[gentoo-user] Cleaner USE variable in /etc/make.conf

[gentoo-user] Cleaner USE variable in /etc/make.conf

[Walter Dnes]

  I have a long USE variable (starts with "-*", so I enter stuff
manually.  At one point it got to be something like...

USE="-* 3dnow X a52 aac alsa bitmap-fonts bzip2 cdr dga dio divx4linux dri dvd dvdr dvdread encode exif ffmpeg flac fortran gb gif gtk2 imlib jpeg maildir mikmod mime mmap mmx mng mp3 mpeg ncurses nptl nptlonly nsplugin offensive ogg opengl plotutils png posix quicktime readline sdl sharedmem slang sockets sse sse2 theora threads tiff truetype truetype-fonts type1-fonts vcd vorbis win32codecs wmf xpm xv zlib"

  BLEAGH!  I've now broken it up into logical groupings...

USE_cpu="3dnow mmx sse sse2"
USE_font="bitmap-fonts truetype-fonts type1-fonts"
USE_gui="X dga dri gtk2 opengl sdl xv"
USE_multimedia="a52 aac alsa divx4linux encode exif ffmpeg flac gif jpeg mikmod
mng mp3 mpeg ogg png quicktime theora tiff vcd vorbis win32codecs wmf xpm"
USE_misc="bzip2 cdr dio dvd dvdr dvdread fortran gb imlib maildir mime mmap ncurses nptl nptlonly nsplugin offensive plotutils posix readline sharedmem slang sockets threads zlib"

  which is followed by...

USE="-* ${USE_cpu} ${USE_font} ${USE_gui} ${USE_multimedia} ${USE_misc}"

  My USE variable still ends up with the same information, but I have an
easier time editing it.  The only question I have is whether there are
any groups of reserved variable names /etc/make.conf, so that I don't
screw up system variables.

  This won't be the final config.  I'm trying to figure out a logical
way to break up "USE_multimedia", but I run into programs like mplayer
that work with audio, video, and still images.  "USE_misc" will always
be a candidate for taking stuff out.

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[gentoo-user] Re: Cleaner USE variable in /etc/make.conf

[James]

Walter Dnes <waltdnes <at> waltdnes.org> writes:


>   BLEAGH!  I've now broken it up into logical groupings...

USE_cpu="3dnow mmx sse sse2"
USE_font="bitmap-fonts truetype-fonts type1-fonts"
USE_gui="X dga dri gtk2 opengl sdl xv"
USE_multimedia="a52 aac alsa divx4linux encode exif ffmpeg flac 
gif jpeg mikmod mng mp3 mpeg ogg png quicktime theora tiff vcd 
vorbis win32codecs wmf xpm"
USE_misc="bzip2 cdr dio dvd dvdr dvdread fortran gb imlib maildir 
mime mmap ncurses nptl nptlonly nsplugin offensive plotutils 
posix readline sharedmem slang sockets threads zlib"
>


I too, have many, many flags set. I broke mine up sime time ago, but
I did not 'characterize' them as you have done. I find this a most
excellent idea.

Some time ago Cirian M. posted this little nugget to help one quickly 
determine the meaning/purpose of flags. I put it in my bashrc file:

# USE flag settings  by Ciaran McCreesh:
explainuseflag(){ sed -ne "s,^\([^ ]*:\)\?$1 - ,,p" $(portageq
portdir)/profiles/use.{,local.}desc; }
alias ef="explainuseflag"


>   which is followed by...
> USE="-* ${USE_cpu} ${USE_font} ${USE_gui} ${USE_multimedia} ${USE_misc}"

What exactly are you hoping to be able to do with these constructs?
(sorry, I'm missing the point of these constructs).

> My USE variable still ends up with the same information, but I have an
> easier time editing it.  The only question I have is whether there are
> any groups of reserved variable names /etc/make.conf, so that I don't
> screw up system variables.

I ran across some reserved words some time ago. But I did not save the
URl... It might be prudent to discover the most recent system (default) 
flags as they have most recently changed.


> This won't be the final config.  I'm trying to figure out a logical
> way to break up "USE_multimedia", but I run into programs like mplayer
> that work with audio, video, and still images. 

Aren't all of these 'multimedia'? I sense you are looking for 
a cleaner breakdown of flag groups to avoid the largess of a
'multimedia' category. But that is subjective and difficult.
Think about it, I can have jpeg images and then motion jpeg
video. But, the flags may effect the performance of both
technolgies in yet differenent software packages. That's why
the term multimedia is so prevalent. My only real suggestion
is look at the collection of flags you have and derive a breakdown
that works for the (current) flags you have. It will be subjective
and highly dependent on your selected flags to come up with small
categories. Maybe you can break it up like this:

# Multimedia
"USE_mplayer"
"USE_ffmpeg"
"USE_audio"
"USE_video-players"

Where your selected categories are not so rigid as audio, stills,
video, etc....?

> "USE_misc" will always be a candidate for taking stuff out.

"USE_Apache"
or
"USE_db" might be appropriate on some systems?

Indeed, even the other groups will expand/contract as time 
progresses. All in all, you have take steps that I have often
thought about, but, have deferred expenditures of time on. I'm 
interested to follow progression of your ideas.

On as similar note, I have extensive settings in the /etc/portage
files, particularly on those servers and workstations with 
multimeida. What I have done to keep some form of sanity, in those
files, is to have a core group of entries that are common to many
of the gentoo systems I manage. Then each system in each of the
files {package.keywords, package.use, etc} have a section that
is unique, i.e. different from the other system but are semi-permanent
settings. At the top of these files, there is a section where the
entries are tenuous or experimental......

