On Sunday 16 November 2003 09:26, Oliver Lange wrote: > Jason Stubbs wrote: > > Emacs is probably still listed in /var/cache/edb/virtuals. > > Yes, it is. What exactly is that file for ? There's > not a single line of comment in the 'virtuals' file; > what happens if i manually modify the file (add/remove > something), and what happens with the file after an > emerge sync ?
Things like vcron require a text editor - any old text editor will do but it needs an editor. Therefor in the vcron ebuild you'll find DEPEND="virtual/editor" and in the nano, emacs, vi and many other ebuilds you'll find PROVIDE="virtual/editor". All the other virtuals list the same way. The file is apparently meant to list installed packages that provide certain behaviour. The format of virtuals' file contents is: <virtual/package> <providing/package> [<providing/package> ...] e.g virtual/editor app-editors/nano app-editors/emacs I don't believe the file is touched during an rsync. emerge uses it when calculating the dependency tree. Any package that is listed against a virtual that is not installed will be marked as required. If an installed package depends on a virtual that is not listed in virtuals, then a default will be taken from /etc/make.profile/virtuals. When unmerging a package, if all slotted versions are removed I believe the package should be removed from the virtuals file but it seems that in most (every?) cases it is being left behind. So to fix your problem, you can just remove the reference to app-editors/emacs from virtuals. If it is the only package providing virtual/editor, then replace app-editors/emacs with the editor of your choice. Jason -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list
