User:Maffblaster/Gentoo ideas

repo.presync.d/* hooks
Presently Portage has a hook directory in  for post-repository syncs. This enables custom scripts to act on various repositories after a sync. The primary purpose for scripts is to generate package metadata, which in turn speeds up Portage's operations.

Similarly, the directory could enable pre-sync hooks to be executed before Portage syncs the repositories. There may be little benefit to having this option, however some users may which to do things like "snapshot" the repository before syncing.

I guess the same thing could be done with a cron job or timer.

New options

 * Output ( ?) the packages in a set, display a count of the total installed packages in the set. Example:


 * This can presently be performed with :
 * This can presently be performed with :


 * Add a  option to verify the integrity of installed packages. The digests seem to already exist; Portage just needs to reference them. Would be similar to the  command from, but accepts sets/package atoms/globs. Examples:



Better progress indicators
Portage could have a progress bar for update when updating a predefined set; particularlly when using the the  option.

Something like:

Can be enabled/disabled via the FEATURE variable (disabled by default for now).

GPG signing for binpkgs (on binhost)
Now that Portage includes GPG signing by developers on all ebuilds in the Gentoo ebuild repo it is possible to verify the integrity of upstream package releases (mostly tarballs) by running:

It is possible to get package releases directly from upstream (instead of from the Gentoo distfile mirrors) by enabling

Currently system administrators have the option of downloading the source tarball directly from upstream (via ). From Gentoo mirrors (via GENTOO_MIRRORS ).

If they have setup a binary package server (after setting USE defaults across the board). For upstream projects/developers who offer a GPG signed checksum, it would be of high quality and value to have Portage automatically ensure the tarball has not been compromised. This would probably be a new feature to include in a future EAPI release.

binpkg tarballs
Right now Portage creates tbz2 tarballs for binpkgs even when other forms of compression are used to create the files (xz, gz, lz, etc.). Portage should generate binpkgs with a corresponding extension whenever formatting is adjusted in :


 * gz = tgz
 * lz = tlz
 * xz = txz