From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org ([208.92.234.80] helo=lists.gentoo.org) by finch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1QLMyY-0007fa-3f for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Sat, 14 May 2011 22:06:18 +0000 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 4C3271C093; Sat, 14 May 2011 22:04:58 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-ww0-f53.google.com (mail-ww0-f53.google.com [74.125.82.53]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F263E1C093 for ; Sat, 14 May 2011 22:04:57 +0000 (UTC) Received: by wwj40 with SMTP id 40so3529945wwj.10 for ; Sat, 14 May 2011 15:04:57 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:from:to:subject:date:user-agent:references :in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding :message-id; bh=o+bKC8XSqp8aLzqys8xBNPmGAeyytbrdYWMuI1d/T2Q=; b=xy/ZedtS7b8pHgED8kTZhnH8SCBEYCywS/oeVBa8cLBsyuEiUJELqyH2ECO/1Upxoi CfSlyCSKSTcLGUL0xbrtjJThDrQ7aFUJSEufD49RhOfkryBm8zpyolsUF4CWsUuxQELv TWhctNGR1y6skZEnBasrvuGXfmj1j+khMcE2o= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=from:to:subject:date:user-agent:references:in-reply-to:mime-version :content-type:content-transfer-encoding:message-id; b=UWLoDfnsXnm2FkrJCxQ94edyHhE0jNMb5La75RuLT+IZ630Av6H+zK50eHcBfVKIVc sZHi1pW5AzvZDCTdubSCWlj3ONIZQ1KV55IclvvhiPJ21sQblEnu7h8jr1CT7W+SWgBj tJ9xK7SgLxyjmjPRBTWRJinuHcBJ7tkxU6WhI= Received: by 10.216.221.200 with SMTP id r50mr2926604wep.102.1305410697252; Sat, 14 May 2011 15:04:57 -0700 (PDT) Received: from nazgul.localnet (196-215-114-244.dynamic.isadsl.co.za [196.215.114.244]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id r29sm1802354weq.45.2011.05.14.15.04.55 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=OTHER); Sat, 14 May 2011 15:04:56 -0700 (PDT) From: Alan McKinnon To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] chicken <--> egg (NFS & tty video) Date: Sun, 15 May 2011 00:04:08 +0200 User-Agent: KMail/1.13.7 (Linux/2.6.38-ck-r1; KDE/4.6.3; x86_64; ; ) References: <20110514153629.GA3152@math.princeton.edu> <20110514212126.GA4824@linux1> In-Reply-To: <20110514212126.GA4824@linux1> Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: <201105150004.08815.alan.mckinnon@gmail.com> X-Archives-Salt: X-Archives-Hash: fd2f8967ca8700fa31bf6e834d646220 Apparently, though unproven, at 23:21 on Saturday 14 May 2011, William Hubbs did opine thusly: > On Sat, May 14, 2011 at 11:36:29AM -0400, Willie Wong wrote: > > There's no big harm, except that you may end up rebuilding a bunch of > > packages. One way to get a lot of hands-on control on precisely what > > USE you want it via the "-*" flag. But be VERY careful if you are > > going to use it. A USE variable set in /etc/make.conf starting with it > > > > USE="-* X vim ..." > > > > will use nothing but those variables (plus the package specific ones > > specified in /etc/portage). There are certain flags that you most > > likely don't want to turn off: cxx, posix, and threads for example. > > > > It is a powerful tool; which means you can also seriously hurt > > yourself from it. > > PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS. > > It turns off all use flags set in profiles as well as use flag defaults > set in ebuilds. > > The safer way, and the way I would recommend, is to use something like > euse from gentoolkit to figure out which flags are on and turn off the > ones you do not want in make.conf instead of turning off everything and > trying to turn back on the ones you do want. Agreed. "emerge --info | grep USE" reveals what an enormous task it is to fix USE=-*. Not only an enormous task but a fruitless one too - most of the flags will just get re-enabled! Most people advocating this on list threads and forums, want a minimal system without all the KDE/Gnome/etc bloat. The correct way to do that is to use a minimal profile then examine the now much smaller emerge --info and disabled the few remiaining USE flags one does not want. -- alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com