On the top of /etc/make.conf there is this bit of text: # very extensive set of USE variables described in our USE variable HOWTO at # http://www.gentoo.org/doc/use-howto.html # # The available list of use flags with descriptions is in your portage tree. # Use 'less' to view them: --> less /usr/portage/profiles/use.desc <-- The url http://www.gentoo.org/doc/use-howto.html is a dead link, the server gives a 404 not found. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. 2. 3. Bit pointless in this case but here it is: Portage 2.0.51.22-r1 (default-linux/x86/2005.0, gcc-3.4.4, glibc-2.3.5-r0, 2.6.12-rc1-love1 i686) ================================================================= System uname: 2.6.12-rc1-love1 i686 AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2500+ Gentoo Base System version 1.6.12 distcc 2.18.3 i686-pc-linux-gnu (protocols 1 and 2) (default port 3632) [disabled] dev-lang/python: 2.3.5 sys-apps/sandbox: 1.2.8 sys-devel/autoconf: 2.13, 2.59-r6 sys-devel/automake: 1.4_p6, 1.5, 1.6.3, 1.7.9-r1, 1.8.5-r3, 1.9.5 sys-devel/binutils: 2.16-r1 sys-devel/libtool: 1.5.18 virtual/os-headers: 2.6.11-r1 ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86 ~x86" AUTOCLEAN="yes" CBUILD="i686-pc-linux-gnu" CFLAGS="-march=athlon-xp -O3 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer -mmmx -msse -m3dnow -mfpmath=sse,387 -ffast-math" CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/kde/2/share/config /usr/kde/3.4/env /usr/kde/3.4/share/config /usr/kde/3.4/shutdown /usr/kde/3/share/config /usr/lib/X11/xkb /usr/lib/fax /usr/lib/mozilla/defaults/pref /usr/share/config /var/qmail/alias /var/qmail/control /var/spool/fax/etc" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/gconf /etc/splash /etc/terminfo /etc/env.d" CXXFLAGS="-march=athlon-xp -O3 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer -mmmx -msse -m3dnow -mfpmath=sse,387 -ffast-math" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" FEATURES="autoaddcvs autoconfig ccache distlocks parallel-fetch sandbox sfperms strict" GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://ftp-stud.fht-esslingen.de/pub/Mirrors/gentoo/ ftp://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/gentoo/ ftp://ftp.snt.utwente.nl/pub/os/linux/gentoo" LANG="nl_NL@euro" LC_ALL="nl_NL@euro" LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O9 -Wl,--enable-new-dtags -Wl,--sort-common -s -Wl,--as-needed" LINGUAS="nl" MAKEOPTS="-j5" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" PORTDIR_OVERLAY="/usr/local/portage /usr/local/bmg-main" SYNC="rsync://rsync.europe.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage" USE="x86 3dnow 3dnowex X aalib alsa apache2 apm arts audiofile avi bash-completion bitmap-fonts bonobo bzip2 bzlib calender cdparanoia cdr chipcard chroot crypt cups curl dba divx4linux dlloader dvd dvdr dvdread eds emboss encode esd fam festival filepro firefox flac flatfile font-server foomaticdb fortran ftp gd gdbm gif gnome gphoto2 gpm gstreamer gtk gtk2 guile hal imagemagick imap imlib insecure-drivers java jpeg jpeg2k junit kde kdgraphics ldap libg++ libwww live mad mikmod mime mmx mmxext mono motif mozdevelop mozilla moznomail moznoxft mp3 mpeg mplayer msn mysql ncurses network nls nptl nvidia odbc offensive ogg oggvorbis ooo-kde opengl pam patches pdflib perl php pic png postgres python qmail qt quicktime readline real rplay samba scanner sdk sdl session sftplogging slang softmmu speex spell sqlite sse ssl startup-notification stroke svga tcltk tcpd threads tiff truetype truetype-fonts type1-fonts usb userlocales v4l v4l2 vorbis win32codecs wmf xine xinerama xml xml2 xmms xprint xscreensaver xv xvid zlib video_cards_nvidia linguas_nl userland_GNU kernel_linux elibc_glibc" Unset: ASFLAGS, CTARGET
the correct link should probably be http://www.gentoo.org/dyn/use-index.xml There should be at least a redirection from the URL mentioned in the make.conf file IMHO
review /etc/make.conf.example portage no longer updates /etc/make.conf
