I think it'd be better for users if overlay names on the layman list were consistent with repo_name files in these repositories. If one syncs 'foo' overlay, he/she could assume he/she could refer to it through '::foo' (rather than '::foo_local_overlay' or '::bar').
In case of a mismatch, updating repo_name causes less trouble. I'll forward you a mail titled "Issues with your overlay (out of sync repo_name)" that I sent out two years ago on this very issue. Feel free to use that mail as a template.
Done, enjoy
Do we have some infra to run regular checks on overlays? It would be awesome to check profiles/categories consistency as well as that puts pkgcore to a lot of pain.
I'll work on it, I plan to run some QA scripts in repositories.xml
(In reply to comment #4) > I'll work on it, I plan to run some QA scripts in repositories.xml While at it, could you also work on ensuring that overlays have layout.conf with masters specified? pkgcore complains about that a lot.
(In reply to comment #5) > While at it, could you also work on ensuring that overlays have layout.conf > with masters specified? pkgcore complains about that a lot. Can you point documentation on what that file is, what its format is and who relies on it and for what? Thanks!
(In reply to comment #6) > (In reply to comment #5) > > While at it, could you also work on ensuring that overlays have layout.conf > > with masters specified? pkgcore complains about that a lot. > > Can you point documentation on what that file is, what its format is and who > relies on it and for what? Thanks! hmm, the current doc seems to be 'man 5 portage'. As for the format, it's the simple 'key = value' (with no sections), comments start with '#'. The most common case: masters = gentoo which means that the repository requires eclasses or dependencies from gentoo repository. Portage & pkgcore support that; none of them require it right now (they just assume overlays with the missing entry have implicit 'masters = <portdir>') but pkgcore is loudly complaining about it. The other case: masters = means that the repository is stand-alone and all eclasses and dependencies need to be satisfied within it. That should probably be added to gx86's layout.conf.
(In reply to comment #7) > hmm, the current doc seems to be 'man 5 portage'. > > [..] > > masters = gentoo I see, thanks for the details. It seems like a solution to what bug #385439 still is about, despite being closed as wontfix recently. I suggest to comment on #385439, prepare a good mail template and then mass-mail overlay maintainers. I'm unsure if one bug per overlay (plus a tracker bug) makes sense. The mail templates of the overlay's team will need extension, too. In any case, I believe we need to get off this bug :-)
(In reply to comment #8) > (In reply to comment #7) > > hmm, the current doc seems to be 'man 5 portage'. > > > > [..] > > > > masters = gentoo > > I see, thanks for the details. It seems like a solution to what bug #385439 > still is about, despite being closed as wontfix recently. I think the bug specifically mentions that, and Brian is probably right. Portage should finally start fetching repositories... > I suggest to comment on #385439, prepare a good mail template and then > mass-mail overlay maintainers. I'm unsure if one bug per overlay (plus a > tracker bug) makes sense. The mail templates of the overlay's team will > need extension, too. > In any case, I believe we need to get off this bug :-) Well, I'll start by working on the template. I have the repo_name template somewhere; I'll modify it and send to overlays@g.o for review.
The template: Subject: Issues with your overlay (incomplete layout.conf) Hello overlay contact! :-) A script of mine has detected that in your overlay, the file metadata/layout.conf either does not exist or does not list the repository's masters. This is the new requirement of modern portage & pkgcore versions which allows to clearly understand the structure of repositories and the cross-repository dependencies. In the most likely case, where your overlay depends on eclasses from the gentoo repository and dependencies being satisfied by it, your metadata/layout.conf should look like: masters = gentoo You can specify more than one repository there. For example, if one of your packages does depend on a package in sunrise overlay, and you don't want to hold a copy of it, you could write: masters = gentoo sunrise Hopefully, at some point layman or portage will be able to automatically add sunrise to satisfy the masters of your repository[1]. The last case I'd like to mention which is really unlikely for Gentoo overlays, is a stand-alone repository. Such a repository has to have all eclasses and package dependencies satisfiable on its own, and has empty 'masters' entry: masters = Please consider adding the metadata/layout.conf file to your overlay and filling the 'masters' entry within it. For more information on the file format, please take a look at 'man 5 portage' (in the /usr/portage/metadata/ section). Thanks for reading, best regards, Gentoo Overlays team [1] https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=385439
I've created a Gentoo-Wiki article on this: http://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Repository_format/metadata/layout.conf#masters
Oh, my bug! So I'm slowly working on tools for scanning overlays for issues [1] but I don't expect anything really automatically-deployable anytime soon ;). [1]:https://bitbucket.org/mgorny/overlay-qa-tools
Pretty much working. Working on bug filing right now.
It's all handled officially by repo-mirror-ci project.