Do post your progress and thoughts as I find it interesting
to the point of motivational for my ever-expanding world
of gentoo system support. Logical organization of all things
multimedia, is a challenge, methinks.


James




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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Cleaner USE variable in /etc/make.conf

[Michael Crute]

On 7/11/06, James <wireless@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
> Maybe you can break it up like this:
>
> # Multimedia
> "USE_mplayer"
> "USE_ffmpeg"
> "USE_audio"
> "USE_video-players"
>
> Where your selected categories are not so rigid as audio, stills,
> video, etc....?
>

But doesn't this idea kind of circumvent the package.use file?

-Mike

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________________________________
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http://mike.crute.org

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up where I intended to be. --Douglas Adams
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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Cleaner USE variable in /etc/make.conf

[Dale]

Michael Crute wrote:
> On 7/11/06, James <wireless@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
>> Maybe you can break it up like this:
>>
>> # Multimedia
>> "USE_mplayer"
>> "USE_ffmpeg"
>> "USE_audio"
>> "USE_video-players"
>>
>> Where your selected categories are not so rigid as audio, stills,
>> video, etc....?
>>
>
> But doesn't this idea kind of circumvent the package.use file?
>
> -Mike
>

I'm pretty sure the package.use file overrides the make.conf file so it
shouldn't matter.

Dale
:-)  :-)
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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Cleaner USE variable in /etc/make.conf

[Cláudio Henrique]

i use "euse" to manage them. these constructs are not supported, unfortunetely.

On 7/11/06, Dale <teendale@vista-express.com> wrote:
> Michael Crute wrote:
> > On 7/11/06, James <wireless@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
> >> Maybe you can break it up like this:
> >>
> >> # Multimedia
> >> "USE_mplayer"
> >> "USE_ffmpeg"
> >> "USE_audio"
> >> "USE_video-players"
> >>
> >> Where your selected categories are not so rigid as audio, stills,
> >> video, etc....?
> >>
> >
> > But doesn't this idea kind of circumvent the package.use file?
> >
> > -Mike
> >
>
> I'm pretty sure the package.use file overrides the make.conf file so it
> shouldn't matter.
>
> Dale
> :-)  :-)
> --
> gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
>
>
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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Cleaner USE variable in /etc/make.conf

[Walter Dnes]

On Tue, Jul 11, 2006 at 07:13:12PM +0000, James wrote
> Walter Dnes <waltdnes <at> waltdnes.org> writes:
> 
> >   which is followed by...
> > USE="-* ${USE_cpu} ${USE_font} ${USE_gui} ${USE_multimedia} ${USE_misc}"
> 
> What exactly are you hoping to be able to do with these constructs?
> (sorry, I'm missing the point of these constructs).

  This is a convenience thing for when I manually edit USE.  That's all.
I have this thing about commandlines/declarations/whatever that wrap
around the edge of the screen.

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org> In linux /sbin/init is Job #1
My musings on technology and security at http://tech_sec.blog.ca
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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Cleaner USE variable in /etc/make.conf

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Wed, 12 Jul 2006 19:56:36 -0400, Walter Dnes wrote:

>   This is a convenience thing for when I manually edit USE.  That's all.
> I have this thing about commandlines/declarations/whatever that wrap
> around the edge of the screen.

You can use backslashes to continue the USE declaration over several
lines, but I do like your idea. Another possibility may be to put your
USE flags in a separate file, one per line with comments to label each
group, and put USE="$(grep -v ^# /etc/use.conf)" in make.conf.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Miracle worker, Doctor! I'm a dammit, not a jim.. no, scratch that...

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Re: [gentoo-user] Cleaner USE variable in /etc/make.conf

[Peter Kelly]

On Tuesday 11 July 2006 06:04, Walter Dnes wrote:
>   I have a long USE variable (starts with "-*", so I enter stuff
> manually.  At one point it got to be something like...
>
> USE="-* 3dnow X a52 aac alsa bitmap-fonts bzip2 cdr dga dio divx4linux dri
> dvd dvdr dvdread encode exif ffmpeg flac fortran gb gif gtk2 imlib jpeg
> maildir mikmod mime mmap mmx mng mp3 mpeg ncurses nptl nptlonly nsplugin
> offensive ogg opengl plotutils png posix quicktime readline sdl sharedmem
> slang sockets sse sse2 theora threads tiff truetype truetype-fonts
> type1-fonts vcd vorbis win32codecs wmf xpm xv zlib"
>
>   BLEAGH!  I've now broken it up into logical groupings...
>
> USE_cpu="3dnow mmx sse sse2"
> USE_font="bitmap-fonts truetype-fonts type1-fonts"
> USE_gui="X dga dri gtk2 opengl sdl xv"
> USE_multimedia="a52 aac alsa divx4linux encode exif ffmpeg flac gif jpeg
> mikmod mng mp3 mpeg ogg png quicktime theora tiff vcd vorbis win32codecs
> wmf xpm" USE_misc="bzip2 cdr dio dvd dvdr dvdread fortran gb imlib maildir
> mime mmap ncurses nptl nptlonly nsplugin offensive plotutils posix readline
> sharedmem slang sockets threads zlib"
>
>   which is followed by...
>
> USE="-* ${USE_cpu} ${USE_font} ${USE_gui} ${USE_multimedia} ${USE_misc}"
>
Glad to see that using "-*" made your life easier.

Peter

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depravity, the *one* great instinct for revenge for which no expedient
is sufficiently poisonous, secret, subterranean, *petty* -- I call it
the *one* mortal blemish of mankind."
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