option or in make.conf(5) (the command line overrides
other settings).
Defaults to /.
PORTAGE_CONFIGROOT = [path]
Use PORTAGE_CONFIGROOT to specify the location for various
portage configuration files (see FILES for a detailed list of
configuration files). This variable can be set via the --con‐
fig-root option.
Defaults to /.
OUTPUT
When utilizing emerge with the --pretend and --verbose flags, the out‐
put may be a little hard to understand at first. This section explains
the abbreviations.
[blocks B ] app-text/dos2unix ("app-text/dos2unix" is blocking
app-text/hd2u-0.8.0)
Dos2unix is Blocking hd2u from being emerged. Blockers are
defined when two packages will clobber each others files, or
otherwise cause some form of breakage in your system. However,
blockers usually do not need to be simultaneously emerged
because they usually provide the same functionality.
[ebuild N ] app-games/qstat-25c
Qstat is New to your system, and will be emerged for the first
time.
[ebuild NS ] dev-libs/glib-2.4.7
You already have a version of glib installed, but a 'new' ver‐
sion in a different SLOT is available.
[ebuild R ] sys-apps/sed-4.0.5
Sed 4.0.5 has already been emerged, but if you run the command,
then portage will Re-emerge the specified package (sed in this
case).
[ebuild F ] media-video/realplayer-8-r6
The realplayer package requires that you Fetch the sources manu‐
ally. When you attempt to emerge the package, if the sources
are not found, then portage will halt and you will be provided
with instructions on how to download the required files.
[ebuild f ] media-video/realplayer-8-r6
The realplayer package's files are already downloaded.
[ebuild U ] net-fs/samba-2.2.8_pre1 [2.2.7a]
Samba 2.2.7a has already been emerged and can be Updated to ver‐
sion 2.2.8_pre1.
[ebuild UD] media-libs/libgd-1.8.4 [2.0.11]
Libgd 2.0.11 is already emerged, but if you run the command,
then portage will Downgrade to version 1.8.4 for you.
This may occur if a newer version of a package has been masked
because it is broken or it creates a security risk on your sys‐
tem and a fix has not been released yet.
Another reason this may occur is if a package you are trying to
emerge requires an older version of a package in order to emerge
successfully. In this case, libgd 2.x is incompatible with
libgd 1.x. This means that packages that were created with
libgd 1.x will not compile with 2.x and must downgrade libgd
first before they can emerge.
[ebuild U ] sys-devel/distcc-2.16 [2.13-r1] USE="ipv6* -gtk -qt%"
Here we see that the make.conf variable USE affects how this
package is built. In this example, ipv6 optional support is
enabled and both gtk and qt support are disabled. The asterisk
following ipv6 indicates that ipv6 support was disabled the last
time this package was installed. The percent sign following qt
indicates that the qt option has been added to the package since
it was last installed. For information about all USE symbols,
see the --verbose option documentation above.
*Note: Flags that haven't changed since the last install are
only displayed when you use the --pretend and --verbose options.
Using the --quiet option will prevent all information from being
displayed.
[ebuild r U ] dev-libs/icu-50.1.1:0/50.1.1 [50.1-r2:0/50.1]
Icu 50.1-r2 has already been emerged and can be Updated to ver‐
sion 50.1.1. The r symbol indicates that a sub-slot change (from
50.1 to 50.1.1 in this case) will force packages having
slot-operator dependencies on it to be rebuilt (as libxml2 will
be rebuilt in the next example).
[ebuild rR ] dev-libs/libxml2-2.9.0-r1:2 USE="icu"
Libxml2 2.9.0-r1 has already been emerged, but if you run the
command, then portage will Re-emerge it in order to satisfy a
slot-operator dependency which forces it to be rebuilt when the
icu sub-slot changes (as it changed in the previous example).
[ebuild U *] sys-apps/portage-2.2.0_alpha6 [2.1.9.25]
Portage 2.1.9.25 is installed, but if you run the command, then
portage will upgrade to version 2.2.0_alpha6. In this case, the
* symbol is displayed, in order to indicate that version
2.2.0_alpha6 is masked by missing keyword. This type of masking
display is disabled by the --quiet option if the --verbose
option is not enabled simultaneously. The following symbols are
used to indicate various types of masking:
Symbol Mask Type
──────────────────────────
# package.mask
* missing keyword
~ unstable keyword
NOTE: The unstable keyword symbol (~) will not be shown in cases
in which the corresponding unstable keywords have been accepted
globally via ACCEPT_KEYWORDS.
