Re: [gentoo-user] tif libraries being ignored

[Ted Miller]

Shawn Haggett wrote:
> On Mon, 12 Jan 2009 02:59:47 pm Ted Miller wrote:
>> Dale wrote:
>>> Ted Miller wrote:
>>> [snip]
>>>
>>>> Things work pretty well EXCEPT that the KDE based applications cannot
>>>> handle *.tif files.  I have the media-libs/tiff package emerged, but
>>>> for some reason the KDE subsystem does not seem to be using it.
>>>> I have run
>>>> emerge --update --deep --newuse world
>>>> revdep-rebuild
>>>> with no improvement
>>>>
>>>> Any insight into what I need to do to get this working will be greatly
>>>> appreciated.  Please be explicit (or include links to documentation)
>>>> if I have to do anything unusual, but I will be glad to send any
>>>> needed information to help you diagnose my problem.
>>>>
>>>> Ted Miller
>>>> Indiana, USA
>>> I would assume you have tiff in your USE line in make.conf?
>> [snip]
>>
>>> Just in case you missed that little detail.  ;-)
>> Yes, I missed that, and it did the trick (after re-emerging 11 packages,
>> including kde-libs).
>>
>> Where was it hidden, that I missed it?  Or is it just one of those things
>> "you have to learn"?  Seems like the tif package should add it, or tell me
>> to consider adding it, when the package is installed.
>>
>> Ted Miller
>
> Have a look at the documentation about USE flags. It's part of the Gentoo
> Handbook, in the section about working with Gentoo:
> http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=2&chap=2

I found that, and think I understand how it works, having had to put in 
several flags to get things working already.  However, most of what I have 
done so far has been in response to messages like (roughly): "Sorry, I 
can't compile Package A unless Package B is compiled with the XYZ flag. 
Please set flag, recompile B, then recompile A."

> Because you had the tiff flag turned off, Gentoo assumed you didn't want all
> those packages on your system to be linked against the tiff libraries (for
> whatever various reason). Therefore even though you installed the libraries,
> the packages themselves hadn't linked against them.

As a new user, what I need to know is: How do I find out that there is such 
a thing as a 'tiff' flag?  I could just as easily have checked for a 'tif' 
flag, and not known that it was 'tiff'.  Nothing told me that installing 
the library didn't do anything until I set the related flag.  Seems like 
either:
1. The library should set the flag itself (which not everyone wants to 
happen, as they may only want it for one package, not all) or
2. There should be a message after the emerge, kind of like the one that 
says (roughly) "You have 3 configuration files in /etc which need attention" or
3. There should be a list somewhere that is automatically maintained that 
says something like: "You have installed packages related to these flags. 
To get full benefit from these packages, consider adding these flags to 
either make.conf or to the make instructions for individual packages", and 
then list all the flags, maybe one package to a line, with that package's 
flags listed on the line after that package name, kind of like
qt-3: qt3
qt-4: qt4

> You might want to check your use flags for other media related flags,
> depending on which file formats you'll be using (off the top of my head there
> are a couple of flags for various picture formats).

Currently my make.conf contains: USE="-gtk -gnome qt3 qt4 kde dvd alsa cdr hal
exif -ipv6 X samba openexr tiff", but I wonder what else is missing, and 
how do
I find out?

I just ran 'equery uses gimp' and find flags like dbus lcms mmx mng pdf png 
sse svg and wmf that MAYBE I should set.  And how do I figure out which are 
gimp-only and which are widely used flags, and exactly what they do, 
without running 'equery hasuse dbus' for each flag on that list?

slightly confused,
Ted Miller

> Shawn