path: root/doc/layman.8.txt

LAYMAN(8)
=========
:man source:   layman {laymanversion}
:man manual:   layman {laymanversion}
Brian Dolbec <dolsen@gentoo.org>


NAME
----
layman - manage your local repository of Gentoo overlays


SYNOPSIS
--------
*layman* (*-a*|*--add*) (*ALL*|'OVERLAY')

*layman* (*-d*|*--delete*) (*ALL*|'OVERLAY')

*layman* (*-s*|*--sync*) (*ALL*|'OVERLAY')

*layman* (*-i*|*--info*) (*ALL*|'OVERLAY')

*layman* (*-S*|*--sync-all*)

*layman* (*-L*|*--list*)

*layman* (*-l*|*--list-local*)

*layman* (*-f*|*--fetch*)


DESCRIPTION
-----------
*layman* is a script that allows you to add, remove and update
Gentoo overlays from a variety of sources.

WARNING
~~~~~~~
*layman* makes it easy to retrieve and update overlays for Gentoo.
In addition it makes it TRIVIAL to break your system.

The Gentoo main 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.


OPTIONS
-------

ACTIONS
~~~~~~~
List of possible *layman* actions.

*-f*, *--fetch*::
    Fetches the remote list of overlays. You will usually NOT need
to explicitly 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*='OVERLAY'::
    Add 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*='OVERLAY'::
    Remove the given overlay from your locally installed overlays.
    Specify "ALL" to remove all overlays

*-s* 'OVERLAY', *--sync*='OVERLAY'::
    Update the specified overlay. Use "ALL" as parameter to
    synchronize all overlays

*-i* 'OVERLAY', *--info*='OVERLAY'::
    Display all available information about the specified overlay.

*-S*, *--sync-all*::
    Update all overlays. Shortcut for *-s ALL*.

*-L*, *--list*::
    List the contents of the remote list.

*-l*, *--list-local*::
    List the locally installed overlays.


OTHER OPTIONS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List of other available *layman* options.

*-c* 'PATH', *--config*='PATH'::
    Path to an alternative configuration file.

*-o* 'URL', *--overlays*='URL'::
    Specifies the location of additional overlay lists. You can use
    this flag several times and the specified URLs will get temporarily
    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://'. This option will only append the URL for this specific
    *layman* run - edit your config file to add a URL permanently.
    So this is useful for testing purposes.

*-n*, *--nofetch*::
    Prevents *layman* from automatically fetching the remote lists
    of overlays. The default behavior for *layman* is to update all
    remote lists if you run the sync, list or fetch operation.

*-k*, *--nocheck*::
-   When listing remote overlays (using *-L* or *--list*) *layman*
    no longer hides overlays, for which you lack the tools to use.
    By default, *layman* hides Git repositories if you do not have Git
    installed.  Same applies to Subversion, CVS and so forth.

-   Prevents *layman* from checking the remote lists of overlays for
    complete overlay definitions. The default behavior for *layman* is
    to reject overlays that do not provide a description or a contact
    attribute.


*-q*, *--quiet*::
    Makes *layman* completely quiet. In quiet mode child processes
    will be run with stdin closed to avoid running into infinite and
    blindly interactive sessions. Thus a child process may abort once
    it runs into an situation with need for human interaction.
    For example this might happen if your overlay resides in Subversion
    and the SSL certificate of the server needs manual acceptance.

*-v*, *--verbose*::
    Makes *layman* more verbose and you will receive a description of
    the overlays you can download.

*-N*, *--nocolor*::
    Remove color codes from the *layman* output.

*-Q* 'LEVEL', *--quietness*='LEVEL'::
    Makes *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.

*-p* 'LEVEL', *--priority*='LEVEL'::
    Use 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.


CONFIGURATION
-------------
*layman* reads configuration parameters from the file
'/etc/layman/layman.cfg' by default. This file provides seven possible
settings.

storage::
    Directory that will be used to store the overlays and all
    additional data *layman* needs. The default is '/var/lib/layman'.
    *layman* uses a location within the '/usr/portage' hierarchy
    instead of '/var' in order to store its data. This decision has
    been made to support network file systems. If you have your
    Gentoo tree on NFS or a similar file system and several
    machines access the same ebuild repository over the net it
    will be necessary to also provide all necessary *layman* data
    within the hierarchy of the tree. This way the overlays will
    also have to be synced at one location only.

cache::
    *layman* will store the downloaded global list of overlays here.
    The default is '%(storage)s/cache.xml'.

installed::
    *layman* will store the list of installed overlays here.
    The default is '%(storage)s/installed.xml'.

make.conf::
    This is the *portage* configuration file that *layman* will
    modify in order to make the new overlays available within
    *portage*. The default is '%(storage)s/make.conf'. You could
    also specify '/etc/portage/make.conf' directly. But that would mean
    that you have an external program trying to automatically
    set variables within this very central configuration file.
    Since I consider that dangerous I prefer having a very small
    external file that only contains the setting for
    *PORTDIR_OVERLAY*. This file is then sourced at the end of
    '/etc/portage/make.conf'. This is the reason why *layman* suggests running
    the following *after* it has been installed.

    echo 'source /var/lib/layman/make.conf' >> /etc/portage/make.conf




overlays::
    Specifies the URL for the remote list of all available overlays.
    The default is 'http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/overlays/repositories.xml'.
    You can specify several URLs here (one per line). The contents will
    get merged to a single list of overlays. This allows to add a personal
    collection of overlays that are not present in the global list.

proxy::
    Specify your proxy in case you have to use one.

nocheck::
    Set to "yes" if *layman* should stop worrying about overlays
    with missing a contact address or the description.

