emerge --help
localhost jozef # emerge --help
Usage: emerge [ options ] [ action ] [ ebuildfile | tbz2file | dependency ] [ ... ] emerge [ options ] [ action ] < system | world > emerge < --sync | --metadata | --info > emerge --resume [ --pretend | --ask | --skipfirst ] emerge --help [ system | world | config | --sync ] Options: -[abBcCdDefgGhikKlnNoOpqPsStuvV] [--oneshot] [--newuse] [--noconfmem] [--columns] [--nocolor] [--nospinner] Actions: [ --clean | --depclean | --prune | --regen | --search | --unmerge ]
Help (this screen): --help (-h short option) Displays this help; an additional argument (see above) will tell emerge to display detailed help.
Actions: --clean (-c short option) Cleans the system by removing outdated packages which will not remove functionalities or prevent your system from working. The arguments can be in several different formats : * world * system or * 'dependency specification' (in single quotes is best.) Here are a few examples of the dependency specification format: binutils matches binutils-2.11.90.0.7 and binutils-2.11.92.0.12.3-r1 sys-devel/binutils matches binutils-2.11.90.0.7 and binutils-2.11.92.0.12.3-r1 >sys-devel/binutils-2.11.90.0.7 matches binutils-2.11.92.0.12.3-r1 >=sys-devel/binutils-2.11.90.0.7 matches binutils-2.11.90.0.7 and binutils-2.11.92.0.12.3-r1 <=sys-devel/binutils-2.11.92.0.12.3-r1 matches binutils-2.11.90.0.7 and binutils-2.11.92.0.12.3-r1
--config Runs package-specific operations that must be executed after an emerge process has completed. This usually entails configuration file setup or other similar setups that the user may wish to run.
--depclean Cleans the system by removing packages that are not associated with explicitly merged packages. Depclean works by creating the full dependency tree from the system list and the world file, then comparing it to installed packages. Packages installed, but not associated with an explicit merge are listed as candidates for unmerging. WARNING: This can seriously affect your system by removing packages that may have been linked against, but due to changes in USE flags may no longer be part of the dep tree. Use caution when employing this feature.
--info Displays important portage variables that will be exported to ebuild.sh when performing merges. This information is useful for bug reports and verification of settings. All settings in make.{conf,globals,defaults} and the environment show up if run with the '--verbose' flag.
--metadata Causes portage to process all the metacache files as is normally done on the tail end of an rsync update using emerge --sync. This processing creates the cache database that portage uses for pre-parsed lookups of package data.
--prune (-P short option) WARNING: This action can remove important packages! Removes all but the most recently installed version of a package from your system. This action doesn't verify the possible binary compatibility between versions and can thus remove essential dependencies from your system. The argument format is the same as for the --clean action.
--regen Causes portage to check and update the dependency cache of all ebuilds in the portage tree. This is not recommended for rsync users as rsync updates the cache using server-side caches. Rsync users should simply 'emerge --sync' to regenerate.
--resume Resumes the last merge operation. It can be treated just like a regular emerge: --pretend and other options work alongside it. 'emerge --resume' only returns an error on failure. When there is nothing to do, it exits with a message and a success condition.
--search (-s short option) Searches for matches of the supplied string in the current local portage tree. By default emerge uses a case-insensitive simple search, but you can enable a regular expression search by prefixing the search string with %%. Prepending the expression with a '@' will cause the category to be included in the search. A few examples: emerge --search libc list all packages that contain libc in their name emerge --search '%^kde' list all packages starting with kde emerge --search '%gcc$' list all packages ending with gcc emerge --search '%@^dev-java.*jdk' list all available Java JDKs
--searchdesc (-S short option) Matches the search string against the description field as well the package's name. Take caution as the descriptions are also matched as regular expressions. emerge -S html emerge -S applet emerge -S 'perl.*module'
--unmerge (-C short option) WARNING: This action can remove important packages! Removes all matching packages completely from your system. Specify arguments using the dependency specification format described in the --clean action above.
--update (-u short option) Updates packages to the best version available, which may not always be the highest version number due to masking for testing and development. This will also update direct dependencies which may not what you want. In general use this option only in combi- nation with the world or system target.
--version (-V short option) Displays the currently installed version of portage along with other information useful for quick reference on a system. See emerge info for more advanced information.
Options: --alphabetical When displaying USE and other flag output, combines the enabled and disabled flags into a single list and sorts it alphabetically. With this option, output such as USE="dar -bar -foo" will instead be displayed as USE="-bar dar -foo"
--ask (-a short option) before performing the merge, display what ebuilds and tbz2s will be installed, in the same format as when using --pretend; then ask whether to continue with the merge or abort. Using --ask is more efficient than using --pretend and then executing the same command without --pretend, as dependencies will only need to be calculated once. WARNING: If the "Enter" key is pressed at the prompt (with no other input), it is interpreted as acceptance of the first choice. Note that the input buffer is not cleared prior to the prompt, so an accidental press of the "Enter" key at any time prior to the prompt will be interpreted as a choice!
