Installing softwares

[wisemonkey]

Hi
I've been using Ubuntu for past 4 years now I want to get better knowledge about configs and learn about more control.

In case of Ubuntu, if I want to install non-canonical managed software, all I had to do was add an apt-repository managed by someone else and get the software.

In Gentoo I want to install libreoffice 4.0 and Firefox 20.

I'm assuming I can install them through sources, however I'm guessing they won't be under emerge control as in I can't update / uninstall them through emerge / portage.

So I want to know:
1. Is there something similar to repository for Gentoo?
2. If I install packages with sources, can I manage them through emerge / portage (In case of FF and libreoffice probably I won't need emerge to manage update / uninstall but this is rather general question)?

I know this may seem pretty basic question, however just searching for "install libreoffice 4.0 Gentoo" doesn't really gather many helpful results.
I didn't read through complete portage documentation yet (I'm reading through it one piece at a time)

Thanks

[kurly]

Libreoffice 4.0.2.2 and Firefox 20.0 are in the tree, at least as of an hour or two ago.

That aside, for the future, you probably want to investigate 'layman' and portage overlays. That is probably the closest comparison to a 3rd party apt repo. Let us know if your research is successful and/or if you have other questions.

[leo.the_zoo]

[wisemonkey]

Hey guys thanks a lot

So I've been reading about emerge and few other utilities. Here are few things I've understood, please correct me if I'm wrong (I'm pretty sure I'll be at some point )

I can go through all packages in tree at: http://packages.gentoo.org/
there is neat little utility called `eix` that lists all available versions for particular package

Finally, I updated package.keywords with required package names/version. However instead of

[The Doctor]

The second entry in package.keywords is rather poor form, as is the file name itself. The file is being moved to package.accept_keywords. A correct entry should simply be <category>/<package>. This will accept all keyworded versions of the package. You would only use inequalities in the less than or equal to cases, like you have in your first code block.

If you want to use the unstable version of a package and let stable catch up, then just use equality per your fist entry, like your first code block.
_________________
First things first, but not necessarily in that order.

Apologies if I take a while to respond. I'm currently working on the dematerialization circuit for my blue box.

[kurly]

wisemonkey, your understanding seems pretty much correct. Some things you may find interesting:

The new name for package.keywords is package.accept_keywords. It is safe to rename the file, but the old name will continue to be okay for the foreseeable future. Your choice, for now. When you add a line to that file though, you should put the architecture at the end of the line: you probably want either ~amd64 or ~x86. But yes it is okay to use >= instead of =.

The stabilization process is a little different than you seem to think. After a build is on the testing architecture (~amd64 or ~x86) for a while without any regressions, it may be 'stabilized'. This doesn't involve any changes to the software itself, just to the keywords in the ebuild. So to consider the testing branch to be necessarily "unstable" is perhaps a bit of a misunderstanding. It doesn't refer to software quality directly, but acts more to put a little buffer between bleeding edge development and users who require insulation from potentially rapid change. Also, no need to worry: accepting the unstable branch doesn't mean that your system would avoid a stable version if it happens to be the latest version. It just means that it will also consider testing/"unstable" versions too.

If you use the default color scheme in eix, you will see stable versions in green and testing/"unstable" versions in yellow.

EDIT: When I started writing my post, "The Doctor" had not yet replied. I like his advice in this case. For posterity's sake, I will leave my post unchanged above.

[khayyam]

wisemonkey, et al ...

It should also be noted that when using ~arch packages are frequently bumped (package revisions incremented) for fixes, patches, etc, at least far more often than stable, this can mean rebuilds when using '<category>/<package>' in package.accept_keywords. Some packages are easily compiled, but monsters like firefox and libre-office take some time, and so you may end up having to build these a number of times for every 'stable' package release. You can state a package version in package.accept_keywords, but then you may miss fixes that are being worked through in ~arch ... so, if you care about the number and extent of compilations then there is some sense to sticking with the stable versions of these packages.

Also, a package like firefox or libre-office has numerious dependencies many of which may also need to be keyworded, and this can lead to all kinds of difficulties if your not familiar with portage and how to deal with blocks, dependencies, soname changes, revdep-rebuild, keywording, etc, etc. This is why some level of understanding is required to use ~arch, as you need to know how to deal with any issues that might arise, and why new users are generally advised (as per the handbook) to stick with stable.

So, get some knowledge under your belt first and gain some familiarity with how portage works, you'll be in a lot better position to deal with ~arch.

best ... khay

[wisemonkey]

Thanks guys,
Sorry I should have made few things clear:

by unstable I meant "beta" where there maybe hardly a bug but not yet tested enough.
Every line in my package.keywords (which is moved to package.accept_keywords) has ~amd64 (~arch) at the end.

I understand frequent updates may cause most of the time compiling packages, but I want to use functionality in libreoffice 4.0 which is not available previously (same formatting at MS office).

Yes I understood `eix` colour coding

[leo.the_zoo]

You made me want to try libreoffice-4.0. I put

[wisemonkey]

[cwr]

If you are looking for what's currently available in portage, znurt.org is a good place to start.

Will

[Hu]

I like using sources.gentoo.org, which shows the current CVS state.