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Gentoo Linux Use Variable Descriptions

Content:

1.  Global Use Flags

Flag Description
3dfx Enable support for Voodoo chipsets, also called as 3DFX and TDFX
3dnow Adds support for 3dnow multimedia processor instructions
X Adds support for X11
Xaw3d Adds support for the 3d athena widget set
a52 Enables support for decoding ATSC A/52 streams used in DVD
aac Enables support for MPEG-4 AAC Audio
aalib Adds support for media-libs/aalib (ASCII-Graphics Library)
accessibility Adds support for accessibility (eg 'at-spi' library)
acl Adds support for Access Control Lists
acpi Adds support for Advanced Configuration and Power Interface
adabas Adds support for the Adabas database engine
adns Adds support for the adns DNS client library
afs Adds OpenAFS support (distributed file system)
aim Enable AIM IM protocol support
alsa Adds support for media-libs/alsa-lib (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture)
altivec Adds support for optimizations for G4 and G5/ppc970 processors
ao Use libao audio output library for sound playback
apache2 Add Apache2 support
apm Adds APM (Advanced Power Management) support
arts Adds support for aRts: the KDE sound daemon
atm Enable Asynchronous Transfer Mode protocol support
audiofile Adds support for libaudiofile where applicable
avahi Add avahi/Zeroconf support
bash-completion Enable bash-completion support
bcmath Adds support for libbcmath
berkdb Adds support for sys-libs/db (Berkeley DB for MySQL)
bidi Enables bidirectional language support
bindist Flag to enable or disable options for prebuilt (GRP) packages (eg. due to licensing issues)
birdstep Adds support for the Birdstep Database Server
blas Adds support for the virtual/blas numerical library
bluetooth Enables Bluetooth Support
bootstrap !!internal use only!! DO NOT SET THIS FLAG YOURSELF!, used during original system bootstrapping [make stage2]
boundschecking Adds the bounds checking patch by Haj Ten Brugge, this will DISABLE the hardened PIE+SSP patches
branding Enable Gentoo specific branding
build !!internal use only!! DO NOT SET THIS FLAG YOURSELF!, used for creating build images and the first half of bootstrapping [make stage1]
bzip2 Use the bzlib compression library
cairo Enable support for the cairo graphics library
calendar Adds support for calendars (not using mcal!)
canna Adds support for the Canna kana to kanji conversion engine
caps Use Linux capabilities library to control privilege
cdb Adds support for the CDB database engine from the author of qmail
cddb Access cddb servers to retrieve and submit information about compact disks
cdinstall Copies files from the CD rather than asking the user to copy them, mostly used with games
cdparanoia Enables cdparanoia (audio CD ripper) support
cdr Adds support for CD writer hardware
cgi Add CGI script support
chasen Enable chasen (Japanese Morphological Analysis System) support
cjk Adds support for Multi-byte character languages (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
clamav Adds support for Clam AntiVirus software (usually with a plugin)
cracklib Support for cracklib strong password checking
crypt Add support for encryption -- using mcrypt or gpg where applicable
cscope Enables cscope interface -- in vim for example
css Enables ripping of encrypted DVDs
ctype Enables ctype functions
cups Add support for CUPS (Common Unix Printing System)
curl Adds support for client-side URL transfer library
curlwrappers Adds support for using curl in streams
cvs Enable CVS (Concurrent Versions System) integration
cxx Builds support for C++ (bindings, extra libraries, code generation, ...)
db2 Enables support for IBM DB2 database server
dbase Adds support for dbase file format
dbm Adds support for generic DBM databases
dbmaker Adds support for dbmaker database server
dbus Enable dbus support for anything that needs it (gpsd, gnomemeeting, etc)
dbx Adds database abstraction layer
debug Enable extra debug codepaths, like asserts and extra output. If you want to get meaningful backtraces see http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/qa/backtraces.xml
dedicated Adds support for dedicated game servers (some packages do not provide clients and servers at the same time)
dga Adds DGA (Direct Graphic Access) support for X
directfb Adds support for DirectFB layer (library for FB devices)
djvu support DjVu, a PDF-like document format esp. suited for scanned documents
doc Adds extra documentation (API, Javadoc, etc)
dri Enable direct rendering: used for accelerated 3D and some 2D, like DMA
dts Enables DTS Coherent Acoustics decoder support
dv Enables support for a codec used by many camcorders
dvb Adds support for DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting)
dvd Adds support for DVDs
dvdr Adds support for DVD writer hardware (e.g. in xcdroast)
dvdread Enables usage of Ogle's libdvdread for DVD playback
eds Enables support for Evolution-Data-Server (EDS)
emacs Adds support for GNU Emacs
emboss Adds support for the European Molecular Biology Open Software Suite
empress Adds support for the Empress database server
empress-bcs Adds local access support for the Empress database server
encode Adds support for encoding of audio or video files
enscript Add enscript support to colourize code stored in the repository
esd Adds support for media-sound/esound (Enlightened Sound Daemon)
esoob Adds support for Easysoft OOD database
evo Adds support for mail-client/evolution
examples Install examples, usually source code
exif Adds support for reading EXIF headers from JPEG and TIFF images
expat Enable the use of dev-libs/expat for XML parsing
fam Enable FAM (File Alteration Monitor) support
fastcgi Add support for the FastCGI interface
fbcon Adds framebuffer support for the console, via the kernel
