Table of Contents
layman — manage your local repository of gentoo overlays
layman [-a] | [--add] [ALL] | [overlay]
layman [-d] | [--delete] [ALL] | [overlay]
layman [-s] | [--sync] [ALL] | [overlay]
layman [-S] | [--sync-all]
layman [-L] | [--list]
layman [-l] | [--list-local]
layman [-f] | [--fetch]
layman [-n] | [--nofetch]
layman [-k] | [--nocheck]
layman [-q] | [--quiet]
layman [-Q] | [--quietness] [0-4]
layman is a script that allows you to add, remove and update gentoo overlays from a variety of sources.
layman makes it easy to retrieve and update overlays for gentoo. In addition it makes it TRIVIAL to break your system.
The main portage tree provides you with high quality ebuilds that are all maintained by gentoo developers. This will not be the case for most of the overlays you can get by using layman. Thus you are removing the security shield that the standard tree provides for you. You should keep that in mind when installing ebuilds from an overlay.
To ensure the security of your system you MUST read the source of the ebuild you are about to install.
layman intends to provide easy maintenance of gentoo overlays while not requiring any configuration.
layman allows you to fetch an overlay
without the need to modify any configuration files. In
order for this to be possible the script needs an external
list of possible overlay sources. There will be a
centralized list available here,
but nothing will prevent you from using or publishing your
own list of overlays. The location of the remote lists can
also be modified using the --overlays option
when running layman.
To get a new overlay added to the central list provided
for layman, send a mail to
<overlays@gentoo.org>. Gentoo developers may
add their overlay entries directly into the list which can
be accessed over the CVS repository for the Gentoo
website.
You can also use several lists at the same time. Just add one url per line to the overlays variable in your configuration file. layman will merge the contents of all lists.
layman also allows you to define
local files in this list. Just make sure you prepend these
pathnames in standard URL notation
with file://.
If you need to use a proxy for access to the internet, you can use the corresponding variable in the layman configuration file.
layman stores a local copy of the
fetched remote list. It will be stored in
/usr/portage/local/layman/cache.xml
by default. There exists only one such cache file and it
will be overwritten every time you
run layman.
/etc/make.confSince layman is designed to
automatically handle the inclusion of overlays into your
system it needs to be able to modify
the PORTDIR_OVERLAY variable in your
/etc/make.conf file. But
/etc/make.conf is a very central and
essential configuration file for a gentoo
system. Automatically modifying this file would be
somewhat dangerous. You can
allow layman to do this by setting
the make_conf variable in the
configuration file to /etc/make.conf.
(This may be necessary if you use tools like eix alongside
with layman. See Bug #132874)
A much safer and in fact recommended solution to the
problem is to let layman handle an
external file that only contains
the PORTDIR_OVERLAY variable and is
sourced within the
standard /etc/make.conf file. Just add the following line to the end of your
/etc/make.conf file:
source /usr/portage/local/layman/make.conf
/usr/portage/local/layman/make.conf
is the default provided in the layman
configuration. Change this filename in case you decide to
store it somewhere else.
The file does not necessarily need to exist at the beginning. If it is missing, layman will create it for you.
There is also no need to remove the original PORTDIR_OVERLAY variable from the make.conf file. Layman will simply add new overlays to this variable and all your old entries will remain in there.
Once a remote list of overlays has been fetched, layman allows to add overlays from the remote list to your system. The script will try to fetch the overlay. If this is successful the overlay information will be copied from the cache to the list of locally installed overlays. In addition layman will modify the PORTDIR_OVERLAY variable to include the new overlay path.
Removing the overlay with layman will delete the overlay without leaving any traces behind.
In order to update all overlays managed by
layman you can run the script with the
--sync ALL option or
the --sync-all flag.
layman provides the
--list and --list-local
options to print a list of available respectively
installed overlays.
Listing will prepend all fully supported overlays with a green asterisk, all non-official overlays with a yellow asterisk and all overlays that you will not be able to use since you do not have the necessary tools installed with a red asterisk.
In the default mode layman will be strict about listing overlays and only present you with overlays that are fully supported. In addition it will complain about overlays that are missing a description field or a contact attribute. This type of behaviour has been added with layman-1.0.7 and if you'd like to return to the old behaviour you may use the k option flag or set the nocheck option in the configuration file.
List of possible layman actions.
-f, --fetchFetches the remote list of overlays. You will usually NOT need to explicitely specify this option. The fetch operation will be performed automatically once you run the sync, sync-all, or list action. You can prevent this automatic fetching using the --nofetch option.
-a overlay, --add overlayAdd the given overlay from the cached remote list to your locally installed overlays. Specify "ALL" to add all overlays from the remote list.
-d overlay, --delete overlayRemove the given overlay from your locally installed overlays. Specify "ALL" to remove all overlays
-s overlay, --sync overlayUpdate the specified overlay. Use "ALL" as parameter to synchronize all overlays
-S, --sync-allUpdate all overlays. Shortcut for -s ALL.
-L, --listList the contents of the remote list.
-l, --list-localList the locally installed overlays.
List of available layman options.
-c path, --config pathPath to an alternative configuration file.
-o url, --overlays urlSpecifies the location of additional overlay lists. You can use this flag several times and the specified urls will get appended to the list of urls you specified in your config file. You may also specify local file urls by prepending the path with file://
-n, --nofetchPrevents layman from automatically fetching the remote lists of overlays. The default behaviour for layman is to update all remote lists if you run the sync, list or fetch operation.
-k, --nocheckPrevents layman from checking the remote lists of overlays for complete overlay definitions. The default behaviour for layman is to reject overlays that do not provide a description or a contact attribute.
-q, --quietMakes layman completely quiet. This option is dangerous: If the processes spawned by layman when adding or synchronizing overlays require any input layman will hang without telling you why. This might happen for example if your overlay resides in subversion and the SSL certificate of the server needs acceptance.
-QLEVEL, --quietnessLEVELMakes layman less verbose. Choose a value between 0 and 4 with 0 being completely quiet. Once you set this below 3, the same warning as given for --quiet applies.
-pLEVEL, --priorityLEVELUse this option in combination with the --add. It will modify the priority of the added overlay and thus influence the order of entries in the make.conf file. The lower the priority, the earlier in the list the entry will be mentioned. Use a value between 0 and 100. The default value is 50.