In #gentoo, I keep finding out more and more about things I can do by creating and editing files in the /etc/portage directory, but have no idea what's available because there are no existing files and no /etc/portage directory. I think it would be helpful to new and existing gentoo users to have sample files, perhaps with comments explaining the possibilities available through the files in /etc/portage
I think there is a good idea, however i do not think this is the ultimate solution. The fact is sample config files in /etc/portage alone will not make the users aware of them and what they are used for. A big part of this would be finding a better way to make users aware of these files and how they can/should be used to interact with portage. Another thing is that people, (including myself in the past), tell others in the forums or whereever that one should do things like ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~x86" without mentioning the ill effects this can cause. (i continue with this example) Most users start out using the basic features of portage, and when they want to start utilizing more advanced features of portage the only and best place(atleast that I know of) to learn is by doing a simple "man portage" or "man emerge." This is pretty simple and after doing a little reading it is very easy to get a better understanding of all portage has to offer. The man pages also give some good examples of what some of the /etc/portage files should look like. The problem is, and we all know, people are for some reason reluctant to reads the wonderful man pages. Is there a better way that this information could be made available to the users. Maybe a more detailed section in the handbook. Or maybe even a seperate doc called like, "advanced portage functions." What do you think? All input, comments, complaints, etc.... are welcome.
I'm embarrased to admint that I've done ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~x86" in my make.conf to get a single package done and forgotten about it for a few months. Needless to say, my experience as an unwitting beta tester wasn't the most pleasant. I think this could have been avoided had I known about /etc/portage stuff. Also, in finding those files I think I would have investigated further and learned more about how portage's functionality. Of course, education is the solution, but I think having sample files would induce people to learn and would avoid more problems than it would compound.
This has nothing to do with baselayout, it's all portage
`man 5 portage`
*** Bug 92885 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
