TIP package.keywords

From Gentoo Linux Wiki

[edit] Creation of package.keywords

To create package.keywords, do the following:

# mkdir /etc/portage
# cd /etc/portage
# touch package.keywords

[edit] Structure of package.keywords

The package.keywords file serves as a way to get portage to emerge normally hidden packages. Each line consists of a package-keyword pair. For example,

net-wireless/ndiswrapper ~x86

where, net-wireless/ndiswrapper is the package, and ~x86 is the keyword.

See Keywords article or How to use portage correctly Gentoo Forum thread for more information.

[edit] Package Modifiers

Since packages come in different versions and revisions, the following table describes how to specifically select for a subset of versions or revisions:

[edit] Keyword Modifiers

Keywords can take on one of three forms:

You would typically use the last two without a version specifier, such as in arch testing.

=sys-kernel/linux-headers-2.6.5 -*

[edit] Editing package.keywords

This file is nothing more than a simple text document. Therefore, you can simply use your favorite text editor (e.g. nano, emacs, vi) to edit this file. If you get tired editing package.keywords (and package.use) by hand, you can use app-portage/flagedit instead. See HOWTO_Use_Portage_Correctly#TimeSavers

[edit] Miscellaneous Tips

[edit] Alternative organization of package.keywords

The Tip below is kind of outdated. If your system grows you might want to consider putting all the keyworded packages in one file.

Example: you want foo/foo to be keyworded but the dependency requires that foo/foobar and foo/barbar have to be keyworded too. Then you could either do as the Tip below suggested it or do the following.

# mkdir -p /etc/portage/package.keywords                                    # yes we create a directory not a file!!!
# echo "foo/foo" > /etc/portage/package.keywords/foo                        # the name for the file can be chosen freely
# echo -e "foo/foobar \nfoo/barbar" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords/foo

You could also use it for package.use, package.unmask and so on.

You do not have to use the ~arch anymore unless you want to install a ~x86 package on an ~amd64 machine.

[edit] Easy cleaning of package.keywords

See Easy cleaning of package.keywords page.

[edit] Generate package.keywords from installed packages

The following command-sequence generates new /etc/portage/package.{keywords/unmask) files based upon the packages currently installed. You will need to have emerged app-portage/gentoolkit before using this script.

#!/bin/sh
KEYWORDS="/etc/portage/package.keywords"
UNMASK="/etc/portage/package.unmask"

mv ${KEYWORDS} ${KEYWORDS}~
mv ${UNMASK} ${UNMASK}~

echo "Rewriting package.keywords"
equery -N l -i | sed -nre '/(M~|M | ~)/ s/(^.+\] | \(.+$)//gp' | sed -re 's/^/=/g' >> ${KEYWORDS}

echo "Rewriting package.unmask"
ALL=$(wc -l ${KEYWORDS} | awk '{print $1}')
COUNT=0
while read KEYWORD; do
	COUNT=$[$COUNT + 1]
	echo -ne " $[${COUNT} * 100 / ${ALL}]% finished\r"
	emerge -pv ${KEYWORD} | grep "package.mask" &>/dev/null && echo ${KEYWORD} >> ${UNMASK}
done < ${KEYWORDS}
echo "                                               "
echo "Done"

You may use this to:

• Remove outdated lines from your package.(keywords/unmask) file
• Replace unmasked packages with information on specific versions

The latter is useful, if you unmasked a lot of packages and you find the regular dependency problems occurring on portage-tree-updates annoying.

After execution, check whether emerge -pve world exits without errors. If not, you may either correct errors by hand or just restore the backup.

[edit] Alternative Script

If you have accidentally deleted or severely altered your /etc/portage/package.keywords file, either by incorrectly appending keywords from the shell or accidental deletion, you can use the following script to help regenerate and sort it:

#!/bin/bash

function help {

  echo "Syntax: keyword-file-regen [options]"
  echo "   --update-reg		Update your keywords file"
  echo "   --update-local	Update your portage overlay"
  echo "   --update-masked	Update masked packages"
  echo "   --update-all		Update all of the keywords file"
  exit
  
}

function start {
	k="/etc/portage/package.keywords"
	if [ -f $k ]
	  then
	    rm $k
	fi
}
function update_reg {
	emerge -puON world | 
	grep UD | 
	sed -e "s/\[ebuild  *UD\] //g" -e "s/-[0-9].*//" >> $k
}
function update_local {
	emerge -puON world | 
	grep "[1]" | 
	sed -e "s/\[ebuild  *UD\] //g" -e "s/-[0-9].*//" | 
	grep -v "ebuild" | 
	sed 's/ /\n/g' >> $k
}
function update_masked {
	b=`emerge -pv world | grep -n exist | sed "s/:.*//"`
	b=$(expr $b + 1)
	emerge -pv world | sed -e "${b}!d" -e 's/ /\n/g' >> $k
	while echo `emerge -pD world` | grep "masked"; do
		emerge -pD world |
		sed -e '/\!\!\!/!d' |
		sed -n '1p' |
		sed -e 's/" .*$//' -e 's/!.*"//' -e "s/-[0-9].*//" -e 's/[=,~,<,>]//' -e 's/[=]//' >> $k
	done
}
function sort_file {
	sort $k -o $k
}

#Options:
if [ ! "$1" ];
  then
    help
fi

while [ "$1" ]; do

  case "$1" in

    --update-reg)
      start
      update_reg
      sort_file;;

    --update-local)
      start
      update_local
      update_reg
      sort_file;;

    --update-masked)
      start
      update_masked
      update_reg
      sort_file;;

    --update-all)
      start
      update_reg
      update_local
      update_masked
      sort_file;;

  esac
  shift
  
done

[edit] Errors related to package.keywords

[edit] Invalid atom in /etc/portage/package.keywords

This error may occur, if a version number has been added to a package name but none of the package modifiers have been used. For example,

net-misc/utelnetd-0.1.9  # This is not correct

An easy way to solve this problem is to modify the line by (1) removing the version number information, or (2) use an appropriate package modifier.