[gentoo-user] Re: Seeing USE flag descriptions for a package

[Nikos Chantziaras]

Stroller wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> When I install a new package I run `emerge -pv foo` to look at the USEs
> it supports.  In the past I have looked these up just by grepping, e.g.:
>
>   $ grep foo /usr/portage/profiles/use.*
>   /usr/portage/profiles/use.desc:foomaticdb - Adds support for the
> foomatic printing driver database
>   $
>
> However I have recently learned to use `euse -i foo` instead. This is
> much more convienient than grepping because one can use the Bash
> history: up-arrow, ctrl-w to delete the last word & type in or paste the
> name of the next USE to check it. However this is clumsy when you have a
> package (like mplayer) with many USE flags.
>
> What I would like to be able to do is:
>
>   $ $magicusecommand category/package
>   doc - Install HTML wxWidgets docs and wxpython API reference.
>   examples - Install interactive demo module browser and sample applets.
>   samba - Adds support for SAMBA (Windows File and Printer sharing)
>   $
>
> The command should print out the descriptions for ALL the USE flags
> supported by the category/package, but only for that category/package.
> Ideally it should show if they're currently enabled or not.
>
> I can't be the only person to desire this feature - surely there must be
> a package or command do do this. I can't find this in `man portage` as
> an advanced version of `emerge -pv package`. Can anyone tell me what
> $magicusecommand is called, please?

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