World file (Portage)

Packages emerged directly (without passing the  option to ) are listed by default into the  file.

It is the world file, together with the profile and (including ) settings, that define what software is installed on a system.

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

Keep it clean
In order to avoid problems in dependency resolution when updating the system, the file should contain as few dependencies as possible. So use the   option for emerging dependencies.

Dependencies already listed in this file can be found using the command and be collected in a file say :

Entries collected in can be cross-checked using the   option:

The option will remove these entries without unmerging them.

In case indicates some needed or wanted package would be unmerged, those can be re-added using the  option:

It will add the atom to the file without compiling it again.