*NEW* Per repository type Add, Sync options.

bzr_addopts::
bzr_syncopts::
cvs_addopts::
cvs_syncopts::
...::
    These are command options to include in the commands sent to perform
    the desired action.

*NEW* Per repository type Post Add, Sync hooks.

bzr_postsync::
cvs_postsync::
darcs_postsync::
git_postsync::
...::
    These are commands that are run after each add, sync operation if they
    are defined.



HANDLING OVERLAYS
-----------------
*layman* intends to provide easy maintenance of Gentoo overlays
while not requiring any configuration.


OVERLAY LISTS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*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 is a
centralized list available at
'http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/overlays/repositories.xml'
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 path names in standard URL notation with 'file://'.
*New* is the ability to just add an overlay definition to /etc/layman/overlays/
 some-overlay.xml and it will be automatically available for actions such as
  add, delete, info...  (see below for file format details)

If you need to use a proxy for access to the Internet, you can use
the corresponding variable in the *layman* configuration file.
*layman* will also respect the *http_proxy* environment variable in case you set it.


LOCAL CACHE
~~~~~~~~~~~
*layman* stores a local copy of the fetched remote list.
It will be stored in '/var/lib/layman/cache.xml' by default.
There exists only one such cache file and it will be overwritten
every time you run *layman*.


HANDLING /ETC/PORTAGE/MAKE.CONF
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Since *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/portage/make.conf' file.
But '/etc/portage/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/portage/make.conf'.

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/portage/make.conf' file. Just add the following line to the end of
your '/etc/portage/make.conf' file:

-------------------------------------------
source /var/lib/layman/make.conf
-------------------------------------------

'/var/lib/layman/make.conf' is the default provided in the *layman*
configuration. Change this file name 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.


ADDING, REMOVING AND UPDATING OVERLAYS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.


LIST OVERLAYS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*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 behavior
has been added with *layman* 1.0.7 and if you'd like to return to
the old behavior you may use the k option flag or set the nocheck
option in the configuration file.


SEARCHING EBUILDS IN OVERLAYS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can search through the ebuilds available in the overlays on
'http://overlays.gentoo.org/' by using *eix*. Emerge the package and
run:

    update-eix-remote update

Alternatively, you can browse overlays that you have not installed
on 'http://gpo.zugaina.org/'.


OVERLAY TYPES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Currently *layman* supports overlays that are exported via *rsync*,
*CVS*, *subversion*, *bzr*, *darcs*, *git*, *mercurial* or provided as *tar*
packages.  It also supports the generated overlay type *g-common* installed
with the g-cran package (at time of this writing, only available in the science
 overlay).


OVERLAY LISTS
-------------

OVERLAY LIST FORMAT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Layman uses a central list of overlays in XML format. The file looks
like this:

Example 1. An example overlays.xml file

-------------------------------------------
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE repositories SYSTEM "/dtd/repositories.dtd">
<repositories xmlns="" version="1.0">
<repo quality="experimental" status="official">
    <name>gnome</name>
    <description>experimental gnome ebuilds</description>
    <homepage>http://git.overlays.gentoo.org/gitweb/?p=proj/gnome.git;a=summary</homepage>
    <owner type="project">
        <email>gnome@gentoo.org</email>
        <name>GNOME herd</name>
    </owner>
    <source type="git">git://git.overlays.gentoo.org/proj/gnome.git</source>
    <source type="git">http://git.overlays.gentoo.org/gitroot/proj/gnome.git</source>
    <source type="git">git+ssh://git@git.overlays.gentoo.org/proj/gnome.git</source>
    <feed>http://git.overlays.gentoo.org/gitweb/?p=proj/gnome.git;a=atom</feed>
    <feed>http://git.overlays.gentoo.org/gitweb/?p=proj/gnome.git;a=rss</feed>
</repo>
</repositories>
-------------------------------------------


ADDING AN OVERLAY LOCALLY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Simply create an overlay list in the format described above and run
*layman* with the -o switch. You need to prepend local file URLs
with 'file://'.  *New* is the ability to just add an overlay definition like
 the above to /etc/layman/overlays/some-overlay.xml and it will be
 automatically available for actions such as add, delete, info...


ADDING AN OVERLAY GLOBALLY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The global list of overlays used by *layman* lies at
'http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/overlays/repositories.xml'.

All Gentoo developers have access to this location via CVS and
can modify the list of overlays.

If you are not a Gentoo developer but wish to get your overlay
listed you should contact the Gentoo Overlays team at
<overlays@gentoo.org>. You can also join *#gentoo-overlays* on
irc.freenode.net.


EXAMPLES
--------

INSTALLING AN OVERLAY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-------------------------------------------
layman -f -a wrobel
-------------------------------------------

This would add the overlay with the id wrobel to your list of
installed overlays.


SYNCING YOUR OVERLAYS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-------------------------------------------
layman -s ALL
-------------------------------------------

This updates all overlays


PERFORMING SEVERAL ACTIONS AT THE SAME TIME
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-------------------------------------------
layman -f -a wrobel -a webapps-experimental
-------------------------------------------

This fetches the remote list and immediately adds two overlays


FILES
-----
'/etc/layman/layman.cfg'::
    Configuration file, holding the defaults for *layman*
'/var/lib/layman/make.conf'::
    Configuration file that layman modifies to
    register the installed overlay(s) with the package manager


AUTHORS
-------
- Gunnar Wrobel <wrobel@gentoo.org> (original, retired)
- Sebastian Pipping <sping@gentoo.org>
- Brian Dolbec <brian.dolbec@gmail.com>


REPORTING BUGS
--------------
Please report bugs you might find at 'http://bugs.gentoo.org/'.  Thank you!


SEE ALSO
--------
make.conf(5), eix(1)