I had troubles with modutils and removed it to install "kmod". (depmod returned "qm_modules function not implemented"...) It took me a (short) while to figure out that I had to add the "tools" USE flag to have modprobe, lsmod and others built. Since I think that most people will have the same willing (build lsmod, when emerging this ebuild), I submit this Idea : << add a warning message when building with no "tools" USE flag >>.
I'm not sure how the USE flag description could be more clear: [- ] tools sys-apps/kmod: Install module loading/unloading tools. And the ebuild already has IUSE="+tools" so you have to explicitely read the USE flag description, determine it's not useful, then disable it, and ... well, you are on your own at this point
Some packages "masqued" add some warning to tell they are masqued. ref : http://www.calculate-linux.org/packages/sys-kernel/rt-sources/rt-sources-3.0.27_p46.ebuild Since some people use "-*" USE flag, and the "tools" is not _that_ useful in many cases, I don't deserve as much to be "on my own" as you tell. (IMHO). The real question is : has anyone ever wanted to have kmod without tools ? (except some real rare cases, where the warning wouldn't be hurtful)