ffmpeg Enable ffmpeg-based audio/video codec support
fftw Use FFTW library for computing Fourier transforms
filepro Adds support for filePro databases
firebird Adds support for the Firebird relational database
firefox Build against Firefox instead of Seamonkey/Mozilla
flac Adds support for FLAC: Free Lossless Audio Codec
flatfile Adds dbm support for flat files
fltk Adds support for the Fast Light Toolkit gui interface
fontconfig Support for configuring and customizing font access via media-libs/fontconfig
foomaticdb Adds support for the foomatic printing driver database
fortran Adds support for fortran (formerly f77)
freetds Adds support for the TDS protocol to connect to MSSQL/Sybase databases
freewnn Adds support for FreeWnn kana to kanji conversion engine
frontbase Adds support for the frontbase sql server
ftp Adds FTP (File Transfer Protocol) support
gcj Enable building with gcj (The GNU Compiler for the Javatm Programming Language)
gd Adds support for media-libs/gd (to generate graphics on the fly)
gd-external Use the external version of gd rather than the bundled one (possibly dangerous)
gdbm Adds support for sys-libs/gdbm (GNU database libraries)
geoip Add geoip support for country and city lookup based on IPs
ggi Adds support for media-libs/libggi (non-X video api/drivers)
gif Adds GIF image support
gimp Build a plugin for the GIMP
ginac Adds sci-mathematics/ginac (symbolic math) support
glut Build an OpenGL plugin using the GLUT library
gmp Adds support for dev-libs/gmp (GNU MP library)
gnome Adds GNOME support
gnome-keyring Enable support for storing passwords via gnome-keyring
gnuplot Enable support for gnuplot (data and function plotting)
gnustep Adds integration with GNUstep environment
gnutls Adds support for net-libs/gnutls (TLS 1.0 and SSL 3.0 support)
gphoto2 Adds digital camera support
gpm Adds support for sys-libs/gpm (Console-based mouse driver)
gps Adds support for Global Positioning System
graphviz Adds support for the Graphviz library
gsl Use the GNU scientific library for calculations
gstreamer Adds support for media-libs/gstreamer (Streaming media)
gtk Adds support for x11-libs/gtk+ (The GIMP Toolkit)
gtkhtml Adds support for gnome-extra/gtkhtml
guile Adds support for the guile Scheme interpreter
hal Enable Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) support
hardened activate default security enhancements for toolchain (gcc, glibc, binutils)
hddtemp Enable monitoring of hdd temperature (app-admin/hddtemp)
hdf5 Adds support for the Hierarchical Data Format v5
htmlhandbook Enable HTML handbooks generation for KDE4.
hyperwave-api Adds support for Hyperwave document storage system
ibm Add support for IBM ppc64 specific systems
iconv Enable support for the iconv character set conversion library
icq Enable ICQ IM protocol support
idn Enable support for Internationalized Domain Names
ieee1394 Enable FireWire/iLink IEEE1394 support (dv, camera, ...)
imagemagick Enables support for Imagemagick (image converter)
imap Adds support for IMAP (Internet Mail Application Protocol)
imlib Adds support for imlib, an image loading and rendering library
informix Adds support for Informix database
inifile Adds dbm support for .ini files
innodb Adds innodb support for mySQL (transaction support)
interbase Adds support for Interbase database
iodbc Adds support for iODBC library
ipod Enable support for iPod device access
ipv6 Adds support for IP version 6
jabber Enable jabber IM protocol support
jack Adds support for the JACK Audio Connection Kit
java Adds support for Java
java5 Use Java 1.5 to build package || ( reduced deps, 1.5 features, source/target 1.5 )
java6 Use Java 1.6 to build package || ( reduced deps, 1.6 features, source/target 1.6 )
javascript Enables javascript support
jbig enables jbig-kit support for tiff, Hylafax, ImageMagick, etc
jikes Compile Java source code with jikes (faster)
jingle Enables voice calls for jabber
joystick Add support for joysticks in all packages
jpeg Adds JPEG image support
jpeg2k Support for JPEG 2000, a wavelet-based image compression format
kde Adds support for kde-base/kde (K Desktop Enviroment)
kdeenablefinal EXPERIMENTAL: KDE ebuilds will use the enable-final flag, yielding compilation speedups at the cost of heavy mem usage and potentially causing problems. We strongly discourage setting this
kdehiddenvisibility Makes KDE symbols hidden by default, requires GCC 4.1 (experimental)
kerberos Adds kerberos support
kolab Adds support for the Kolab groupware server
krb4 Adds optional kerberos 4 compatibility support
ladcca Adds Linux Audio Developer's Configuration and Connection API support (LADCCA) - DEPRECATED, will be replaced by lash
ladspa Enables the ability to support ladspa plugins
lame Prefer using LAME libraries for MP3 encoding support
lapack Adds support for the virtual/lapack numerical library
lash Adds LASH Audio Session Handler support
latex Adds support for LaTeX (typesetting package)
lcms Adds lcms support (color management engine)
ldap Adds LDAP support (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol)
libcaca Add support for colored ASCII-art graphics
libedit Use the libedit library (replacement for readline)
libgda Adds GNOME Data Access support
libnotify Enable desktop notification support
libsamplerate Build with support for converting sample rates using libsamplerate
libwww Adds libwww support (General purpose WEB API)
lirc Adds support for lirc (Linux's Infra-Red Remote Control)
livecd !!internal use only!! DO NOT SET THIS FLAG YOURSELF!, used during livecd building
lm_sensors Adds linux lm_sensors (hardware sensors) support
lua Enable Lua scripting support
lzo Enables support for lzo compression
m17n-lib Enable m17n-lib support
mad Adds support for mad (high-quality mp3 decoder library and cli frontend)
maildir Adds support for maildir (~/.maildir) style mail spools
