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VOOZH | about |
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VOOZH | about |
eselect is a tool for administration and configuration on Gentoo systems. It modifies the system's behavior and should be used with care by the system administrator. eselect is a modular framework for writing configuration utilities, consisting of:
A module provides several actions. Actions typically either display some information (list and show actions are common) or update the system somehow (for example, set and update). Each module also provides help and usage actions which explain how to use the module.
To list all currently installed modules, run eselect without any arguments. See also the eselect user guide.
Deployments of Gentoo Linux should already have eselect installed, as the app-admin/eselect package is part of the system set.
doc
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Add extra documentation (API, Javadoc, etc). It is recommended to enable per package instead of globally |
emacs
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Add support for GNU Emacs |
vim-syntax
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Pulls in related vim syntax scripts |
After changing USE flags just for the eselect package, rebuild eselect for the new flags to be applied. As eselect is in the system set, --oneshot should be used to avoid adding it to the world file:
root #emerge --ask --changed-use --oneshot app-admin/eselectAfter changing any global USE flags in make.conf that affect the eselect package, emerge world to update to the new USE flags:
root #emerge --ask --verbose --update --deep --newuse @worldInstall an eselect module just like any other package. For example, for the app-eselect/eselect-repository module:
root #emerge --ask --verbose app-eselect/eselect-repositorySome modules will be pulled in when installing packages that depend on them.
See the modules section for information on finding optional modules for installation.
Just running eselect, or eselect help for a little more information, will provide usage information and list all installed modules and their function:
root #eselect helpUsage: eselect <global options> <module name> <module options>
Global options:
--brief Make output shorter
--colour=<yes|no|auto> Enable or disable colour output (default 'auto')
Built-in modules:
help Display a help message
usage Display a usage message
version Display version information
Extra modules:
arptables Manage the iptables/arptables/ebtables symlinks
binutils Manage installed versions of sys-devel/binutils
cdparanoia Manage /usr/bin/cdparanoia implementation
ctags Manage /usr/bin/ctags implementations
ebtables Manage the iptables/arptables/ebtables symlinks
editor Manage the EDITOR environment variable
emacs Manage /usr/bin/emacs version
env Manage environment variables set in /etc/env.d/
etags Manage /usr/bin/etags implementations
fontconfig Manage fontconfig /etc/fonts/conf.d/ symlinks
gcc Manage installed versions of sys-devel/gcc
gnuclient Manage /usr/bin/gnuclient implementations
iptables Manage the iptables/arptables/ebtables symlinks
kernel Manage the /usr/src/linux symlink
locale Manage the LANG environment variable
lua Manage lua symlinks
modules Query eselect modules
mpg123 Manage /usr/bin/mpg123 implementation
news Read Gentoo ("GLEP 42") news items
notify-send Manage /usr/bin/notify-send implementation
pager Manage the PAGER environment variable
pinentry Manage /usr/bin/pinentry implementation
postgresql Manage active PostgreSQL client applications and libraries
profile Manage the make.profile symlink
rc Manage /etc/init.d scripts in runlevels
repository Manage repository list in repos.conf
rust Manage the Rust compiler versions
sh Manage /bin/sh (POSIX shell) implementations
vi Manage /usr/bin/vi implementations
visual Manage the VISUAL environment variable
wxwidgets Manage the system default wxWidgets profile
Gentoo has tens of eselect modules available, to automate various system configuration tasks. Several modules allow to select between optional subsytems, such as which installed vi editor package to use or which emacs distribution to be default.
Some modules are shipped by default with eselect, while other modules can be installed from the Gentoo repository.
To list all modules currently installed, run eselect without any arguments.
These modules are maintained as part of the eselect project, so they should be available as long as the app-admin/eselect package is installed.
Manage the iptables/arptables/ebtables symlinks. Because sys-apps/iproute2 is part of the system set, app-eselect/eselect-iptables is often pulled in by the dependency graph, to provide these modules.
user $eselect arptables helpManage the iptables/arptables/ebtables symlinks Usage: eselect arptables <action> <options> Standard actions: help Display help text usage Display usage information version Display version information Extra actions: list List available arptables symlink targets set Set a new arptables symlink target target Target name or number (from 'list' action) show Show the current arptables symlink unset Unset arptables symlink targets
Manage installed versions of sys-devel/binutils. This module is not provided as part of the app-admin/eselect package, but is from sys-devel/binutils-config, a dependency of sys-devel/binutils. As sys-devel/binutils is part of the system set, eselect binutils should be available on all Gentoo systems.
user $eselect binutils helpManage installed versions of sys-devel/binutils Usage: eselect binutils <action> <options> Standard actions: help Display help text usage Display usage information version Display version information Extra actions: list List all installed version of binutils set <target> Activate one of the installed binutils target Target name or number (from 'list' action) show Print the currently active binutils version
Manage the EDITOR environment variable, this determines what many CLI programs will run to edit text files.
