Hello, I saw that the only ways to install a binary package were to use either: --- emerge --usepkg mozilla-firefox --- or when an "*-bin" atom exists: --- emerge mozilla-firefox-bin --- I would like a configuration file like the following: /etc/portage/binaries.list --- mozilla-firefox openoffice xorg-x11 <gcc-4 --- Then emerging the binary packages would be transparent: --- emerge mozilla-firefox --- You could tweak the chosen binary set at install time. This avoid any interactive emerging while installing the atom which is at the top of the dependency graph. For example, instead of making: --- emerge --usepkg xorg-x11 emerge xfce4 --- you would simply make: --- emerge xfce4 --- Moreover, any later world update will automatically choose binaries if they are registered in the configuration file.
No. First, what you likely haven't realized, -bin packages and .tbz2 packages (those for --usepkg) are two very different things conceptually, they can't be handled in the same way. Portage doesn't (and won't) handle -bin packages any different than normal ebuilds (and there are ebuilds for binary software that aren't named -bin). Second I don't see the real use case here, I mean why do you care about using binary packages just in some cases? I'm pretty sure either --usepkg already does what you want and/or it doesn't do what you think, or there is a better (read: more generic) solution waiting. Third while you say it's more transparent, I say it's the opposite. Using your example, how would one know which package is actually being installed: mozilla-firefox.ebuild, mozilla-firefox-bin.ebuild, mozilla-firefox.tbz2 or mozilla-firefox-bin.tbz2?
I think his request makes since if you limit it to real binary packages (and not -bin packages). Essentially this is asking for multi-repo support. But I'd rather see this as atom support as opposed to yet another file. emerge mozilla-firefox::mybinrepo would pull firefox from his binary repo. -Alec
Yes, if I had in /etc/portage/binaries.list file: --- (...) mozilla-firefox (...) --- then, the following command: --- emerge mozilla-firefox --- would be equivalent to: --- emerge --getbinpkg --usepkgonly mozilla-firefox ---
