On Sun, Jun 26, 2005 at 09:39:15AM +0100, Neil Bothwick wrote > Bit I think you're missing the point. These are DEFAULTS, if you > really don't want any unnecessary GNOME packages installed, you > should be specifically including -gnome in /etc/make.conf.
The point which I'm trying to make, and everybody else seems to be missing, is that *THE DEFAULTS ARE CONSTANTLY CHANGING UNDER OUR FEET*. Several weeks ago, I didn't have to put -gnome in USE in /etc/make.conf. Now I do. Several months ago, I didn't have to put -ipv6 in USE. Now I do. What's going to be added to the defaults next week or next month? I don't like the idea of an "anti-USE definition" that needs constant checking and updating like a Windows anti-virus definition. Here's what /usr/portage/profiles/default-linux/x86/make.defaults has accumulated over the years to date... USE="alsa apm arts avi berkdb bitmap-fonts crypt cups emboss encode fortran foomaticdb gdbm gif gnome gpm gtk gtk2 imlib ipv6 jpeg kde libg++ libwww mad mikmod motif mp3 mpeg ncurses nls oggvorbis opengl oss pam pdflib perl png python qt quicktime readline sdl spell ssl tcpd truetype truetype-fonts type1-fonts X xml2 xmms xv zlib" Is all this *REALLY* necessary, folks? Now we know why people trying to build a minimal Gentoo have problems cutting it down to size. There is mention of a use.mask file in man and on Gentoo, but that gets overwritten too. The ideal solution would be "-*" followed by just the flags that I want in /etc/make.conf. Is that syntax legal? Another question, does GRP_STAGE23_USE apply to stage 2 and 3 for all users, including those who started with stage 1? -- Walter Dnes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> My musings on technology and security at http://tech_sec.blog.ca -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list