Selected set (Portage)

The selected set contains the packages the admin has explicitly installed, those specified in the world and world_sets files. The selected set, together with the profile set and the system set, make up the world set. With a couple of exceptions, Portage will register selected set package atoms to the /var/lib/portage/world file.

Managing the selected set

Avoiding an atom in the world file

In order to avoid problems in dependency resolution when updating the system, the /var/lib/portage/world file should contain as few dependencies as possible. So use the --oneshot (-1) option for emerging dependencies.

root #emerge --ask --oneshot <category/atom>

Checking the world file

The emaint command can be used to see if any problems exist in the world file:

user $/usr/sbin/emaint --check world

Emaint: check world        100% [============================================>]

Keeping the world file clean

Dependencies already listed in this file can be found using the qdepends -Q command and be collected in a file say /tmp/deselect:

Important
The following script may have several issues so check the data carefully.

CODE Check world file bash example

'"`UNIQ--pre-00000002-QINU`"'

Entries collected in /tmp/deselect can be cross-checked using the --depclean option:

user $emerge -pv --depclean $(< /tmp/deselect)

The emerge --deselect option will remove these entries without unmerging them.

root #emerge --ask --deselect $(< /tmp/deselect)

In case emerge --depclean -p indicates some needed or wanted package would be unmerged, those can be re-added using the --noreplace option. See the next section for details.

Adding an atom without recompilation

To add a package to the selected set without recompiling the package:

root #emerge --ask --noreplace <category/atom>

It will add the atom to the /var/lib/portage/world file without compiling it again.

See also

• System set (Portage) — contains the software packages required for a standard Gentoo Linux installation to run properly.
• World set (Portage) — encompasses the system set and the selected set.
• Selected-packages_set_(Portage) —
• [[::/etc/portage/sets|:/etc/portage/sets]] — The symbol "/etc/portage/sets" was used in a place where it is not useful.
• Profile (Portage) — specifies default values for global and per-package USE flags, specifies default values for most variables found in make.conf, and defines a set of system packages.

External resources

• https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-1042252-start-11.html - A forum thread that discusses dependency calculation using the world file.