mailwrapper Adds mailwrapper support to allow multiple MTAs to be installed
matroska Adds support for the matroska container format (extensions .mkv, .mka and .mks)
matrox Adds Matrox MGA support to mplayer
mbox Adds support for mbox (/var/spool/mail) style mail spools
mcal Adds support for MCAL calendar system
mcve Support for the MCVE credit card payment system
memlimit Adds memory usage limiting in supporting programs
mhash Adds support for the mhash library
migemo Enables migemo support for Japanese
mikmod Adds libmikmod support to allow playing of SoundTracker-style music files
milter Adds sendmail mail filter (milter) support
mime Adds MIME support
minimal Install a very minimal build (disables, for example, plugins, fonts, most drivers, non-critical features)
mmap Adds mmap (memory map) support
mmx Adds support for optimizations for Pentium MMX and Athlon class processors
mng Adds support for libmng (MNG images)
mnogosearch Adds support for the mnoGoSearch search engine
modplug Adds libmodplug support
mono Build Mono bindings to support dotnet type stuff
motif Adds motif support (x11-libs/openmotif x11-libs/lesstif)
mozilla Adds support for the Mozilla web-browser
mp3 Add support for reading mp3 files
mpeg Adds libmpeg3 support to various packages
mpi Adds MPI (Message Passing Interface) layer to the apps that support it
mplayer Enable mplayer support for playback or encoding
msn Enable MSN Messenger IM protocol support
msql Adds support for the MSQL database server
mssql Adds support for Microsoft SQL Server database
mule Adds multi-language support to XEmacs
multilib On 64bit systems, if you want to be able to compile 32bit and 64bit binaries
musepack Enable support for the musepack audio codec
musicbrainz Lookup audio metadata using MusicBrainz community service (musicbrainz.org)
mysql Adds mySQL Database support
mysqli Adds support for the improved mySQL libraries
nas Adds support for network audio sound
ncurses Adds ncurses support (console display library)
neXt Enable neXt toolkit
netboot Enables network booting
netcdf Enable NetCDF data format support
networkmanager Enable net-misc/networkmanager support
nis Support for NIS/YP services
nls Adds Native Language Support (using gettext - GNU locale utilities)
nntp Add support for newsgroups (Network News Transfer Protocol)
nocd Install all files required to run the application without a CD mounted
nocxx Disable support for C++ (DON'T USE THIS UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING)
nptl Enable support for Native POSIX Threads Library, the new threading module (requires linux-2.6 or better usually)
nsplugin Builds plugins for Netscape compatible browsers
ocaml Adds support/bindings for the Ocaml language
ocamlopt Enables ocamlopt support (ocaml native code compiler) -- Produces faster programs (Warning: you have to disable/enable it at a global scale)
oci8 Adds Oracle 8 Database Support
oci8-instant-client Use dev-db/oracle-instantclient-basic as Oracle provider instead of requiring a full Oracle server install
odbc Adds ODBC Support (Open DataBase Connectivity)
offensive Enables potentially offensive items in packages
ofx Enable support for importing (and exporting) OFX (Open Financial eXchange) data files
ogg Adds support for the Ogg container format (commonly used by Vorbis, Theora and flac)
old-linux Add support for linux-2.4 and older
openal Adds support for the Open Audio Library
openexr Support for the OpenEXR graphics file format
opengl Adds support for OpenGL (3D graphics)
oracle Enable Oracle Database support
oracle7 Adds support for the Oracle 7 Database
osc Enables support for Open Sound Control
oscar Enable Oscar (AIM/ICQ) IM protocol support
oss Adds support for OSS (Open Sound System)
pam Adds support PAM (Pluggable Authentication Modules) - DANGEROUS to arbitrarily flip
pcmcia Adds support for PCMCIA slots/devices found on laptop computers
pcntl Adds support for process creation functions
pcre Adds support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions
pda Adds support for portable devices
pdf Adds general support for PDF (Portable Document Format), this replaces the pdflib and cpdflib flags
perl Adds support/bindings for the Perl language
pfpro Adds support for Verisign Payflow Pro
php Include support for the PHP language
pic Build Position Independent Code. Do not utilize this flag unless you know what you're doing
plotutils Adds plotutils support to gnuplot (library for 2-D vector graphics)
png Adds support for libpng (PNG images)
portaudio Adds support for the crossplatform portaudio audio API
posix Adds support for POSIX-compatible functions
postgres Adds support for the postgresql database
ppds Adds support for automatically generated ppd (printing driver) files
prelude Adds support/bindings for the Prelude Intrusion Detection System
profile Adds support for software performance analysis (will likely vary from ebuild to ebuild)
pulseaudio Adds support for PulseAudio sound server
python Adds support/bindings for the Python language
qdbm Adds support for the qdbm (Quick Database Manager) library
qmail-spp Adds support for qmail SMTP plugins
qt3 Adds support for the Qt GUI/Application Toolkit version 3.x
qt4 Adds support for the Qt GUI/Application Toolkit version 4.x
quicktime Adds support for OpenQuickTime
radius Adds support for RADIUS authentication
raw Add support for raw image formats
rdesktop Adds support for the remote desktop protocol, usually used to connect to Windows servers
readline Enables support for libreadline, a GNU line-editing library that almost everyone wants
recode Enables support for the GNU recode library
rss Enables support for RSS feeds
ruby Adds support/bindings for the Ruby language
samba Adds support for SAMBA (Windows File and Printer sharing)
sapdb Adds support for SAP DB
