Re: [gentoo-user] using package.provided

[Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk>]

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On Thu, 21 Dec 2006 10:04:33 -0600, reader@newsguy.com wrote:

> [...]
>   Archive a portage tree by all means. But if an ebuild is removed that
> a user want to keep, the solution is so simple it's amazing. Copy the 
>   ebuild to /usr/local/portage in the correct directory structure. I 
>   maintain my own enlightenment-17 ebuilds, so to start I did this:
> 
>   mkdir -p /usr/local/portage/x11-wm
>   cp -ar /usr/portage/x11-wm/e /usr/local/portage/x11-wm
> 
>   Run emerge. Simple as that. You might need to add an entry to 
>   package.mask so that portage won't use later versions in the main
> tree but that's all part of normal gentoo usage anyway.
> [...]
> 
> In the event user runs with ~ARCHITECTURE flag set then masking won't
> do it... right?

Wrong. Package masking is independent of keyword masking. Adding an atom
to package.mask will mask all matching versions, no matter what their
keywords.

> So my understanding is that user needs to set something in:
>   /etc/portage/profile/package.provided showing an equal or higher
> version number than what is available in portage (masked or not).
> (To maintain users own package)

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.

> I ask because setting a higher version number might eventually need
> bumping still higher... or if versioning changes somehow will `higher'
> not be noticed.

If an installed package requires a higher version than you have
installed, then it needs it. Lying to portage about the version you have
installed won't fix that, it just delays the breakage until later.
Masking on the other had, produces a civilised error message telling you
that package A needs package B greater than version N, and that it is
masked.

> Looking for a way not to have to check package.provided to make sure
> versioning is still good.

While package.provided does have some genuine uses, one of its main
functions is to provide people who don't fully understand it with a simple
way of producing hard to diagnose system breakages :(


-- 
Neil Bothwick

WinErr 010: Reserved for future mistakes by our developers

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