On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 07:09:29AM -0500, Michael Mol wrote > On Jan 17, 2013 3:35 AM, "Dirkjan Ochtman" <d...@gentoo.org> wrote: > > > > On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 3:23 AM, Walter Dnes <waltd...@waltdnes.org> > wrote: > > > If someone wants a *REALLY* basic system, they can start off with > > > USE="-*" and add on stuff as necessary when portage complains and/or > > > ebuilds break. That's what I'd recommend to someone wanting to set up a > > > "basic server" machine. > > > > Yeah, but that sucks with USE_EXPAND. For example, I sure want some > > version of Python installed, but setting USE="-*" removes all support > > for Python versions and has me add them one by one. I guess I could do > > that, but now I always have to keep up to date myself, which sucks. > > My thought is that base should have just enough enabled for stage3 to be > self-hosting. Moving existing base to something like "common" would retain > a profile for that "most people would want this" set.
On a lark, I once tried the "default/linux/x86/10.0" profile for a re-install on my netbook without "-*". I soon ended up with more "-" entries in make.conf and package.use, than I have add-on entries when using "-*". And I was only half-way through installing the apps I normally use. I went back to "-*". -- Walter Dnes <waltd...@waltdnes.org> I don't run "desktop environments"; I run useful applications