sasl Adds support for the Simple Authentication and Security Layer
savedconfig Use this to restore your config from /etc/portage/savedconfig ${CATEGORY}/${PN}. Make sure you USE flags allow for approprate dependencies
scanner Adds support for scanner hardware (e.g. build the sane frontend in kdegraphics)
sdl Adds support for Simple Direct Layer (media library)
seamonkey Adds support for the Seamonkey web-browser
selinux !!internal use only!! Security Enhanced Linux support, this must be set by the selinux profile or breakage will occur
session Adds persistent session support
sharedext Adds support for building shared extensions in PHP
sharedmem Adds support for shared memory use
shorten Adds support for the shorten audio compressor
simplexml support for SimpleXML
skey Enable S/Key (Single use password) authentication support
slang Adds support for the slang text display library (it's like ncurses, but different)
slp Adds Service Locator Protocol support
smartcard Enables smartcard support
sndfile Adds support for libsndfile
snmp Adds support for the Simple Network Management Protocol if available
soap Adds support for SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol)
sockets Adds support for tcp/ip sockets
socks5 Adds support for the socks5 proxy
solid Adds support for the Solid database engine
source Zip the sources and install them
sox Adds support for Sound eXchange (SoX)
speex Adds support for the speex audio codec (used for speech)
spell Adds dictionary support
spl Adds support for the Standard PHP Library
sqlite Adds support for sqlite - embedded sql database
sqlite3 Adds support for sqlite3 - embedded sql database
sse fast floating point optimization for PentiumIII+ class chips
sse2 faster floating point optimization for SSE2 capable chips
ssl Adds support for Secure Socket Layer connections
startup-notification Enable application startup event feedback mechanism
static !!do not set this during bootstrap!! Causes binaries to be statically linked instead of dynamically
subversion Enable subversion (version control system) support
suid Enable setuid root program, with potential security risks
svg Adds support for SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)
svga Adds support for SVGAlib (graphics library)
sybase Adds support for the Sybase SQL Database Server
sybase-ct Adds support for Sybase-CT
symlink Force kernel ebuilds to automatically update the /usr/src/linux symlink
syslog Enables support for syslog
sysvipc Support for System V-compatible inter-process communication
szip Use the szip compression library
taglib Enable tagging support with taglib
tcl Adds support the Tcl language
tcpd Adds support for TCP wrappers
test Workaround to pull in packages needed to run with FEATURES=test. Portage-2.1.2 handles this internally, so don't set it in make.conf/package.use anymore
tetex Adds support for teTeX (typesetting package)
theora Adds support for the Theora Video Compression Codec
threads Adds threads support for various packages. Usually pthreads
tidy Adds support for HTML Tidy
tiff Adds support for the TIFF image format
timidity Build with Timidity++ (MIDI sequencer) support
tk Adds support for Tk GUI toolkit
tokenizer Adds support for the PHP file parser
truetype Adds support for FreeType and/or FreeType2 fonts
uclibc Enable uclibc specific patches and build or link uclibc
unicode Adds support for Unicode
usb Adds USB support to applications that have optional USB support (e.g. cups)
v4l Enables video4linux support
v4l2 Enable video4linux2 support
vanilla Do not add extra patches which change default behaviour; DO NOT USE THIS ON A GLOBAL SCALE as the severity of the meaning changes drastically
vcd Video CD support
vhosts Adds support for installing web-based applications into a virtual-hosting environment
videos Install optional video files (used in some games)
vim-syntax Pulls in related vim syntax scripts
vnc Enable VNC (remote desktop viewer) support
voodoo3 Adds support for 3Dfx's Voodoo3 video chipset, else defaults to Voodoo4/5 support if not in USE
vorbis Adds support for the OggVorbis audio codec
wavpack Add support for wavpack audio compression tools
wddx Adds support for Web Distributed Data eXchange
wifi Enable wireless network functions
win32codecs use win32codecs package for dll avi decoding support (wmv and what not)
wmf Adds support for the Windows Metafile vector image format
wxwindows Adds support for wxWidgets/wxGTK GUI toolkit
x264 Enable h264 encoding using x264
xattr Adds support for extended attributes (filesystem-stored metadata)
xcb Support the X C-language Binding, a replacement for Xlib
xcomposite Enable support for the Xorg composite extension
xemacs Add support for XEmacs
xface Adds xface support used to allow a small image of xface format to be included in an email via the header 'X-Face'
xine Add support for the XINE movie libraries
xinerama Add support for the xinerama X11 extension, which allows you to stretch your display across multiple monitors
xinetd Add support for the xinetd super-server
xml Add support for XML files
xmlrpc Support for xml-rpc library
xosd Sends display using the X On Screen Display library
xpm Adds support for XPM graphics format
xprint Support for xprint, http://www.mozilla.org/projects/xprint/
xscreensaver Adds support for XScreenSaver extension
xsl Check/Support flag for XSL library (version 1)
xulrunner Build native browser integration against xulrunner instead of firefox or seamonkey
xv Adds in optional support for the Xvideo extension (an X API for video playback)
xvid Adds support for xvid.org's open-source mpeg-4 codec
yahoo Enable Yahoo Messenger IM protocol support
yaz Adds in optional support for the Z39.50 Protocol for Information Retrieval (YAZ)
zeroconf Support for DNS Service Discovery (DNS-SD)
zlib Adds support for zlib (de)compression

