Alan Mackenzie <[email protected]> writes:
On Mon, Feb 09, 2026 at 15:50:27 -0500, Eli Schwartz wrote:
ebuilds are NOT packages. They are bash scripts describing how
to
build
a package. Removing an ebuild from /usr/portage (2017) or
/var/db/repos
(new canonical place) removes the bash script describing how to
build
it. It does NOT remove /usr/bin/php8.2, that would be insane...
I spent quite a bit of yesterday evening trying to find where
this is
explained in the docs. I haven't found anything clearly
outlining the
difference between ebuilds and packages, and the fact that the
latter
can continue to exist after the deletion of the former.
Huh. Intrigued, i've just done some searching myself, in places
where i thought this information might be provided; there's
currently no "Package" page on the wiki. Here are some of the
places i skimmed, where i felt one might expect to find the info:
* The current Package Manager Specification (PMS), EAPI 8:
https://projects.gentoo.org/pms/8/pms.html
(via https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Package_Manager_Specification)
* The Gentoo devmanual:
https://devmanual.gentoo.org/index.html
(e.g. the "Quickstart ebuild guide", "General concepts" and
"Emerge and ebuild relationships" sections)
* The wiki's "Ebuild" page:
https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Ebuild
* The wiki's "Portage" page:
https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Portage
* The wiki's "Basic guide to write Gentoo Ebuilds" page:
https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Basic_guide_to_write_Gentoo_Ebuilds
* The emerge(1) man page:
https://dev.gentoo.org/~zmedico/portage/doc/man/emerge.1.html
* The ebuild(5) man page:
https://dev.gentoo.org/~zmedico/portage/doc/man/ebuild.5.html
* The portage(5) man page:
https://dev.gentoo.org/~zmedico/portage/doc/man/portage.5.html
None of those seemed to provide the relevant information, though
of course it's very possible that i've missed it in my skimming.
_Have_ i missed something, either in the above or somewhere else,
that i could use to create a stub "Package" page on the wiki?
Alexis.
