[gentoo-user] Building packages in different prefix without rebuilding system packages

[François-Xavier Carton]

Hi,

Is there a way of installing packages in a different prefix while still
using system packages? I've tried setting EPREFIX, however doing that
will install all dependencies in the prefix, even if there are already
installed in the system.

I was hoping to install some packages in user directories, but I also
don't want to duplicate the packages installed globally. For example,
most packages eventually depend on gcc, which I definitely don't want to
compile twice. So ideally, only dependencies that are not installed
globally should be pulled in.

I was not able to find a way of doing that, but I feel like it shouldn't
be too hard, because EPREFIX almost does what I want. Does someone know
if it's possible without too much tweaking?

Thanks,
-François-Xavier