[gentoo-dev] per package settings (proposal?)

[Denys Duchier]

Hi devs,

Correct me if I am mistaken, but, as far as I know, there is no
convenient way to accept ~arch on a per package basis.  I have seen
this issue frequently raised, and I certainly encounter the problem
regularly on my own Gentoo installation, but I have not seen a
proposal to address it.  ACCEPT_KEYWORDS=~arch unfortunately also
affects recursive dependencies.  Personally, I find the situation very
painful.

A related issue are per package USE flags, or more generally per
package settings.

Here is an idea (perhaps it has already been suggested, in which case
please point me to right place):

Just like we now have /etc/portage/package.unmask, lets also have:

                      /etc/portage/package.env

It would consist of "hunks".  Each hunk start with a package selection
condition and the following lines consist of variable assignments.  To
reliably identify the start of a hunk let's say that there must be an
asterisk in column 0.  So a hunk might look for example like:

* >=category/package-version
var1=val1
var2=val2
...
varn=valn

for simplicity, I suggest either of the following semantics:

1. either, only the first matching hunk applies to a particular ebuild
2. or, all matching hunks apply (last setting for a variable wins)

I prefer option 1.

A particularly useful application would be:

* >=category/package-version
ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~x86"
USE="..."

Obviously, the idea would be that the variables settings would only
apply for (have scope over) the specific ebuild, not over its
dependencies.

Is this foolish? already done? in the works? worth doing?

Cheers,

-- 
Dr. Denys Duchier
Équipe Calligramme
LORIA, Nancy, FRANCE

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