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MR_UNO
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Joined: 13 Jul 2005
Posts: 5
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 Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 3:44 pm Post subject: need help on USE-flags |
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Hi there,
I'm about to move to Gentoo, and I got to the point where I have to set this "USE" thing, but I don't really understand how this thing works, the flags i set will be used for everything i emerge? or just for the installation part? do i have to set new flags every time i emerge?
PLEASE help me out here, I'm really stuck...
What I want my PC for is: CEDEGA, gaming, DVD divx mp3... just about anything related to multimedia including burning and encoding-decoding... in the near future, for developing (Python), PHP, MySQL, and most of all, I want it to be the gateway of the LAN at home with static IPs clients...
I don't know if this matters, but just in case:
I have:
AMD64 3000+ - 1024Mb RAM - geforce FX 5200 - CD-ROM - CDRW-ROM - DVDRW-ROM - onboard NIC - PCI NIC
I hope i gave enough detail to get this solved...
Any help is appreciated...
Thanks in advance!!!
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Last edited by MR_UNO on Wed Jul 13, 2005 4:09 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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nixnut
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Joined: 09 Apr 2004
Posts: 10974
Location: the dutch mountains
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| Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 4:03 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | NEED HELP ON USE-flags |
Could you please change the title to lowercase characters?
About the use flags. If you do a stage 1 install I recommend you don't add any use flags to /etc/make.conf. Once you have an installed and working system you can think about which flags you want to use. Use flags generally enable (or sometimes disable) features and support for optional things in packages you emerge. You can set these in /etc/make.conf so they are used for every emerge. You can override the flags in /etc/make.conf if you want to. Take a look at this: http://linuxreviews.org/gentoo/flagguide/
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Last edited by nixnut on Wed Jul 13, 2005 4:06 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Sadako
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Joined: 05 Aug 2004
Posts: 3792
Location: sleeping in the bathtub
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| Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 4:03 pm Post subject: |
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Use flags only affect certain packages. Some packages, such as mplayer and xorg, have up to twenty different flags, but most only have a few, and some none at all.
Before you emerge any package, run "emerge -pv packagename", which will show you what will be installed, and what use flags will be/can be set.
For information on what each use flag does, check out the very useful www.gentoo-portage.com, or the /usr/portage/profiles/use.desc and /usr/portage/profiles/use.local.desc.
Don't wory about this too much, it's just something you'll pick up in time.
Remember that if you want to change the use flags after installing a package, all you have to do is set the new flags and re-merge.
You really can't do anything terribly wrong with this.
Hope that helps, and welcome to gentoo! 
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MR_UNO
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Joined: 13 Jul 2005
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| Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 4:28 pm Post subject: |
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thanks people, but the thing is, everywhere i look, they talk about flags as if i were familiar with them, but the truth is, i don't understand a thing... but for example, if i don't set the flag "alsa", does it mean that the program won't play any sound??? can somebody please axplain this to me...
Thanks in advance...
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Sadako
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| Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 4:44 pm Post subject: |
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Ok, it's like this; to get sound on your system, you choose either alsa or oss (alsa being newer and generally preferred. You would hen add "alsa -oss" (if choosing alsa) to your use flags in make.conf, so that any program that has optional support for alsa will include it, and not include oss support if that option exists.
Like I was trying to say before, the best (and fastest) way you're going to figure all this out is by trial and error.
If you do end up with undesired results due to use flags, then simply re-emerging should sort it.
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MR_UNO
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| Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 6:34 pm Post subject: |
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OK, but if i don't set any flag, does it use some sort of "default" flag? or it will just compile without support for anything???
What flags would you use considering my specs and my needs???
Thanks in advance...
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jlpence
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Joined: 21 May 2005
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| Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 6:48 pm Post subject: |
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Okay, use flags specify what to include if you have the option to include it. Here's my use flags: | Code: | | USE="X aim apache2 avi bash-completion -bindist bmp -bluetooth bzlib cdr -cups -debug -dvd -dvdr encode truetype ffmpeg ftp gif -gnome -gtk -gtk2 -gnustep -icq imagemagick -java joystick jpeg kde mime mmx mng mp3 mpeg -msn ncurses ogg oggvorbis vorbis png qt -scanner sharedmem spell svg symlink tiff usb vcd yahoo zlib" |
I'm a KDE user, so I don't need any of the GNOME stuff, hense I have "-gnome -gtk -gtk2" and "qt kde". This way if a program gives the user the choice to compile against either KDE or GNOME, it'll always choose KDE and leave out all of the gnome crap.
However, that doesn't mean that I don't have random GTK stuff on my system. I run gaim as my instant messaging client, so I got GTK+ 2.something on my system.
Having a flag set means "I want this support compiled in if at all possible."
Not having a flag set means the same as the "-something" notation -- "Do not compile support for this in unless I specifically tell you otherwise" (I.E. gaim for my system). (Also note that you don't nave to add "-something" like I did in my use flags, I'm just being anal.)
As for what to use on your system - whatever you want/need! Just go down the list and add what you want. Quick tip: if you don't know what something is then you probably don't need it.
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MR_UNO
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| Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 11:30 pm Post subject: |
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OK, but what happens if i set the flags for let's say... "dvd" but i don't set "aac" nor "alsa", will i still be able to watch a dvd??? because many dvds have sound coded in aac...
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MR_UNO
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| Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 3:22 pm Post subject: |
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and what about the "bootstrap" flag???
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Knute
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| Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 2:36 pm Post subject: |
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One of the best tools that I've found to help assist you with flags is called ufed.
emerge ufed will install it for you.
It's a curses app, so it will have to be run from a terminal window. Then it's a simple list with a short description of what it does that you can either mark or unmark to set or unset flags.
The best advice that I can give you, is that if you aren't sure about a certain flag, leave it alone. If it's required for a package it will be installed regardless.
HTH
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