[gentoo-releng] USE flags and stages 1 and 2

[Chris Gianelloni]

I'm starting to get more and more bugs from users whom have decided,
against the recommendation of those of us in Release Engineering, to do
a stage1 or stage2 installation using their custom USE flags, and
finding that their installation is unable to complete properly.  The
problem stems from more and more packages adding more and more USE
flags.  We already recommend that all users perform a stage3
installation, but this doesn't appear to be enough to resolve the
problem.  What it really boils down to is the inability for us to test
with all of the possible USE flag combinations and ever get a release
out the door.

As it stands, I only see a few options, none of which sound very good:

1.  Only release stage3 tarballs
2.  Inform users that only stage3 will be supported
3.  Change the documentation to recommend users not change USE flags
until after the completion of "emerge -e system"

In pretty much every case, the real answer is "quit using stage1 if you
don't know what you're doing" but unfortunately, we're going to get the
pointless "but Gentoo is about choice" "argument" that really has no
bearing on the truth of what is Gentoo.  Gentoo is *not* about choice.
Gentoo is about empowering the user to make the system as he sees fit.
This means there is a certain expectation that when you start fiddling
with stuff, you're going to pick up the pieces on your own.  At any
rate, the problem is only going to get worse as more and more USE flags
are added.

What can we do to curb this problem?

-- 
Chris Gianelloni
Release Engineering - Strategic Lead
x86 Architecture Team
Games - Developer
Gentoo Linux