--buildpkg (-b short option) Tell emerge to build binary packages for all ebuilds processed (in addition to actually merging the packages. Useful for maintainers or if you administrate multiple Gentoo Linux systems (build once, emerge tbz2s everywhere) as well as disaster recovery.
--buildpkgonly (-B short option) Creates a binary package, but does not merge it to the system. This has the restriction that unsatisfied dependencies must not exist for the desired package as they cannot be used if they do not exist on the system.
--changelog (-l short option) When pretending, also display the ChangeLog entries for packages that will be upgraded.
--columns Display the pretend output in a tabular form. Versions are aligned vertically.
--debug (-d short option) Tell emerge to run the ebuild command in --debug mode. In this mode, the bash build environment will run with the -x option, causing it to output verbose debug information print to stdout. --debug is great for finding bash syntax errors as providing very verbose information about the dependency and build process.
--deep (-D short option) When used in conjunction with --update, this flag forces emerge to consider the entire dependency tree of packages, instead of checking only the immediate dependencies of the packages. As an example, this catches updates in libraries that are not directly listed in the dependencies of a package.
--emptytree (-e short option) Virtually tweaks the tree of installed packages to contain nothing. This is great to use together with --pretend. This makes it possible for developers to get a complete overview of the complete dependency tree of a certain package.
--fetchonly (-f short option) Instead of doing any package building, just perform fetches for all packages (main package as well as all dependencies.) When used in combination with --pretend all the SRC_URIs will be displayed multiple mirrors per line, one line per file.
--fetch-all-uri (-F short option) Same as --fetchonly except that all package files, including those not required to build the package, will be processed.
--getbinpkg (-g short option) Using the server and location defined in PORTAGE_BINHOST, portage will download the information from each binary file there and it will use that information to help build the dependency list. This option implies '-k'. (Use -gK for binary-only merging.)
--getbinpkgonly (-G short option) This option is identical to -g, as above, except it will not use ANY information from the local machine. All binaries will be downloaded from the remote server without consulting packages existing in the packages directory.
--newuse (-N short option) Tells emerge to include installed packages where USE flags have changed since installation.
--nocolor Suppresses color in the output.
--noconfmem Portage keeps track of files that have been placed into CONFIG_PROTECT directories, and normally it will not merge the same file more than once, as that would become annoying. This can lead to problems when the user wants the file in the case of accidental deletion. With this option, files will always be merged to the live fs instead of silently dropped.
--nodeps (-O short option) Merge specified packages, but don't merge any dependencies. Note that the build may fail if deps aren't satisfied.
--noreplace (-n short option) Skip the packages specified on the command-line that have already been installed. Without this option, any packages, ebuilds, or deps you specify on the command-line *will* cause Portage to remerge the package, even if it is already installed. Note that Portage won't remerge dependencies by default.
--nospinner Disables the spinner regardless of terminal type.
--oneshot (-1 short option) Emerge as normal, but don't add packages to the world profile. This package will only be updated if it is depended upon by another package.
--onlydeps (-o short option) Only merge (or pretend to merge) the dependencies of the specified packages, not the packages themselves.
--pretend (-p short option) Instead of actually performing the merge, simply display what ebuilds and tbz2s *would* have been installed if --pretend weren't used. Using --pretend is strongly recommended before installing an unfamiliar package. In the printout, N = new, U = updating, R = replacing, F = fetch restricted, B = blocked by an already installed package, D = possible downgrading, S = slotted install. --verbose causes affecting use flags to be printed out accompanied by a '+' for enabled and a '-' for disabled USE flags.
--quiet (-q short option) Effects vary, but the general outcome is a reduced or condensed output from portage's displays.
--skipfirst This option is only valid in a resume situation. It removes the first package in the resume list so that a merge may continue in the presence of an uncorrectable or inconsequential error. This should only be used in cases where skipping the package will not result in failed dependencies.
--tree (-t short option) Shows the dependency tree using indentation for dependencies. The packages are also listed in reverse merge order so that a package's dependencies follow the package. Only really useful in combination with --emptytree, --update or --deep.
--usepkg (-k short option) Tell emerge to use binary packages (from $PKGDIR) if they are available, thus possibly avoiding some time-consuming compiles. This option is useful for CD installs; you can export PKGDIR=/mnt/cdrom/packages and then use this option to have emerge "pull" binary packages from the CD in order to satisfy dependencies.
--usepkgonly (-K short option) Like --usepkg above, except this only allows the use of binary packages, and it will abort the emerge if the package is not available at the time of dependency calculation.
--verbose (-v short option) Effects vary, but the general outcome is an increased or expanded display of content in portage's displays.