NOTES You should almost always precede any package install or update
attempt with a --pretend install or update. This lets you see
how much will be done, and shows you any blocking packages that
you will have to rectify. This goes doubly so for the system
and world sets, which can update a large number of packages if
the portage tree has been particularly active.
You also want to typically use --update, which ignores packages that
are already fully updated but updates those that are not.
When you install a package with uninstalled dependencies and do not
explicitly state those dependencies in the list of parameters, they
will not be added to the world file. If you want them to be detected
for world updates, make sure to explicitly list them as parameters to
emerge.
USE variables may be specified on the command line to override those
specified in the default locations, letting you avoid using some depen‐
dencies you may not want to have. USE flags specified on the command
line are NOT remembered. For example, env USE="-X -gnome" emerge mc
will emerge mc with those USE settings (on Bourne-compatible shells you
may omit the env part). If you want those USE settings to be more per‐
manent, you can put them in /etc/portage/package.use instead.
If emerge--update @system or emerge--update @world fails with an
error message, it may be that an ebuild uses some newer feature not
present in this version of emerge. You can use emerge--update portage
to upgrade to the lastest version, which should support any necessary
new features.
MASKED PACKAGES
NOTE: Please use caution when using development packages. Problems and
bugs resulting from misusing masked packages drains Gentoo developer
time. Please be sure you are capable of handling any problems that may
ensue.
Masks in portage have many uses: they allow a testing period where the
packages can be used in live machines; they prevent the use of a pack‐
age when it will fail; and they mask existing packages that are broken
or could pose a security risk. Read below to find out how to unmask in
various cases. Also note that if you give emerge an ebuild, then all
forms of masking will be ignored and emerge will attempt to emerge the
package.
backtracking
When packages are masked for backtracking, it means that the
dependency resolver has temporarily masked them in order to
avoid dependency conflicts and/or unsatisfied dependencies. This
type of mask is typically accompanied by a message about a
missed package update which has been skipped in order to avoid
dependency conflicts and/or unsatisfied dependencies.
package.mask
The package.mask file primarily blocks the use of packages that
cause problems or are known to have issues on different systems.
It resides in /usr/portage/profiles.
CHOST Use the ACCEPT_CHOSTS variable in make.conf(5) to control CHOST
acceptance.
EAPI The EAPI variable in an ebuild(5) file is used to mask packages
that are not supported by the current version of portage. Pack‐
ages masked by EAPI can only be installed after portage has been
upgraded.
KEYWORDS
The KEYWORDS variable in an ebuild file is also used for masking
a package still in testing. There are architecture-specific
keywords for each package that let portage know which systems
are compatible with the package. Packages which compile on an
architecture, but have not been proven to be "stable", are
masked with a tilde (~) in front of the architecture name.
emerge examines the ACCEPT_KEYWORDS environment variable to
allow or disallow the emerging of a package masked by KEYWORDS.
To inform emerge that it should build these 'testing' versions
of packages, you should update your /etc/portage/pack‐
age.accept_keywords file to list the packages you want the
´testing´ version. See portage(5) for more information.
LICENSE
The LICENSE variable in an ebuild file can be used to mask pack‐
ages based on licensing restrictions. emerge examines the
ACCEPT_LICENSE environment variable to allow or disallow the
emerging of a package masked by LICENSE. See make.conf(5) for
information about ACCEPT_LICENSE, and see portage(5) for infor‐
mation about /etc/portage/package.license.
PROPERTIES
The PROPERTIES variable in an ebuild file can be used to mask
packages based on properties restrictions. emerge examines the
ACCEPT_PROPERTIES environment variable to allow or disallow the
emerging of a package masked by PROPERTIES. See make.conf(5) for
information about ACCEPT_PROPERTIES, and see portage(5) for
information about /etc/portage/package.properties. Use the
--accept-properties option to temporarily override ACCEPT_PROP‐
ERTIES.
RESTRICT
The RESTRICT variable in an ebuild file can be used to mask
packages based on RESTRICT tokens. emerge examines the
ACCEPT_RESTRICT environment variable to allow or disallow the
emerging of a package masked by RESTRICT. See make.conf(5) for
information about ACCEPT_RESTRICT, and see portage(5) for infor‐
mation about /etc/portage/package.accept_restrict. Use the
--accept-restrict option to temporarily override
ACCEPT_RESTRICT.
CONFIGURATION FILES
Portage has a special feature called "config file protection". The pur‐
pose of this feature is to prevent new package installs from clobbering
existing configuration files. By default, config file protection is
turned on for /etc and the KDE configuration dirs; more may be added in
the future.
When Portage installs a file into a protected directory tree like /etc,
any existing files will not be overwritten. If a file of the same name
already exists, Portage will change the name of the to-be-installed
file from 'foo' to ´._cfg0000_foo´. If ´._cfg0000_foo´ already exists,
this name becomes ´._cfg0001_foo´, etc. In this way, existing files are
not overwritten, allowing the administrator to manually merge the new
config files and avoid any unexpected changes.
In addition to protecting overwritten files, Portage will not delete
any files from a protected directory when a package is unmerged. While
this may be a little bit untidy, it does prevent potentially valuable
config files from being deleted, which is of paramount importance.
Protected directories are set using the CONFIG_PROTECT variable, nor‐
mally defined in make.globals. Directory exceptions to the CONFIG_PRO‐
TECTed directories can be specified using the CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK vari‐
able. To find files that need to be updated in /etc, type find /etc
-name '._cfg????_*'.
You can disable this feature by setting CONFIG_PROTECT="-*" in
make.conf(5). Then, Portage will mercilessly auto-update your config
files. Alternatively, you can leave Config File Protection on but tell
Portage that it can overwrite files in certain specific /etc subdirec‐
tories. For example, if you wanted Portage to automatically update your
rc scripts and your wget configuration, but didn't want any other
changes made without your explicit approval, you'd add this to
make.conf(5):
CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/wget /etc/rc.d"
Tools such as dispatch-conf, cfg-update, and etc-update are also avail‐
able to aid in the merging of these files. They provide interactive
merging and can auto-merge trivial changes.
REPORTING BUGS
Please report any bugs you encounter through our website:
http://bugs.gentoo.org/
Please include the output of emerge--info when you submit your bug
report.
AUTHORS
Daniel Robbins <drobbins@gentoo.org>
Geert Bevin <gbevin@gentoo.org>
Achim Gottinger <achim@gentoo.org>
Nicholas Jones <carpaski@gentoo.org>
Phil Bordelon <phil@thenexusproject.org>
Mike Frysinger <vapier@gentoo.org>
Marius Mauch <genone@gentoo.org>
Jason Stubbs <jstubbs@gentoo.org>
Brian Harring <ferringb@gmail.com>
Zac Medico <zmedico@gentoo.org>
Arfrever Frehtes Taifersar Arahesis <arfrever@apache.org>
FILES
Here is a common list of files you will probably be interested in. For
a complete listing, please refer to the portage(5) man page.
/usr/share/portage/config/sets/
Contains the default set configuration.
/var/lib/portage/world
Contains a list of all user-specified packages. You can safely
edit this file, adding packages that you want to be considered
in world set updates and removing those that you do not want to
be considered.
/var/lib/portage/world_sets
This is like the world file but instead of package atoms it con‐
tains packages sets which always begin with the @ character. Use
/etc/portage/sets/ to define user package sets.
/etc/portage/make.conf
Contains variables for the build process, overriding those in
make.globals.
/etc/portage/color.map
Contains variables customizing colors.
/etc/portage/sets/
Contains user package set definitions (see portage(5)).
/etc/dispatch-conf.conf
Contains settings to handle automatic updates/backups of config‐
uration files.
/etc/portage/make.profile/make.defaults
Contains profile-specific variables for the build process. Do
not edit this file.
/usr/portage/profiles/use.desc
Contains the master list of USE flags with descriptions of their
functions. Do not edit this file.
/etc/portage/make.profile/virtuals
Contains a list of default packages used to resolve virtual
dependencies. Do not edit this file.
/etc/portage/make.profile/packages
Contains a list of packages used for the base system. The sys‐
tem and world sets consult this file. Do not edit this file.
/usr/share/portage/config/make.globals
Contains the default variables for the build process. Do not
edit this file.
/var/log/emerge.log
Contains a log of all emerge output. This file is always
appended to, so if you want to clean it, you need to do so manu‐
ally.
/var/log/emerge-fetch.log
Contains a log of all the fetches in the previous emerge invoca‐
tion.
/var/log/portage/elog/summary.log
Contains the emerge summaries. Installs /etc/logrotate/elog-
save-summary.
SEE ALSOemerge--help, quickpkg(1), ebuild(1), ebuild(5), make.conf(5),
color.map(5), portage(5)
A number of helper applications reside in /usr/lib/portage/bin.
The app-portage/gentoolkit package contains useful scripts such as
equery (a package query tool).
Portage 2.2.8-r1 Aug 2013 EMERGE(1)