2.  Local Use Flags

Categories

app-accessibility app-admin app-arch app-backup app-benchmarks app-cdr
app-crypt app-dicts app-doc app-editors app-emacs app-emulation
app-forensics app-i18n app-laptop app-misc app-mobilephone app-office
app-pda app-portage app-shells app-text app-vim dev-cpp
dev-db dev-embedded dev-games dev-haskell dev-java dev-lang
dev-libs dev-lisp dev-ml dev-perl dev-php dev-php4
dev-php5 dev-python dev-ruby dev-scheme dev-tex dev-util
games-action games-arcade games-board games-emulation games-engines games-fps
games-kids games-mud games-roguelike games-rpg games-simulation games-sports
games-strategy gnome-base gnome-extra gnustep-apps gnustep-base kde-base
kde-misc mail-client mail-filter mail-mta media-fonts media-gfx
media-libs media-plugins media-sound media-tv media-video net-analyzer
net-dialup net-dns net-firewall net-fs net-ftp net-im
net-irc net-libs net-mail net-misc net-nds net-nntp
net-p2p net-print net-proxy net-voip net-wireless net-www
rox-base rox-extra sci-astronomy sci-biology sci-chemistry sci-electronics
sci-geosciences sci-libs sci-mathematics sci-misc sci-physics sci-visualization
sys-apps sys-auth sys-block sys-boot sys-cluster sys-devel
sys-freebsd sys-fs sys-kernel sys-libs sys-power sys-process
www-apache www-apps www-client www-misc www-servers x11-apps
x11-base x11-drivers x11-libs x11-misc x11-plugins x11-terms
x11-themes x11-wm xfce-base xfce-extra

app-accessibility

Package Flag Description
festival mbrola Adds support for mbrola voices
freetts jsapi build Java Speech API (JSAPI) support
mbrola Adds support for mbrola voices
gnome-speech freetts Adds support for the freetts speech driver
gnopernicus brltty Adds support for braille displays using brltty
speech-dispatcher flite Adds support for flite speech engine.

app-admin

Package Flag Description
conky audacious enable monitoring of audio tracks that are playing (media-sound/audacious)
bmpx enable monitoring of audio tracks that are playing (media-sound/bmpx)
mpd enable monitoring mpd controlled music (media-sound/mpd)
nano-syntax enable syntax highlighting for app-editors/nano
smapi enable support for smapi
diradm automount Support for automount data in LDAP
irixpasswd Support for storing separate IRIX passwords
gnome-system-tools nfs Adds support for NFS shares
lcap lids If you have the Linux Intrusion Detection System
prelude-manager tcpwrapper Add support for tcp_wrappers
rsyslog dbi Add support for logging into various databases through libdbi
relp Add support for the Reliable Event Logging Protocol
sdsc-syslog beep Use beep libraries (net-libs/roadrunner)
sshguard ipfilter Enable ipfilter firewall support (only for *bsd)
syslog-ng spoof-source Enable support for spoofed source addresses
testdisk ntfs Include the ability to read NTFS filesystems
reiserfs include reiserfs reading ability
webalizer xtended Include the 404 extension

app-arch

Package Flag Description
dump ermt encrypted rmt support
file-roller nautilus Enable plugin for integrating into nautilus
rpm file add magic file support
neon include support for neon

app-backup

Package Flag Description
amanda xfs Support for backing up raw XFS filesystems using xfsdump
bacula bacula-clientonly Disable DB support, and just build a client
bacula-console Build (GUI) console program(s)
bacula-nodir Disable building of director in 1.38.x and later.
bacula-nosd Disable building of storage daemon in 1.38.x and later.
bacula-split-init Use separate init scripts for fd/sd/dir
logrotate Install support files for logrotate
logwatch Install support files for logwatch
boxbackup client-only Disable server support, and just build a client
dar dar32 Enables --enable-mode=32 option, which replace infinint by 32 bits integers.
dar64 Enables --enable-mode=64 option, which replace infinint by 64 bits integers.
kdar dar32 Support libdar32.so to use.
dar64 Support libdar64.so to use.

app-benchmarks

Package Flag Description
bootchart acct Enable process accounting
jmeter beanshell Enable BeanShell scripting support

app-cdr

Package Flag Description
brasero beagle Enable Beagle support for searches.
gdl Enable gdl support for customisable GUI.
libburn Enable libburn backend.
totem Enable support for Totem playlists.
cdrdao gcdmaster Enable building of gcdmaster application
pccts Use dev-util/pccts instead of the built-in substitution.
cdrkit hfs Provide building of HFS (Apple) CD-images
disc-cover cdrom Enable audio CD support. This is not needed to make www-apps/disc-cover work.
k3b emovix Enable burning support for eMoviX images
mybashburn normalize Add support for normalizing audio file volume levels
serpentine muine Enable support for the GNOME music player Muine

app-crypt

Package Flag Description
ccid nousb Disable USB support via pcsc-lite
twinserial Enable twinserial reader
gnupg ecc Use elliptic curve cryptosystem patch
idea Use the patented IDEA algorithm
openct build using dev-libs/openct compatibility
pcsc-lite build with pcsc-lite
gpgme pth Enable support for GNU Portable Threads multithreading library
johntheripper custom-cflags Enables custom cflags (not supported)
ophcrack ophsmall Makes use of smaller cracking tables
seahorse applet Enable panel applet
epiphany Enable epiphany extension
gedit Enable the gedit plugin
nautilus Add support for nautilus file manager

