Profile

A Portage profile specify default values for global and per-package USE flags and most variables of the /etc/portage/make.conf and define a set of system packages. Also it masks unstable package versions and USE flags. The profiles are maintained by the Gentoo developers as part of the Portage tree (/usr/portage/profiles), but there are ways for users to override single pieces.

Usage

List profiles

List the available profiles with eselect:

root # eselect profile list

---

Available profile symlink targets:
  [1]   default/linux/amd64/13.0 *
  [2]   default/linux/amd64/13.0/selinux
  [3]   default/linux/amd64/13.0/desktop
  [4]   default/linux/amd64/13.0/desktop/gnome
  [5]   default/linux/amd64/13.0/desktop/kde
  [6]   default/linux/amd64/13.0/developer
  [7]   default/linux/amd64/13.0/no-multilib
  [8]   default/linux/amd64/13.0/server
  [9]   hardened/linux/amd64
  ...

The "normal" profiles are the ones beginning with default, followed by subprofiles for kernel (linux or bsd), architecture (x86, amd64, etc.), release number (13.0) and target (desktop, server, developer, etc.). The desktop subprofile has also the subprofiles gnome and kde.

The arrow marks your currently active profile.

Change profile

Change your profile using eselect, e.g. for a KDE desktop:

root # eselect profile set 5

Structure

All profiles are cascading/stackable profiles composed by several subprofiles. Each subprofile (corresponding to a directory under /usr/portage/profiles) can contain files to set some defaults. Lower level subprofiles (e.g default/linux/amd64) also can have a file called parent, which pulls in one or more other higher level subprofiles (here: default/linux, arch/amd64 and base). Defaults defined in a lower level subprofile profile overwrites all conflicting defaults in higher subprofiles.

Following is an example for the stacked profile default/linux/amd64/13.0/desktop/kde showing the dependencies.

Code

/usr/portage/profiles/
|-- arch
|   |-- amd64 <--------------.
|   |   `-- parent >-------- | ----------------------.
|   -- base <--------------- | ----------------------|
|-- base <-------------------|                       |
|-- default                  |                       |
|   `-- linux <--------------|                       |
|       `-- amd64 <--------- | ------------------.   |
|           |-- parent >-----'                   |   |
|           `-- 13.0 <-----------------------.   |   |
|               |-- parent >---------------- | --|   |
|               `-- desktop <------------.   |   |   |
|                   |-- parent >-------- | --|   |   |
|                   `-- kde              |   |   |   |
|                       `-- parent >-----|   |   |   |
|-- features                             |   |   |   |
|   `-- multilib <-----------.           |   |   |   |
|       `-- lib32 <--------- | --------- | - | - | --'
|           `-- parent >-----'           |   |   |
|-- releases <-----------.               |   |   |
|   `-- 13.0 <---------- | ------------- | - | --'
|       `-- parent >-----'               |   |
`-- targets                              |   |
    `-- desktop <----------------------- | --'
        `--kde <----------- | -----------'
           `-- parent >-----'

The following table gives a quick overview of what subprofile contain what files:

	root folder	arch -amd64	arch -base	base	default -linux	default -linux -amd64	default -linux -amd64 -13.0	default -linux -amd64 -13.0 -desktop	default -linux -amd64 -13.0 -desktop -kde	features -multilib	features -multilib -lib32	releases	releases -13.0	targets -desktop	targets -desktop -kde
eapi	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
make.defaults	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
packages	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
package.build	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
package.mask	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
package.use	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
package.use.force	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
package.use.mask	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
profile.bashrc	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
use.force	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes
use.mask	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No