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Hi! |
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After looking at Gentoo last week I have to say it's really a cool |
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distribution. I've some suggestions (some that might already be in |
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there but I've missed them). |
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* Wouldn't it be better for /etc/make.* to be named /etc/ebuild.* or |
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something. I guess /etc/make.* comes from *BSD? If so renaming to |
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ebuild (or portage.*) would better reflect the package system used |
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in Gentoo. |
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|
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* Possibility to specify own mirrors for certain packages, like for |
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example all GNOME/KDE/X packages. Could look like: |
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in /etc/make.conf: |
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GNOME_MIRROR="ftp://.../" |
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X_MIRROR="ftp://.../" |
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|
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then the package maintainers use |
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SRC_URI="${GNOME_MIRROR}/${A}" |
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* Possibility to specify own prefixes for certain packages |
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in /etc/make.conf: |
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GNOME_PREFIX="/usr/local/gnome" |
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in a package use: |
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|
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try ./configure --prefix=${GNOME_PREFIX} |
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* A really great feature would be to be able to override certain |
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ebuilds in the portage tree without corrupting the original portage |
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tree. I was thinking that perhaps one could specify a path to your |
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own portage tree and packages in that tree would override the |
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packages in /usr/portage. An example. |
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|
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in /etc/make.conf: |
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LOCAL_PORTAGE="/usr/local/portage" |
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emerge /usr/portage/x11-libs/gtk+/gtk+-1.2.10-r1.ebuild (which |
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depends on >= dev-libs/glib-1.2.10. |
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|
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Now portage looks in ${LOCAL_PORTAGE}/dev-libs/glib/ to see if it |
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finds a package fullfilling the dependency. If it does it uses that |
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ebuild-script instead (perhaps we can add a possibility to be asked |
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if you really want that, like: |
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Found a matching ebuild in ${LOCAL_PORTAGE}... do you want to use |
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that instead [y/n]. This can be configured in /etc/make.conf (with |
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ASK_LOCAL="yes/no". |
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This feature would really make Gentoo a superior developer platform |
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since it'll enable a developer to use there own versions (or as me, |
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use a local cvs copy of a package) of certain packages without |
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corrupting the original portage tree. |
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It will also be transparent for the ordinary user, since if you |
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haven't specified a LOCAL_PORTAGE there isn't any changes in |
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behaviour from now. |
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If you want to discuss these suggestions with me I'm Hallski on IRC. |
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Regards, |
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Mikael Hallendal |
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|
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-- |
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Mikael Hallendal micke@×××××××××××.se |
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CodeFactory AB http://www.codefactory.se/ |
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Office: +46 (0)8 587 583 05 Cell: +46 (0)709 718 918 |
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