app-dicts

Package Flag Description
aspell-be classic Support classic spelling by default
stardict espeak Enable text to speech synthesizer using espeak engine
festival Enable text to speech synthesizer using festival engine
gucharmap Enable gucharmap dictionary plugin
pronounce Install WyabdcRealPeopleTTS package (it is just many .wav files) to make StarDict pronounce English words
qqwry Enable QQWry plugin, which provides information (in Chinees language) about geographical position, owner, etc. for IP address

app-doc

Package Flag Description
doxygen nodot removes graphviz dependency, along with dot graphs
gimp-help webinstall optimize images for web installation (fewer colors, depends on imagemagick)

app-editors

Package Flag Description
cssed plugins Install plugin development files
emacs gzip-el Compress bundled Emacs Lisp source
hesiod Enable support for hesiod
leim Add support for Emacs input methods
sendmail Build Emacs with MTA support
sound Enable sound
toolkit-scroll-bars Use the selected toolkit's scrollbars in preference to Emacs' own scrollbars
emacs-cvs gzip-el Compress bundled Emacs Lisp source
hesiod Enable support for hesiod
sound Enable sound
toolkit-scroll-bars Use the selected toolkit's scrollbars in preference to Emacs' own scrollbars
xft Build Emacs with support for the XFT font renderer
fe sendmail Send mail after editor abend
gvim aqua Include support for the Aqua / Carbon GUI
netbeans Include netbeans externaleditor integration support
nextaw Include support for the neXtaw GUI
jasspa-microemacs nanoemacs Build NanoEmacs instead of MicroEmacs
joe xterm Enable full xterm clipboard support
jove unix98 Use the Unix98 pty's instead of the BSD pts's
katoob highlight Enable source code highlighting
nano justify Toggle the justify option ...
nvu moznoxft placeholder until mozilla eclass is modified for nvu
tea enchant Enable spell checking using enchant
hacking Enable hacking support...
vim vim-pager Install vimpager and vimmanpager links
vim-with-x Link console vim against X11 libraries to enable title and clipboard features in xterm
xemacs athena Chooses the MIT Athena widget set
dnd Enables support for the x11-libs/dnd drag-n-drop library
eolconv Support detection and translation of newline conventions.
hesiod Support Hesiod to get the POP server host
pop Support POP for mail retrieval
purify Support memory debugging using Purify
quantify Support performance debugging using Quantify
tooltalk Support the ToolTalk IPC protocol
xft Compile with support for Xft client-side font rendering and anti-aliasing
xim Enable X11 XiM input method
xmlcopyeditor guidexml Install GuideXML templates to work with Gentoo official docs

app-emacs

Package Flag Description
auctex preview-latex Use bundled preview-latex
bbdb tex Install plain TeX support files
delicious planner Include support for app-emacs/planner
easypg gnus Include support for the Gnus newsreader
emhacks jde Enable support for Java Development Environment
python-mode pymacs Enable Emacs extensions for Python as scripting language
remember bbdb Include support for app-emacs/bbdb
planner Include support for app-emacs/planner
vm bbdb Include support for app-emacs/bbdb
wanderlust bbdb Include support for app-emacs/bbdb

app-emulation

Package Flag Description
bochs debugger Enable the bochs debugger
e-uae capslib Add CAPS library support
sdl-sound Use media-libs/sdl-sound for audio output
emul-linux-x86-qtlibs immqt-bc Enable binary compatible version of immodule for Qt
fuse libdsk Enable support for the floppy disk emulation library
hercules custom-cflags Use CFLAGS from /etc/make.conf rather than the default package CFLAGS (not supported)
libvirt qemu Add support for QEMU/KVM-based virtual machines
xen Add support for Xen-based virtual machines
mol oldworld Includes Macintosh's OldWorld support
pci Experimental PCI proxy support
sheep Support for the sheep net driver
pearpc jit Use the JITC-X86 CPU
point2play emerald For people who are in the Transgaming Emerald Club
qemu-softmmu kqemu Enables the kernel module acceleration on the x86 cpu
uade audacious Enables support for media-sound/audacious
uae scsi Enable the uaescsi.device
sdl-sound Use libsdl for audio output
ui Build User Interface (could be gtk or ncurses based, depending on sdl, dga, svga, and aalib USE flags)
vice resid Enable support for ReSID
virtualbox additions Install Guest System Tools ISO
sdk Enable building of SDK
virtualbox-bin additions Install Guest System Tools ISO
chm Install help files and add chm reader dependency
sdk Enable building of SDK
vov gprof build vov with profiling support
wine gecko Add support for the Gecko engine when using iexplore
xen custom-cflags Use CFLAGS from /etc/make.conf rather than the default Xen CFLAGS (not supported)
pae Enable support for PAE kernels (usually x86-32 with >4GB memory)
xen-tools custom-cflags Use CFLAGS from /etc/make.conf rather than the default Xen CFLAGS (not supported)
hvm Enable support for hardware based virtualization (VT-x, AMD-v)
pygrub Install the pygrub boot loader
screen Enable support for running domain U consoles in a screen session