See also the visual module section.
user $eselect editor helpManage environment variables set in /etc/env.d.
user $eselect env helpManage environment variables set in /etc/env.d/ Usage: eselect env <action> <options> Standard actions: help Display help text usage Display usage information version Display version information Extra actions: update <noldconfig> Collect environment variables from all scripts in /etc/env.d/ noldconfig Do not alter the ld.so cache or configuration.
Manage installed versions of sys-devel/gcc. Because sys-devel/gcc is part of the system set, sys-devel/gcc-config will be pulled in, providing this module.
user $eselect gcc helpManage installed versions of sys-devel/gcc Usage: eselect gcc <action> <options> Standard actions: help Display help text usage Display usage information version Display version information Extra actions: list List all installed version of gcc set <target> Activate one of the installed gcc target Target name or number (from 'list' action) show Print the currently active gcc version
See also upgrading GCC.
The /usr/src/linux symlink should point to the currently running kernel, this can be done with eselect.
user $eselect kernel helpManage the /usr/src/linux symlink Usage: eselect kernel <action> <options> Standard actions: help Display help text usage Display usage information version Display version information Extra actions: list List available kernel symlink targets set <target> Set a new kernel symlink target target Target name or number (from 'list' action) show Show the current kernel symlink
See setting the kernel link with eselect.
Manage the LANG environment variable, this sets the system language for users, date formats etc.
user $eselect locale helpManage the LANG environment variable Usage: eselect locale <action> <options> Standard actions: help Display help text usage Display usage information version Display version information Extra actions: list List available targets for the LANG variable set <target> Set the LANG variable in profile target Target name or number (from 'list' action) show Show value of the LANG variable in profile
See the handbook, localization guide and UTF-8 article.
Query eselect modules.
user $eselect modules helpQuery eselect modules Usage: eselect modules <action> <options> Standard actions: help Display help text usage Display usage information version Display version information Extra actions: has <module> Return true if the module is installed, and false otherwise list List all available modules --only-names Output names of modules only
Read Gentoo ("GLEP 42") news items. It is important to read and follow these, when they are shown after a Gentoo ebuild repository synchronization.
user $eselect news helpRead Gentoo ("GLEP 42") news items
Usage: eselect news <action> <options>
Standard actions:
help Display help text
usage Display usage information
version Display version information
Extra actions:
count Display number of news items
new Count unread news items (default)
all Count all news items
list List news items
purge Purge read news
read <item>... Read news items
--mbox Output in mbox format
--quiet Suppress output, only change status
--raw Output in raw format
new Read unread news items (default)
all Read all news items
item Item name or number (from 'list' action)
unread <item>... Mark read news items as unread again
all Mark all news items as unread
item Item name or number (from 'list' action)
Manage the PAGER environment variable, this will influence what programs will use to display pages of text to the user.
user $eselect pager helpManage the PAGER environment variable Usage: eselect pager <action> <options> Standard actions: help Display help text usage Display usage information version Display version information Extra actions: list List available targets for the PAGER variable set <target> Set the PAGER variable in profile target Target name or number (from 'list' action) show Show value of the PAGER variable in profile update Update the PAGER variable if it is unset or invalid
Manage the make.profile symlink, this is an important configuration item for Portage, and for the whole system.
user $eselect profile helpManage the make.profile symlink Usage: eselect profile <action> <options> Standard actions: help Display help text usage Display usage information version Display version information Extra actions: list List available profile symlink targets set <target> Set a new profile symlink target target Target name or number (from 'list' action) --force Forcibly set the symlink show Show the current make.profile symlink
See handbook, and the article about switching profiles.
The eselect rc module, and thus its corresponding rc-config command, are deprecated as of version 1.4.30 (2025-03-22).
This module was used to manage OpenRC scripts, the rc-update, rc-service or rc-status commands can be used instead.
Manage the VISUAL environment variable, to set the default text editor for capable terminals.
See also the editor module section.
user $eselect visual helpManage the VISUAL environment variable Usage: eselect visual <action> <options> Standard actions: help Display help text usage Display usage information version Display version information Extra actions: list List available targets for the VISUAL variable set <target> Set the VISUAL variable in profile target Target name or number (from 'list' action) show Show value of the VISUAL variable in profile update Update the VISUAL variable if it is unset or invalid
Additional modules for eselect are available from the Gentoo ebuild repository.
Some of these modules will be pulled-in as dependencies when associated packages are installed, so it may not be required to emerge these specifically. Once installed, these modules can be used with eselect <module> commands, similarly to the default modules.
Here are some of the modules documented in the wiki: