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On 30 Aug 2009, at 18:23, Harry Putnam wrote: |
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> ... |
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>> "USE=<thing>" is supposed to add *support* for <thing>, not |
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>> necessarily *install* something called <thing>. Whatever <thing> |
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>> means in the context of a specific ebuild depends on what the ebuild |
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>> is for, and different ebuilds with the same USE flag may have |
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>> entirely different DEPEND stanzas, depending on how the package is |
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>> written and what it needs to build/run. |
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> |
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> But wouldn't having the gnome use flag active cause updates to pull in |
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> stuff that may not be necessary for the one or two gnome based tools |
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> $user wants? |
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The way I tend to perceive USE flags is that they generally "add |
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compatibility" or add "extra options". |
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So if you emerge mplayer the "dvd" USE flag adds DVD compatibility & |
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support to mplayer. At one time I used a wifi driver which had an "X" |
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USE flag - adding that installed a GUI utility for configuring the |
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driver, if it was omitted then one would simply edit text files "in |
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the normal way". |
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If you add these USE flags and install packages that use them, then, |
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yes, the USE flag may add dependencies and cause additional packages |
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to be installed. But simply adding a USE flag won't _on its own_ |
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install additional packages - you have to run emerge before they're |
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drawn in, and you get to review the dependencies at that time. |
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You might find that if YOU added "USE=gnome" to your make.conf and |
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reinstalled world that a whole load of extra gnome packages would be |
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installed. But probably not as much as installing the whole gnome-base/ |
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gnome. The thing is that people who WANT gnome will probably already |
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have installed gnome-base/gnome and games-mud/gnome-mud and gnome- |
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extra/gnome-web-photo and gnome-foo/bar - for them adding the gnome |
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USE flag and emerging mplayer may not install any additional packages |
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(because they already have so many gnomish packages installed that the |
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dependencies are already satisfied) but simply add a simple GUI for |
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mplayer and an entry in the Gnome start menu. |
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I hope this clarifies, but I apologise if I'm explaining in a way that |
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makes sense only to me. |
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I tend to add USE flags to make.conf for stuff I'm likely to use all |
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the time - support for tiff and jpeg, for instance. Then I consider |
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other USE flags on a package-by-package basis (`emerge -pv package`). |
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I may add -truetype to package.use if it indicates that loads of X11 |
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type dependencies will be installed on my headless server, but |
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generally I don't worry too much about one or three additional small |
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packages being installed as dependencies - I like Gentoo because it's |
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small & lean & fast, but it's generally that way, anyway, and most |
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packages in the tree add little overhead. |
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Stroller. |
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