from small one page howto to huge articles all in one place

search text in:




Other .linuxhowtos.org sites: www.linuxhowtos.org
toolsntoys.linuxhowtos.org



Last additions:
How to make X listen on port 6000

How to make X listen on port 6000

words:

34

views:

84074

userrating:

average rating: 1.2 (52 votes) (1=very good 6=terrible)


May, 25th 2007:
April, 26th 2007:
Apr, 10th. 2007:
Druckversion . pdf icon
You are here: Tips&Tricks

Querying Portage with etcat

This tip shows you how to use the etcat command to retrieve information on Portage, USE flags, package versions, and much more.

While there are other package query utilities such as qpkg or epm, etcat has some unique features. Some of these features include the ability to display the amount of disk space a particular package is using, the USE flags the package was compiled with, and the versions available for a package.

The first step is installing the app-admin/gentoolkit package from Portage. This installs etcat (among other utilities) to /usr/bin/.

Code Listing 1: Getting etcat>

# emerge app-admin/gentoolkit

To view the size of the package, use etcat size [package].

Code Listing 2: Displaying the size of a package

# etcat size mozilla
[ Results for search key : mozilla ]
[ Applications found : 4 ]  
  
 Only printing found installed programs.  
  
* mozilla-firebird-bin-0.5  
           Total Files : 338  
            Total Size : 20925.18 KB  
* mozilla-1.3-r1  
           Total Files : 3155  
            Total Size : 52073.05 KB  
  
# etcat size evolution  
[ Results for search key : evolution ]  
[ Applications found : 1 ]  
  
 Only printing found installed programs.  
  
* evolution-1.2.4  
           Total Files : 1421  
            Total Size : 33456.65 KB  
  
# etcat size fluxbox  
[ Results for search key : fluxbox ]  
[ Applications found : 1 ]  
  
 Only printing found installed programs.  
  
* fluxbox-0.1.14-r1  
           Total Files : 26  
            Total Size : 806.92 KB

To look at the USE flags a package was compiled with, use etcat uses [package]. For example, the following command shows which USE flags Postfix was compiled with.

Code Listing 3: Displaying USE flags

# etcat uses net-mail/postfix  
[ Colour Code : set unset ]  
[ Legend      : (U) Col 1 - Current USE flags        ]  
[             : (I) Col 2 - Installed With USE flags ]  
  
 U I [ Found these USE variables in : net-mail/postfix-2.0.9 ]  
 + + ssl     : Adds support for Secure Socket Layer connections  
 + + mysql   : Adds mySQL support  
 + + sasl    : Adds support for the Simple Authentication and Security Layer  
 + + ldap    : Adds LDAP support (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol)  
 - - ipv6    : Adds support for IP version 6  
 - - maildir : Adds support for maildir (~/.maildir) style mail spools  
 - - mbox    : Adds support for mbox (/var/spool/mail) style mail spools  
  
# etcat uses fluxbox  
[ Colour Code : set unset ]  
[ Legend      : (U) Col 1 - Current USE flags        ]  
[             : (I) Col 2 - Installed With USE flags ]  
  
 U I [ Found these USE variables in : x11-wm/fluxbox-0.1.14-r1 ]  
 - - kde      : Adds support for kde-base/kde (K Desktop Enviroment)  
 + + gnome    : Adds GNOME support  
 + + nls      : unknown  
 + - xinerama : Add support for XFree86's xinerama extension,
                which allows you to stretch  your display across
                multiple monitors  
 + + truetype : Adds support for FreeType and/or FreeType2 fonts

To see which versions of a specific package are available, use etcat versions [package]

Code Listing 4: Displaying available package versions

# etcat versions kde-base/kde  
[ Results for search key : kde-base/kde ]  
[ Applications found : 1 ]  
  
*  kde-base/kde :  
        [   ] kde-base/kde-2.2.2-r1 (2)  
        [   ] kde-base/kde-3.0.4 (3.0)  
        [   ] kde-base/kde-3.0.5a (3.0)  
        [   ] kde-base/kde-3.0.5b (3.0)  
        [   ] kde-base/kde-3.1.1a (3.1)  
        [   ] kde-base/kde-3.1.1 (3.1)  
        [   ] kde-base/kde-3.1.2 (3.1)  
        [   ] kde-base/kde-3.1 (3.1)  
  
# etcat versions net-mail/evolution  
[ Results for search key : net-mail/evolution ]  
[ Applications found : 1 ]  
  
*  net-mail/evolution :  
        [   ] net-mail/evolution-1.2.3 (0)  
        [  I] net-mail/evolution-1.2.4 (0)  
        [M~ ] net-mail/evolution-1.3.92 (2)  
        [M~ ] net-mail/evolution-1.4.0 (0)  
  
# etcat versions net-www/apache  
[ Results for search key : net-www/apache ]  
[ Applications found : 1 ]  
  
*  net-www/apache :  
        [   ] net-www/apache-1.3.27 (1)  
        [   ] net-www/apache-1.3.27-r1 (1)  
        [M~ ] net-www/apache-1.3.27-r2 (1)  
        [   ] net-www/apache-1.3.27-r3 (1)  
        [M~ ] net-www/apache-1.3.27-r4 (1)  
        [M~ ] net-www/apache-2.0.43-r1 (2)  
        [M~ ] net-www/apache-2.0.44 (2)  
        [M~ ] net-www/apache-2.0.45 (2)  
        [M~I] net-www/apache-2.0.46 (2)

Note: If you don't specify the category, etcat will try to find all possible matches in Portage. If the package name is common or occurs in many other package names, you may get a lot more output that you wanted.

For more detailed information, type man etcat. For a quick overview of available options, just type etcat.

From http://www.gentoo.org/news/en/gwn/20030623-newsletter.xml

back



Support us on Content Nation

New Packages

- as rdf newsfeed
- as rss newsfeed
- as Atom newsfeed
2026-03-29
cares-tools - 0.3
Ebuild name:

net-dns/cares-tools-0.3

Description

c-ares tools host, nslookup

Added to portage

2026-03-29

dist-kernel - 6.12.79
Ebuild name:

virtual/dist-kernel-6.12.79

Description

Virtual to depend on any Distribution Kernel

Added to portage

2026-03-29

gentoo-kernel - 6.12.79
Ebuild name:

sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-6.12.79

Description

Linux kernel built with Gentoo patches

Added to portage

2026-03-29

gentoo-kernel-bin - 6.12.79
Ebuild name:

sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-bin-6.12.79

Description

Pre-built Linux kernel with Gentoo patches

Added to portage

2026-03-29

motif - 2.5.1
Ebuild name:

x11-libs/motif-2.5.1

Description

The Motif user interface component toolkit

Added to portage

2026-03-29

thunar - 4.21.5
Ebuild name:

xfce-base/thunar-4.21.5

Description

File manager for the Xfce desktop environment

Added to portage

2026-03-29

vanilla-kernel - 6.12.79
Ebuild name:

sys-kernel/vanilla-kernel-6.12.79

Description

Linux kernel built from vanilla upstream sources

Added to portage

2026-03-29

2026-03-28
awscli - 1.44.68
Ebuild name:

app-admin/awscli-1.44.68

Description

Universal Command Line Environment for AWS

Added to portage

2026-03-28

bear - 4.1.0-r1
Ebuild name:

dev-util/bear-4.1.0-r1

Description

Bear is a tool that generates a compilation database for clang tooling.

Added to portage

2026-03-28

bitcoin-core - 31.0_rc2
Ebuild name:

net-p2p/bitcoin-core-31.0_rc2

Description

Reference implementation of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency

Added to portage

2026-03-28

blessed - 1.35.0
Ebuild name:

dev-python/blessed-1.35.0

Description

Library for making terminal apps using colors, keyboard input and positio

Added to portage

2026-03-28

blessed - 1.37.0
Ebuild name:

dev-python/blessed-1.37.0

Description

Library for making terminal apps using colors, keyboard input and positio

Added to portage

2026-03-28

boto3 - 1.42.78
Ebuild name:

dev-python/boto3-1.42.78

Description

The AWS SDK for Python

Added to portage

2026-03-28

botocore - 1.42.78
Ebuild name:

dev-python/botocore-1.42.78

Description

Low-level, data-driven core of boto 3

Added to portage

2026-03-28

broot - 1.56.2
Ebuild name:

app-misc/broot-1.56.2

Description

A new way to see and navigate directory trees

Added to portage

2026-03-28

cargo-nextest - 0.9.132
Ebuild name:

dev-util/cargo-nextest-0.9.132

Description

Next-generation test runner for Rust

Added to portage

2026-03-28

cpp-httplib - 0.38.0
Ebuild name:

dev-cpp/cpp-httplib-0.38.0

Description

C++ HTTP/HTTPS server and client library

Added to portage

2026-03-28

dante - 1.4.4
Ebuild name:

net-proxy/dante-1.4.4

Description

A free socks4,5 and msproxy implementation

Added to portage

2026-03-28

dash - 2.18.2
Ebuild name:

sci-visualization/dash-2.18.2

Description

Python framework for building ML & data science web apps

Added to portage

2026-03-28

dash - 3.0.4
Ebuild name:

sci-visualization/dash-3.0.4

Description

Python framework for building ML & data science web apps

Added to portage

2026-03-28

dash - 3.1.1
Ebuild name:

sci-visualization/dash-3.1.1

Description

Python framework for building ML & data science web apps

Added to portage

2026-03-28

dash - 3.2.0
Ebuild name:

sci-visualization/dash-3.2.0

Description

Python framework for building ML & data science web apps

Added to portage

2026-03-28

dash - 3.3.0
Ebuild name:

sci-visualization/dash-3.3.0

Description

Python framework for building ML & data science web apps

Added to portage

2026-03-28

dash - 3.4.0
Ebuild name:

sci-visualization/dash-3.4.0

Description

Python framework for building ML & data science web apps

Added to portage

2026-03-28

dash - 4.0.0
Ebuild name:

sci-visualization/dash-4.0.0

Description

Python framework for building ML & data science web apps

Added to portage

2026-03-28

dash - 4.1.0
Ebuild name:

sci-visualization/dash-4.1.0

Description

Python framework for building ML & data science web apps

Added to portage

2026-03-28

deno-bin - 2.7.9
Ebuild name:

dev-lang/deno-bin-2.7.9

Description

Modern runtime for JavaScript and TypeScript

Added to portage

2026-03-28

element - 1.12.13
Ebuild name:

www-apps/element-1.12.13

Description

A glossy Matrix collaboration client for the web

Added to portage

2026-03-28

elk - 3.99.8-r3
Ebuild name:

dev-scheme/elk-3.99.8-r3

Description

Scheme implementation designed to be embeddable extension to C/C++ applica

Added to portage

2026-03-28

evisum - 1.0.1
Ebuild name:

sys-process/evisum-1.0.1

Description

System and process monitor written with EFL

Added to portage

2026-03-28

fish - 4.6.0
Ebuild name:

app-shells/fish-4.6.0

Description

Friendly Interactive SHell

Added to portage

2026-03-28

fsspec - 2026.3.0
Ebuild name:

dev-python/fsspec-2026.3.0

Description

A specification that python filesystems should adhere to

Added to portage

2026-03-28

gcc - 13.4.1_p20260326
Ebuild name:

sys-devel/gcc-13.4.1_p20260326

Description

The GNU Compiler Collection

Added to portage

2026-03-28

gcc - 14.3.1_p20260327
Ebuild name:

sys-devel/gcc-14.3.1_p20260327

Description

The GNU Compiler Collection

Added to portage

2026-03-28

gentoo-sources - 6.12.79
Ebuild name:

sys-kernel/gentoo-sources-6.12.79

Description

Full sources including the Gentoo patchset for the . kernel tree

Added to portage

2026-03-28

glibc - 2.42-r6
Ebuild name:

sys-libs/glibc-2.42-r6

Description

GNU libc C library

Added to portage

2026-03-28

glibc - 2.43-r1
Ebuild name:

sys-libs/glibc-2.43-r1

Description

GNU libc C library

Added to portage

2026-03-28

granite - 7.8.1
Ebuild name:

dev-libs/granite-7.8.1

Description

Elementary OS library that extends GTK+

Added to portage

2026-03-28

groff - 1.23.0-r2
Ebuild name:

sys-apps/groff-1.23.0-r2

Description

Text formatter used for man pages

Added to portage

2026-03-28

hypre - 2.33.0
Ebuild name:

sci-libs/hypre-2.33.0

Description

Parallel matrix preconditioners library

Added to portage

2026-03-28

hypre - 3.1.0
Ebuild name:

sci-libs/hypre-3.1.0

Description

Parallel matrix preconditioners library

Added to portage

2026-03-28

ipython - 9.12.0
Ebuild name:

dev-python/ipython-9.12.0

Description

Advanced interactive shell for Python

Added to portage

2026-03-28

json5 - 0.14.0
Ebuild name:

dev-python/json5-0.14.0

Description

A Python implementation of the JSON5 data format

Added to portage

2026-03-28

just - 1.48.0
Ebuild name:

dev-build/just-1.48.0

Description

Just a command runner (with syntax inspired by 'make')

Added to portage

2026-03-28

kea - 3.0.3
Ebuild name:

net-misc/kea-3.0.3

Description

High-performance production grade DHCPv4 & DHCPv6 server

Added to portage

2026-03-28

libfishsound - 1.0.1-r1
Ebuild name:

media-libs/libfishsound-1.0.1-r1

Description

Simple programming interface to decode and encode audio with vorbi

Added to portage

2026-03-28

libraw - 0.22.0
Ebuild name:

media-libs/libraw-0.22.0

Description

LibRaw is a library for reading RAW files obtained from digital photo came

Added to portage

2026-03-28

linux-firmware - 20260309
Ebuild name:

sys-kernel/linux-firmware-20260309

Description

Linux firmware files

Added to portage

2026-03-28

mingw64-runtime - 14.0.0
Ebuild name:

dev-util/mingw64-runtime-14.0.0

Description

Free Win64 runtime and import library definitions

Added to portage

2026-03-28

mingw64-toolchain - 14.0.0
Ebuild name:

dev-util/mingw64-toolchain-14.0.0

Description

All-in-one mingw64 toolchain intended for building Wine without c

Added to portage

2026-03-28

mldonkey - 0.0.4b-r2
Ebuild name:

app-emacs/mldonkey-0.0.4b-r2

Description

An Emacs Lisp interface to the MLDonkey core

Added to portage

2026-03-28

mmm-mode - 0.5.11
Ebuild name:

app-emacs/mmm-mode-0.5.11

Description

Enables the user to edit different parts of a file in different major mod

Added to portage

2026-03-28

moccur-edit - 2.16
Ebuild name:

app-emacs/moccur-edit-2.16

Description

An improved interface to color-moccur for editing

Added to portage

2026-03-28

mozc - 3.33.6133
Ebuild name:

app-i18n/mozc-3.33.6133

Description

Mozc - Japanese input method editor.

Added to portage

2026-03-28

mu - 1.14.0
Ebuild name:

net-mail/mu-1.14.0

Description

Set of tools to deal with Maildirs, in particular, searching and indexing

Added to portage

2026-03-28

nss - 3.122
Ebuild name:

dev-libs/nss-3.122

Description

Mozilla's Network Security Services library that implements PKI support

Added to portage

2026-03-28

paho-mqtt-c - 1.3.16
Ebuild name:

net-libs/paho-mqtt-c-1.3.16

Description

An Eclipse Paho C client library for MQTT for Windows, Linux and MacOS.

Added to portage

2026-03-28

par2cmdline - 1.1.1
Ebuild name:

app-arch/par2cmdline-1.1.1

Description

A PAR-2.0 file verification and repair tool

Added to portage

2026-03-28

pgmodeler - 1.2.3
Ebuild name:

dev-db/pgmodeler-1.2.3

Description

PostgreSQL Database Modeler

Added to portage

2026-03-28

picard - 3.0.0_alpha4-r2
Ebuild name:

media-sound/picard-3.0.0_alpha4-r2

Description

Cross-platform music tagger

Added to portage

2026-03-28

pythonfinder - 3.0.3
Ebuild name:

dev-python/pythonfinder-3.0.3

Description

PythonFinder Cross Platform Search Tool for Finding Pythons

Added to portage

2026-03-28

quiche - 0.26.1-r1
Ebuild name:

net-libs/quiche-0.26.1-r1

Description

Implementation of the QUIC transport protocol and HTTP/3

Added to portage

2026-03-28

rescrobbled - 0.9.0
Ebuild name:

media-sound/rescrobbled-0.9.0

Description

MPRIS music scrobbler daemon

Added to portage

2026-03-28

rsync-bpc - 3.1.3.0_p20251201
Ebuild name:

net-misc/rsync-bpc-3.1.3.0_p20251201

Description

Rsync-bpc is a customized version of rsync that is used as par

Added to portage

2026-03-28

seedfiles - 1.2
Ebuild name:

sys-apps/seedfiles-1.2

Description

Portable drop-in reimplementation of systemd-tmpfiles

Added to portage

2026-03-28

sendmail - 8.19.0.0-r1
Ebuild name:

mail-mta/sendmail-8.19.0.0-r1

Description

Widely-used Mail Transport Agent (MTA)

Added to portage

2026-03-28

setuptools-scm - 10.0.5
Ebuild name:

dev-python/setuptools-scm-10.0.5

Description

Manage versions by scm tags via setuptools

Added to portage

2026-03-28

signal-cli-bin - 0.14.1
Ebuild name:

net-im/signal-cli-bin-0.14.1

Description

Send and receive messages of Signal Messenger over a command line inte

Added to portage

2026-03-28

signal-desktop-bin - 8.3.0
Ebuild name:

net-im/signal-desktop-bin-8.3.0

Description

Allows you to send and receive messages of Signal Messenger on your

Added to portage

2026-03-28

spidermonkey - 140.9.0
Ebuild name:

dev-lang/spidermonkey-140.9.0

Description

Mozilla's JavaScript engine written in C and C++

Added to portage

2026-03-28

thunderbird - 149.0.1
Ebuild name:

mail-client/thunderbird-149.0.1

Description

Thunderbird Mail Client

Added to portage

2026-03-28

thunderbird-bin - 149.0.1
Ebuild name:

mail-client/thunderbird-bin-149.0.1

Description

Thunderbird Mail Client

Added to portage

2026-03-28

tox - 4.51.0
Ebuild name:

dev-python/tox-4.51.0

Description

virtualenv-based automation of test activities

Added to portage

2026-03-28

unicode-segmentation-rs - 0.2.2
Ebuild name:

dev-python/unicode-segmentation-rs-0.2.2

Description

Unicode segmentation and width for Python using Rust

Added to portage

2026-03-28

vcs-versioning - 1.1.1
Ebuild name:

dev-python/vcs-versioning-1.1.1

Description

Core VCS versioning functionality from setuptools-scm

Added to portage

2026-03-28

vivaldi - 7.9.3970.45
Ebuild name:

www-client/vivaldi-7.9.3970.45

Description

A browser for our friends

Added to portage

2026-03-28

vivaldi-snapshot - 7.10.3989.3
Ebuild name:

www-client/vivaldi-snapshot-7.10.3989.3

Description

A browser for our friends

Added to portage

2026-03-28

wpa_supplicant - 2.11-r5
Ebuild name:

net-wireless/wpa_supplicant-2.11-r5

Description

IEEE 802.1X/WPA supplicant for secure wireless transfers

Added to portage

2026-03-28

xdp-tools - 1.6.3
Ebuild name:

net-libs/xdp-tools-1.6.3

Description

The libxdp library and various tools for use with XDP

Added to portage

2026-03-28

yoga - 3.2.1-r1
Ebuild name:

dev-libs/yoga-3.2.1-r1

Description

Cross-platform layout engine

Added to portage

2026-03-28

zellij - 0.44.0
Ebuild name:

app-misc/zellij-0.44.0

Description

A terminal workspace with batteries included

Added to portage

2026-03-28

rdf newsfeed | rss newsfeed | Atom newsfeed
Copyright 2004-2025 Sascha Nitsch Unternehmensberatung GmbH
- Copyright and legal notices -
Time to create this page: 49.1 ms