app-forensics

Package Flag Description
samhain login-watch Compile in the module to watch for login/logout events
mounts-check Compile in the module to check for correct mount options
netclient Compile a client, rather than a standalone version
netserver Compile a server, rather than a standalone version
suidcheck Compile in the module to check file system for SUID/SGID binaries
userfiles Compile in the module to check for files in user home directories
sleuthkit dbtool Add patch for dbtool interface from PyFlag

app-i18n

Package Flag Description
anthy ucs4 Enable ucs4 support
atokx2 ext-iiimf Link with the system IIIMF, rather than the bundled version
im-ja anthy Support for Anthy input method
skk Support for SKK input method
kimera anthy Support for Anthy input method
scim-cvs immqt Enable immodule for Qt support (binary incompatible)
immqt-bc Enable immodule for Qt support (binary compatible)
tomoe hyperestraier Enable hyperestraier support
uim anthy Support for Anthy input method
eb Enable EB support
prime Enable PRIME support
uim-svn anthy Enable anthy support
dict Build uim-dict (a dictionary utility for uim)
eb Enable EB support
fep Build uim-fep
immqt Enable immodule for Qt support

app-laptop

Package Flag Description
kthinkbat smapi Use extended ThinkPad battery info exported via SMAPI BIOS by app-laptop/tp_smapi"
pbbuttonsd ibam Enable support for Intelligent Battery Monitoring
macbook Enable support for the Macbook and Macbook Pro
tp_smapi hdaps Install a compatible HDAPS module
tpctl tpctlir enable support for thinkpad models 760 and 765

app-misc

Package Flag Description
beagle chm Enable indexing of MS HTML Help files (.chm)
epiphany Enable Epiphany Extension
galago Enable desktop presence via galago
inotify Enable inotify filesystem monitoring support
ole Enable ole support
thunderbird Enable Mozilla Thunderbird indexing
booh transcode Use transcode to extract video thumbnails
digitemp ds2490 Build support for the ds2490 sensor
ds9097 Build support for the ds9097 sensor
ds9097u Build support for the ds9097u sensor
g15composer amarok Enable display of titles played in Amarok
geneweb ocamlopt Enable ocamlopt support (ocaml native code compiler)
gpsdrive garmin Adds specific support for Garmin GPS receivers
graphlcd-base g15 Add support for g15daemon driver ( e.g Logitech G15 Keybord )
lcd-stuff mpd Add support for display of mpd controlled music
lcd4linux mpd Add support for display of mpd controlled music
lcdproc irman Enable support for IRMan
nfs Adds support for NFS file system
seamless-hbars Try to avoid gaps in horizontal bars
lirc hardware-carrier The transmitter device generates its clock signal in hardware
transmitter add transmitter support to some lirc-drivers (e.g. serial)
mc 7zip add support for 7zip archives
note general add support for ascii flatfile backend
text add support for text backend
pal ical Add support for converting ical format to pal
roadnav festival Enable festival support
flite Enable support for flite (festival-lite)
openstreetmap Enable openstreetmap support
scripting Enable scripting support
screen multiuser Enable multiuser support (by setting correct permissions)
nethack Express error messages in nethack style
sphinx stemmer Enable language stemming support for sphinx
strigi clucene Enable clucene backend support (recommended)
exiv2 Enable support for exif/iptc metadata (recommended)
hyperestraier Enable hyperestraier backend support (experimental)
inotify Enable support for inotify (experimental)
tablix pvm Add support for parallel virtual machine (http://www.epm.ornl.gov/pvm/pvm_home.html)
tomboy galago Add support for the galago desktop presence framework
towitoko moneyplex Makes libtowitoko work for the moneyplex home banking software
tracker applet Build tracker monitor applet
deskbar Build deskbar applet plugin
gsf Enable libgsf based data extractor
worker avfs Enable avfs support
workrave distribution Enable networking. See http://www.workrave.org/features/

app-mobilephone

Package Flag Description
gammu irda Enable infrared support
gnokii ical Enable libical support
irda Enable infrared support
sms Enable SMS support (build smsd)
kmobiletools gammu Enable the Gammu backend.
obex Enable obex transports.
obexftp swig Enable rebuild of swig bindings
smstools stats Enable statistic reporting
yaps capi Enable CAPI support

app-office

Package Flag Description
abiword-plugins grammar Enable grammar checking via grammar-link
math Enable gtkmathview support
ots Enable Text Summarizer plugin
thesaurus Enable thesaurus support
wordperfect Enable wordperfect file support via libwpd
dia gnome-print Gnome-Print support
gnucash chipcard Enable support for chipcard reading and processing.
hbci Enable HBCI support, for connecting to some internet banks
quotes Enable Online Stock Quote retrieval.
grisbi print Enable TeX and printing support
imposter iksemel Enable external iksemel parsing support.
kmymoney2 hbci Adds HBCI online banking support
mozilla-sunbird moznopango Disable pango during runtime
openoffice binfilter Enable support for legacy StarOffice 5.x and earlier file formats
odk Build the Office Development Kit
sound Enable sound support through portaudio and libsndfile
webdav Enable webdav support
rabbit gnome-print Gnome-Print support
gs Ghostscript support
tgif tgif support
texmacs netpbm Add NetPBM support
tpp figlet Installs app-misc/figlet to support the --huge command

app-pda

Package Flag Description
libopensync-plugin-irmc irda Enable IrDA support.
libopensync-plugin-syncml http Enable http transports.
obex Enable obex transports.
libsyncml http Enable http transports.
obex Enable obex transports.
multisync gnokii Address synchronization with mobile phones via Gnokii.
irmc Adds support for Mobile Client synchronization via IrDa/IrMC/Bluetooth (eg: SonyEricsson T39/T68i)
kdepim Adds support for KDEPIM sync.
nokia6600 Adds support for Nokia 6600.
synce-kde avantgo Adds support for syncing Avantgo accounts.

