Re: [gentoo-user] using package.provided

[Neil Bothwick]

On Thu, 21 Dec 2006 19:36:59 +0200, Uwe Thiem wrote:

> > package.provided is intended for use when you install something
> > without portage - it's your way of telling portage the package is
> > installed even though it's not in the database.
>
> What is that good for? Say I write my own app (like the one my
> signature refers to) and install it system-wide without creating an
> ebuild, what does it change if I put it into package.provided? I mean
> portage doesn't know anything about it either way.

It changes nothing in that case, but that's not what it is for.
package.provided is for use when a package is in portage but you have
chosen to install it independently. Say package A depends on package B,
but you don;t want package B installed through portage (maybe you want
the latest CVS version). Portage would then try to install the older
package B because it thinks it needs it to satisfy package A's
dependencies. All package.provided does is tell portage "you may not see
it in your database but cate-gory/packageb-x.y.z is installed".

package.provided is potentially dangerous because portage is now basing
its decisions on what you tell it is installed rather than what it knows
is installed, you are overriding the normal dependency checks. If package
A is incompatible with the later package B, portage won't know and
problems may surface later.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Isn't 'Criminal Lawyer' rather redundant?