On Saturday 14 May 2011 16:07:33 Felix Miata wrote:

> Does [1] default/linux/x86/10.0 from 'eselect profile list' amount to a
> "minimal" install (no X)? If so, is there any reason not to switch to it
> instead of setting -vlc, and then later when actually ready to enable X,
> switching back to kde?

If you want the full KDE then select the kde desktop profile.  If you instead 
want a slimmer, generic desktop you can consider:

$ ls -la /etc/make.profile
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 56 Dec 16 15:00 /etc/make.profile -> 
../usr/portage/profiles/default/linux/amd64/10.0/desktop

This is what I use and the vlc USE flag is not set by it as a default:

$ euse -i vlc
global use flags (searching: vlc)
************************************************************
no matching entries found

local use flags (searching: vlc)
************************************************************
[-    ] vlc (media-libs/phonon):
Install VLC Phonon backend


> What is the [7] hardened/linux/x86 profile, or better yet, the incantation
> to get descriptions descriptions of all the available targets?

Have a look under /usr/portage/profiles/targets/*

You want to look at the make.default files in there for each respective 
profile.

-- 
Regards,
Mick