How to tell which USE flags I need/shouldn't have?

convict

Well, I'm installing Gentoo first-time, and I'm kinda stuck setting my USE flags... is there any guideline as to what I should add and what I shouldn't be putting on (includes -prefix)? I've more or less been reading through the Global USE flags list looking for things I might need and things that I definitely don't need/want, and as a result I have 3 lines in my make.conf for USE only... I feel it's just a little too much.

For example, I plan on going with KDE desktop, so I now have kde, qt4, -gnome, -gtk, -gtkhtml. I want my DVD/CD drives working properly, so I added dvd, dvdr, cdr. I want as many multimedia formats supported across all programs, so I added mp3, mp4, mpeg, flac; I also want other media formats and games to work properly so I put jpeg, jpeg2k, openal, alsa in there as well. Then I have several things that I though I'd probably need, such as libnotify, cups, acpi, plasma, bash-completion... (there are few others in addition to these all).

I just got the feeling that this is a little excessive, and there are still flags that I haven't added but think that I might need, such as jack. As I explained, I'd like some general info as to what to put/not put in there.

Clad in Sky · Guru Joined: 04 May 2007 Posts: 571 Location: Germany

Don't worry about that too much.
First of all, did you select a profile... that already sorts out many of the useflags you need.
You can see which profiles are available by running
eselect profile list
and set the preferred one (.../10.0/desktop I guess) by running
eselect profile set <number in front of the profile you wish to use>

Apart from that your USE flags look ok. There are people who have more in them.
If you find out you miss a useflag you can also add it to make.conf afterwards and next time you update your system they will be used to compile your programmes.
You can also set USE flags for single applications in /etc/portage/package.use (you most likely will have to create that file/directory before).

Oh... and if you have any more questions feel free to ask.
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Sade · Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 8:07 pm Post subject:

First: follow Clad's advice, the profile will set you up for the basic stuff

Second: whenever you emerge a package, first run emerge with the -vp options like

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 8:18 pm Post subject:

convict,

emerge ufed Its one of the USE flag editors in portage.

It will show you what you have set and where its set as well as a line of text describing the flags.
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Sade · Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 10:34 am Post subject:

It always is a shame, when three guys try to help the new guy with great enthusiasm, and then the topic starter doesn't return to the topic.
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convict · Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 11:33 am Post subject:

Hi guys

d2_racing · Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 3:25 pm Post subject:

Maybe he should try to see what Use Flags he doesn't use too :

carlos_cai · n00b Joined: 02 Dec 2009 Posts: 1

I have the same problem. As your opinions, I don't need to worry about that and just add new USE Flags as need before install new software.
But I worry about that how much time I spend in re-compile because of new USE Flags.

Mod edit by i92guboj. Please, don't colorize or set huge font sizes for whole posts. These resources are meant to be used when there's a reason to highlight something, and to improve readability. They are not a resource for you to emphasize your presence in the thread. All posts are equally important, yours is just one more.

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Frustie · Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 4:28 pm Post subject:

thats some way to get attention

recompiling with new use flags depend on which useflags you set and where

if you set application specific use flags f.i. in /etc/portage/package.use it will most likely (re)compile less than when you set a global use flag in /etc/make.conf . Gentoo is highly configurable and you just have to find what best suits your needs.

luispa · Guru Joined: 17 Mar 2006 Posts: 340 Location: España

That's the way I prefer. I have few USE's at make.conf and then a big portage.use now. This file was growing as I was installing the system. In theory the advantage is that I have the USE flags that I need and more control. After some months I rarely touch the .use file, just for new installs and sporadic needs.

Luis