===NOTE=== If you're _truly_ interested in what config does/supports currently, look at conf_default_types. lot of info there. This is general idea of it, actual code/current intentions may differ. ~harring ===BACK TO YOUR PREVIOUSLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING=== win.ini style format (no you cannot burn me at the stake for this, but you're free to try). sections that define type are acted upon. no type definition, and the section is ignored unless explicitly inherited if type is defined, exempting configs type, class must be defined. extra options are handed off to the class for initialization repository for example, [rsync repo] type = repo class = portage.ebuild.repository location = /usr/portage each section is capable of specifying inherit targets. inherit's specify the base section to pull in, and override. depending on the top level type, certain settings may be specified as incrementals. use flags fex, are incremental. few words on each section (note the type of the section is declared explicitly, otherwise it's just a config 'group' that is only used by inherit's) [repo] class defaults to portage.ebuild.repository REPO_LABEL is automatically defined for all cache instances. frozen is a boolean, specifies if cache staleness is corrected, or errored out. can (and is advisable for rsync) specify a sync_cache. this cache is instantiated after a sync, the normal cache's cloned (contents) to it on sync. if repo is sync'd, it must drop it's assumptions about the current tree. In other words, you update it, it forgets what it knows, and starts mapping things out again. Repo must be _totally_ live, no "pardon, reinstantiate it after syncing". Shouldn't be hard via IndexableSequence; just add a method (forget?) that wipes any internal caches to the repo. remote repo's, unless caching, shouldn't suffer this and should just set .forget to lambda : True [sync] can only be bound to a repo. must specify class [cache] must specify class REPO_LABEL is available; it's the repo 'label' (section, really) that the cache is associated with (repo specifies this) if no path is specified, assumed path is portage's base cache path, usually /var/cache/edb/dep can only be bound to a repo [config] if a class is specified, the class must be a callable, and will be handed that sections config. the config section that defines a class is removed, and the config(s?) returned by the callable are inserted into the global config. returned types are marked as configs (eg, can't slip a domain in via this route). [domain] config(s?) specified must be type=config class is optional. if it's not specified, it's assumed to be a stand alone domain (think root="/", normal keywords). if class is specified, it's passed the remaining config options, with the global config passed as the first arg (positional) why allow class? cause it can be used to setup/specify interdomain dependencies, requiring the toolchain for ppc on an x86 system for example, or being abused for doing interdomain deps for chroot domains. obviously that stuff needs to be worked out, but this 'hook' should allow it. fun fun. [exec] the fun one. post parsing the config file that holds a type=exec section, _all_ exec sections are one by one removed and executed. valid 'commands' is include = some-other-file don't try including a file multiple times. cyclic detection will need to be implemented at some point. if class is specified for an exec type, it's the path to a callable that returns a global level config, and the existing global level config is updated with the returned config (iow, exec can override what's defined in the file) Instantiating repos/caches/syncs/etc occurs on demand, as needed, with the exception of exec sections. In other words, the config *could* have errors in it, but they won't be hit till the config is totally initialized. Secondary tool (simple bugger) that just requests all domains/repos from the config would handle this; would force full parsing of the config (including all package.*), and would chuck errors if encountered. Otherwise, for sanity/speed sake, config is executed/instantiated as needed determined by caller requests. What does the class see for instantiation? dependant on the type of the section. config parser knows to remove package.use, package.keywords, package.mask, package.unmask, and allowed_merges, which name file(s) that are parsed, and used for a visibility wrapper of the repo. Any slaving of repo's to a repo that defines visibility wrappers gets the wrapped repo, not the raw repo. All package.* are effectively location types, meaning they're (currently) file paths, with %(CONFIG_PATH)/ assumed That assumption may change however. remaining options after any mangling above are handed to the class type specified for a section. so portage.ebuild.repository.__init__ will get basedir="/usr/portage" for a dict arg. (Example above) allowed_merges file Specifies atoms that control what can be merged. Think of it as either the uber "you ain't merging this bubba" for vdb (not very useful), or, bit more useful, list of atoms that are binpkg'd, specifiable per merge_target repo. can't apply it to an ebuild repo, can apply it to a binpkg/rpm repo though. package.*, visibility wrappers. A repo class *also* can, and likely will define it's own visibility wrappers, as will the config (ACCEPT_KEYWORDS). Minor design note; wrappers take away from repo.match's capabilities to hand off crap to a potentially faster resolver remotely (consider situation where the repo is a rdbms; visibility filter can be handed off to pl/sql funcs or massive where clause) determination of whether or not a repo defines it's own global visibility filter is done via inspection of the repo class- repo.visibility_config If set to False, niadda, otherwise it is either a callable that returns, or is already, a config object. In other words, the repo on initialization is _raw_, callers must instantiate the visibility wrapper (this is a candidate for api wrapping) The wrapper is given an instantiated repository instance (or possibly a callable that returns it, this isn't set in stone however) as first arg, Wrapper should/will be smart enough to filter out restrictions that don't apply to that repo. possibly after category is mapped, drop restrictions that don't match categories. Debatable. Not debatable, filter out restrictions that are domain/repo specific, eg, don't hold onto a restriction for repo xyz when you're wrapping abc. visibility wrappers are *not* added if repo.allow_visibility_filtering exists, and is true. VDB doesn't need a visibility wrapper, and shouldn't be allowed wrapped. Config should/will know not to attempt this, but checks within the visibility wrapper should assert this also. profiles if profile is specified, creates repo visibility wrappers to work with it. implicit implication is that you can specify a profile per actual repository. not sure about this. can also specify it per config, and per domain. profile is specified per config. all sections can specify an 'inherit' target(s), which is a section to pull values from, and override. MAKE.CONF BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY assumes /etc/make.profile points at a valid profile , which is used to define the profile for the config. make.conf is read, and converted into a config section, all of this is bound under a default domain with root="/". PORTDIR is removed and used for ebuild repo's location PORTDIR_OVERLAY is removed, and sections are created for each, slaving them to PORTDIR, creating a final repositorySet that binds them together. /etc/portage/package.* is used as a visibility wrapper on repositorySet. if FEATURES="binpkg" is defined, then a binpkg repository section is generated, and PKGDIR is removed and used as location for the repository. defaults are lifted from /usr/share/portage/defaults.config ; basically make.global, but in the new config format, and treated as a non-modifiable data file, and stored elsewhere Note that effectively make.conf's existance just serves to mangle defaults.config. it's a mapping of old options into new, with all unknown options being used as config fodder (literally, default config section gets 'em).