Creating an ebuild repository

Someone handed you an ebuild, and you don't know what to do with it? Fear not, for here be instructions!

Creating a local overlay
A local repository aka local overlay can be set up with a few easy steps creating the mandatory elements of the repository format.

Next, tell portage about the overlay.

Adding an ebuild to the overlay
Now that the basic layout is in order, you can add an ebuild to the overlay. In this example, app-dicts/artha-1.0.2 (available at ). We will assume the ebuild is in the homedir of the user, and named artha-1.0.2.ebuild.

You should now be able to install the package from your overlay with emerge.

Crossdev
crossdev will automatically place the ebuilds/categories it generates into the highest priority overlay found in. In order to do this you must set the priority number to something low. Most users will want to prevent crossdev from disturbing layman's overlays or the user's personal per-machine overlay (normally created at ). Create an overlay specifically for crossdev's use:

If the main Portage tree is synchronized using Git, or any other method with Manifest files that do not include checksums for ebuilds, prevent "masked by: corruption" errors with:

Then instruct Portage and crossdev to use this overlay: