Just a question about packages

[davidvsgoliath]

Yes, I have used Gentoo for 2 years now and I gave Sabayon a try for my laptop and I, as a always do on gentoo, tried to update all packages with:
emerge --sync
emerge -avDu world

And this resolved in a lot of hard masked packages so my question is: Do Sabayon use a lot of packages that is "unstable" and hard masked in a standard install?

[WarraWarra]

Yes.
Answer in /etc/make.conf
Look for x86 or ~x86 , x86 = stable only latest anything , ~x86 = unstable anything in testing unless it is so unstable and removed from portage and masked or something like this in the sabayon overlay if I understand this correctly.

If you get the 3.4 mini then likely the only things a normal user might want to mess with is what he needs software wise + firefox + java + netscape-flash need to be updated.
The rest is as good as it gets + the ~x86 and adding too many updates can and will break the system. We tried to make a few update guides mostly Wolfden made them as he has been successfull at updating and keeping it working under this circumstances. Over excesive updating like we used to do in windows is not a good idea unless you know what you are doing unless a security bug.

If you remove the ~x86 and replace with x86 then stable + working etc but might loose compiz and several other stuff that makes sabayon sabayon instead of gentoo as many of teh stuff we use is still beta / testing and being fine tuned.

Hope this helps but check with wiki's and other stuff as I am not 100% sure about this but sounds about right.

[fenius]

to change package keywords to stable removing the ~ before your cpu arch follow these steps in the wiki:
http://wiki.sabayonlinux.org/index.php? ... e_Packages
I think it's a good idea doing it before world updating and if you mask right things you'll be able to keep compiz working just as i did: you have to avoid updating it if you want to keep it as it is, or you can just follow wolfden howto about updating it to the unstable "bleeding edge" version and it's going to work again.

First things to do after a fresh SabayonLinux miniedition 3.4 install:

1) Edit make.conf:
adjust cflags to fit the needs of your cpu architecture
switch form test to stable package keyword: in my case from ~x86 to x86
USE flags: delete obsolete ones and, if necessary, add needed ones
video-cards flags: delete obsolete ones

2) Follow wolfden howto about switching form an unstable to a stable system (wiki) and remove unnecessary ones (in my case ati-drivers, etc...)

3) Follow wolfden Unoffical Guide To World Update (wiki)
recompile system and world
restart computer OK
revdep-rebuild
restart computer OK
sync portage and overlays
mask unstable packages if necessary (dhcp, xorg-server, xorg-x11, compiz, etc...) but changing from test to stable package keyword in make.conf before may result in this step being redundant
update system
restart computer OK
update world
revdep-rebuild
restart computer OK

4) Install packages:
polyester
genlop
eix
opera
klamav
skype (unmasked ~)
amsn (unmasked ~)
amule adunanza (patched)
gimp
inkscape
cinelerra-cvs (unmasked ~)
nvu
netbeans
wine and wine-doors (unmasking necessary packages)
revdep-rebuild
everything works great!!!

offcousre I had to take care of some blocks while system and world updating:
##System: -NDauv
[blocks B ] sys-auth/pam_console (is blocking sys-libs/pam-0.78-r5)
[blocks B ] <sys-fs/device-mapper-1.02.19-r1 (is blocking sys-fs/udev-114)
[blocks B ] sys-auth/pam_userdb (is blocking sys-libs/pam-0.78-r5)

masked <sys-libs/pam-0.99.7.1
merged sys-fs/device-mapper-1.02.19-r1

Total: 63 packages (56 upgrades, 1 downgrade, 1 new, 1 in new slot, 4 reinstalls), Size of downloads: 125,276 kB

Needed to edit /etc/conf.d/xdm: DISPLAYMANAGER="kdm" after etc-update

##World: -NDauv
emerge -C linux-wlan-ng (I don't need it)

[blocks B ] app-crypt/libgssapi (is blocking net-libs/libgssglue-0.1)
[blocks B ] <media-libs/gst-plugins-bad-0.10.5 (is blocking media-libs/gst-plugins-good-0.10.6)

masked =media-libs/gst-plugins-good-0.10.6
emerge -C app-crypt/libgssapi

Total: 433 packages (153 upgrades, 3 downgrades, 239 new, 1 in new slot, 37 reinstalls), Size of downloads: 626,463 kB

Must say thanks to wolfden my learning curve is growing faster and faster... I'm so impressed about this distro and its growing community... thank you all guys