Project:VDR/Overlay guide

This document explains how to install software straight from our overlays.

What is an overlay?
An overlay is simply the place where people put third party ebuilds. These ebuilds undergo extensive testing before they can be put into the Portage tree. Currently there are two overlays available: vdr-testing and vdr-1.5. If you want software around the VDR which is tested to become finally part of the main tree you can use the vdr-testing overlay. If you want the most recent development versions of the VDR you have to use the vdr-1.5 overlay. In the following we use the vdr-testing overlay as example.

Installing and configuring layman
Before we can install packages from an overlay, we need to install , an overlay manager. For more information, see the  project page.

Emerging layman

Even though we've installed , we can't install packages just yet. First you will need to tell Portage you want to use a local repository. This can be done with these simple commands:

Configuring Portage for layman

Next, we'll have  check out  the repository for  :

using the vdr-overlays

Installing sources from our overlays
Now you can start using the ebuilds from the VDR overlay. Point your browser to http://overlays.gentoo.org/proj/vdr/browser/testing and choose a few packages.

These packages will be masked by an ~arch keyword. Before you can  them, you will need to add them to your. Here are a couple of examples:

Unmasking packages

Now you can install them with a simple  :

Installing VDR packages

Don't forget to keep your VDR overlays up to date:

Syncing the overlays

Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the following authors and editors for their contributions to this guide:


 * Dimitry Bradt
 * Joshua Saddler