[gentoo-user] Adding a use flag: hwdb

[Chris Stankevitz]

Hello,

Background:

I enable USE flags by adding them to /etc/portage/package.use.  This
file is filled with all sorts of "personal preference customizations"
of my system.  This file does not contain "required system USE flags".

A month ago emerge insisted that I enable a USE flag
"ruby_targets_ruby19" to a bunch of packages on my system.  Feeling
uncomfortable adding a "system required" USE flag to package.use (vs
"personal preference customization"), I posted to this list and indeed
learned that I was going about it all wrong!  In that particular case,
I should have added 'RUBY_TARGETS="ruby18 ruby19"' to /etc/make.conf.
Actually, the Gentoo team should add this to the profile... presumably
they will eventually do this or have done so already.

Question:

Today emerge is asking me to add "=sys-fs/udev-171-r6 hwdb" to
package.use to appease udisk.  Just as before, this looks fishy to me
and I would like to get your opinion about how to properly satisfy
this seemingly system-required-use-flag.  My gut instinct is that this
USE flag requirement should be handled by the Gentoo team in the
profile or in some other place that I never look at.

What do you guys think?  Should I append "udev hwdb" to package.use
right after my long list of "personal preference customizations"?

Thank you,

Chris

PS: A snippet from my /etc/portage/package.use:

# Give a GUI to cmake
dev-util/cmake qt4

# Enable nice mounts in gnome
gnome-base/gvfs fuse

# Enable plotting in octave
sci-mathematics/octave gnuplot

# Enable GNOME right-click to create targz
app-arch/file-roller nautilus

# Satisfy a dependency I do not understand needed by a package I never heard of
=sys-fs/udev-171-r6 hwdb