app-portage

Package Flag Description
conf-update colordiff Use colors when displaying diffs
gatt libpaludis Do some dependency resolution by using a Paludis interface
portato etc-proposals Use etc-proposals for updating CONFIG_PROTECTed stuff
userpriv Allow emerge processes as normal user

app-shells

Package Flag Description
bash bashlogger Log ALL commands typed into bash; should ONLY be used in restricted environments such as honeypots
plugins Add support for loading builtin's at runtime via `enable`
pdsh rsh This allows the use of rsh (remote shell) and rcp (remote copy) for authoring websites. sftp is a much more secure protocol and is preferred.
scsh scsh Use a non-FHS directory layout.
scsh-install-lib scsh Use a non-FHS directory layout.
shish diet Use dietlibc
tcsh catalogs Adds support for NLS catalogs

app-text

Package Flag Description
crm114 mew Add support for using the mewdecode mime decoder.
mimencode Adds support for using the mimencode mime
normalizemime Add support for using the normalizemime
evince dvi Enable the built-in DVI viewer for Evince
t1lib Enable the Type-1 fonts for the built-in DVI viewer for Evince
hyperestraier mecab Enable mecab support for Estraier
lcdf-typetools kpathsea Enable integration with kpathsea search library (TeX related)
namazu kakasi Enable kakasi support for namazu
noweb icon Enable icon language support for noweb
pdftk nodrm Decrypt a document with the user_pw even if it has an owner_pw set
sword icu Enable icu support for sword
lucene Enable lucene support for faster searching
sword-modules intl Enable different languages
texlive context Adds support for the ConTeXt format
cyrillic Adds support for Cyrillic
extra Adds support for extra TeXLive packages
games Adds typesetting support for games (chess, etc.)
graphics Adds support for several graphics packages (pgf,tikz,...)
humanities Adds LaTeX support for the humanities
jadetex Adds jadetex support (for processing tex files produced by the TeX backend of Jade)
music Adds support for music typesetting
omega Adds omega packages
pstricks Adds pstricks packages
publishers Adds support for publishers
science Adds typesetting support for natural and computer sciences
tex4ht Adds support for tex4ht (for converting (La)TeX to (X)HTML, XML and OO.org)
xetex Adds support for XeTeX macros
webgen builder Enable programmatic HTML/XML generation
exif Enable EXIF information in image galleries
highlight Enable syntax highlighting for certain plugins
markdown Markdown support
textile Textile support
thumbnail Thumbnail creation support using rmagick
xpdf nodrm Disable the drm feature decoder.

app-vim

Package Flag Description
gentoo-syntax ignore-glep31 Remove GLEP 31 (UTF-8 file encodings) settings
vcscommand svk Enable SVK support

dev-cpp

Package Flag Description
sptk aspell Enable Aspell support
excel Enable Excel support

dev-db

Package Flag Description
libpq pg-intdatetime Enables --enable-integer-datetimes configure option, which changes PG to use 64-bit integers for timestamp storage.
monetdb boehmgc enables Boehm Garbage Collector for XQuery
mysql big-tables Make tables contain up to 1.844E+19 rows
cluster Add support for NDB clustering.
embedded Build embedded server (libmysqld)
extraengine Add support for alternative storage engines.
latin1 Use LATIN1 encoding instead of UTF8.
max-idx-128 Raise the max index per table limit from 64 to 128
minimal Install client programs only, no server
raid deprecated option, removed in the 5.0 series
mysql-community big-tables Make tables contain up to 1.844E+19 rows
cluster Add support for NDB clustering.
embedded Build embedded server (libmysqld)
extraengine Add support for alternative storage engines.
latin1 Use LATIN1 encoding instead of UTF8.
max-idx-128 Raise the max index per table limit from 64 to 128
minimal Install client programs only, no server
pbxt Add experimental support for pbxt storage engine
mysql-gui-tools administrator Build and install MySQL Administrator
query-browser Build and install MySQL Query Browser
workbench Build and install MySQL Workbench
pgcluster pg-intdatetime Enables --enable-integer-datetimes configure option, which changes PG to use 64-bit integers for timestamp storage.
postgis geos Add the GEOS library for exact topological tests.
proj Add the Proj library for reprojection features.
postgresql pg-intdatetime Enables --enable-integer-datetimes configure option, which changes PG to use 64-bit integers for timestamp storage.
postgresql-base pg-intdatetime Enables --enable-integer-datetimes configure option, which changes PG to use 64-bit integers for timestamp storage.
postgresql-server uuid Enabled server side UUID generation (via dev-libs/ossp-uuid)
rekall xbase Support for the Xbase db family, covering dBase, Clipper, FoxPro, Visual dBase/Objects/FoxPro plus some older products.
sqlite nothreadsafe turn off thread safe operation of sqlite
soundex Enable the soundex function to compute soundex encodings of strings
threadsafe Enable thread safe operation of sqlite

dev-embedded

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Package Flag Description
openocd ft2232 Enable support for USB chips via libftd2xx
ftdi Enable support for USB FTDI chips