Re: [gentoo-user] Re: This nite's switch to "full multilib"

[Rich Freeman]

On Thu, Apr 2, 2015 at 11:37 AM, Grant Edwards
<grant.b.edwards@×××××.com> wrote:
>
> I prefer it this way.  I do not want all the nice easy-to read/edit
> configuration stuff in /etc/portage encrypted some Windows Registry
> break-alike.

Nobody is proposing any changes to the format of package.use.

The only proposal is that users shouldn't HAVE to specify every
individual package use flag there if they just want the defaults.

You do realize that this is EXACTLY how portage already behaves for
installed packages, right?  Portage keeps track of what is installed,
and it doesn't go into the nice easy-to read/edit
/var/lib/portage/world file.  You tell portage what you want, and
portage gives it to you.  That is all that is being suggested here.
If you want libxml2 built with USE=icu, go ahead and put that in
/etc/portage/package.use.  If you don't know what libxml2 is, or what
icu is, then don't do anything and portage will install libxml2 with
USE=icu if it needs to.

The alternative is what I have now - a 1200 line package.keywords file
that tells portage to build half the system 32-bit, when I could care
less about all that stuff being 32-bit once I uninstall whatever
package is making it that way, but portage will continue to build it
all 32-bit because there is no in-between.

-- 
Rich