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<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">GLEP:</th><td class="field-body">22</td>
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<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Title:</th><td class="field-body">New &quot;keyword&quot; system to incorporate various userlands/kernels/archs</td>
</tr>
<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Version:</th><td class="field-body">1.4</td>
</tr>
<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Last-Modified:</th><td class="field-body"><a class="reference" href="http://www.gentoo.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/xml/htdocs/proj/en/glep/glep-0022.txt?cvsroot=gentoo">2004/06/06 00:41:40</a></td>
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<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Author:</th><td class="field-body">Grant Goodyear &lt;g2boojum&#32;&#97;t&#32;gentoo.org&gt;</td>
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<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Status:</th><td class="field-body">Draft</td>
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<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Type:</th><td class="field-body">Standards Track</td>
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<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Content-Type:</th><td class="field-body"><a class="reference" href="glep-0002.html">text/x-rst</a></td>
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<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Created:</th><td class="field-body">6-Mar-2004</td>
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<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Post-History:</th><td class="field-body">6-Mar-2004, 5-Jun-2004</td>
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<div class="contents topic" id="contents">
<p class="topic-title"><a name="contents">Contents</a></p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><a class="reference" href="#status" id="id14" name="id14">Status</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#credits" id="id15" name="id15">Credits</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#abstract" id="id16" name="id16">Abstract</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#motivation" id="id17" name="id17">Motivation</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#specification" id="id18" name="id18">Specification</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference" href="#keyword-fragments" id="id19" name="id19">Keyword Fragments</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#reasonable-defaults" id="id20" name="id20">Reasonable Defaults</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#ebuild-keyword-database" id="id21" name="id21">Ebuild Keyword Database?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#profiles" id="id22" name="id22">Profiles</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#rationale" id="id23" name="id23">Rationale</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#implementation" id="id24" name="id24">Implementation</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#backwards-compatibility" id="id25" name="id25">Backwards Compatibility</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#id1" id="id26" name="id26">References</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#copyright" id="id27" name="id27">Copyright</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section" id="status">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id14" name="status">Status</a></h1>
<p>After withdrawing this GLEP temporarily, a rewritten version has
now been resubmitted.  This version no longer tries to prevent a
keyword explosion, but merely tries to make it manageable.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="credits">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id15" name="credits">Credits</a></h1>
<p>This GLEP originated from the concerns that Daniel Robbins had with the
<em>x86obsd</em> keyword, and his desire to make the KEYWORDS variable more
&quot;feature-rich&quot;.  Drobbins' original idea was that we should allow compound
keywords such as gnu/x86, gnu/ppc, and macos/ppc (which would be explicit
versions of the more familiar x86, ppc, and macos keywords).  Method noted
that userland/arch failed to capture the full range of possibilities (what
about a GNU userland on a BSD kernel+libc?), and the issue has languished due
to a lack of reasonable solutions.  The original version of this GLEP
generated quite useful comments which hopefully have been addressed here to
make the GLEP much more reasonable.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="abstract">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id16" name="abstract">Abstract</a></h1>
<p>As Gentoo branches out to support non-Linux and non-GNU systems (such as Hurd,
the *BSDs, or even the soon-to-be-open-sourced Solaris), the potential for an
&quot;explosion&quot; of possible keywords becomes rather large, since each new
userland/kernel/arch/whatever combination will require a new keyword.  This
GLEP proposes a simple extension to the current KEYWORDS variable that
encompasses the four parameters ARCH, USERLAND, KERNEL, and LIBC, but uses
sensible defaults to keep the new system manageable.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="motivation">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id17" name="motivation">Motivation</a></h1>
<p>Since the beginning, Gentoo Linux has been conceived as a &quot;metadistribution&quot;
that combines remarkable flexibility with sensible defaults and exceptional
maintainablilty.  The goal of the <a class="reference" href="http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/gentoo-alt/index.xml">Gentoo-Alt</a> <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id2" id="id3" name="id3">[1]</a> project has been to extend that
flexibility to include systems other than GNU/Linux.  For example, the author
of this GLEP has been working to create a <a class="reference" href="http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/gentoo-alt/bsd/index.xml">version</a> <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id8" id="id9" name="id9">[3]</a> of Gentoo that uses
<a class="reference" href="http://www.openbsd.com">OpenBSD</a> <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id5" id="id6" name="id6">[2]</a> as the underlying kernel, userland, and libc.  <a class="reference" href="http://www.openbsd.com">OpenBSD</a> <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id5" id="id7" name="id7">[2]</a> supports a
variety of different architectures, so, in principle, we would need a new
<em>openbsd-arch</em> keyword for each supported architecture.  In fact, the
situation is even more complicated, because the <a class="reference" href="http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/gentoo-alt/index.xml">Gentoo-Alt</a> <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id2" id="id4" name="id4">[1]</a> project would
eventually like to support the option of &quot;mixing-and-matching&quot;
GNU/*BSD/whatever userlands and libcs irrespective of the underlying kernel.
(<a class="reference" href="http://www.debian.org">Debian</a> <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id10" id="id11" name="id11">[4]</a>, for example has a similar BSD <a class="reference" href="http://www.debian.org/ports/netbsd/">project</a> <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id12" id="id13" name="id13">[5]</a>, except that they have
replaced the BSD userland with a GNU userland.)  The net result is that we
need keywords that can specify all possible permutations of arch,
userland, kernel and libc.  A systematic nomenclature is needed.
Fortunately, the author is a Chemist.  <em>Grin</em></p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="specification">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id18" name="specification">Specification</a></h1>
<div class="section" id="keyword-fragments">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id19" name="keyword-fragments">Keyword Fragments</a></h2>
<p>Each keyword needs to specify, either explicitly or 
implicitly, the following parameters: ARCH, USERLAND, LIBC, and KERNEL.</p>
<blockquote>
<dl>
<dt>ARCH: </dt>
<dd>x86, amd64, cobalt, mips64, arm, hppa, ia64, ppc64, sparc</dd>
<dt>USERLAND: </dt>
<dd>gnu, bsd</dd>
<dt>LIBC: </dt>
<dd>glibc, openbsd, freebsd, netbsd, macosx</dd>
<dt>KERNEL: </dt>
<dd>linux, selinux, openbsd, freebsd, netbsd, macosx</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>(The above examples are not meant to be complete.  Hurd, for example
is not included because I know very little about Hurd.)</p>
<p>A fully-specified keyword would look like 
&quot;ARCH-KERNEL-USERLAND-LIBC&quot;, so, for example,
&quot;ppc-fbsd-gnu-glibc&quot; would indicate a Gentoo system corresponding to
a ppc architecture running the FreeBSD kernel with a GNU userland and glibc 
as the system C library.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="reasonable-defaults">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id20" name="reasonable-defaults">Reasonable Defaults</a></h2>
<p>To keep this system manageable (and both to reduce typing and maintain
backwards compatibility), we need sensible defaults.  For backwards 
compatibility, the Gentoo default is a Linux kernel with a GNU userland
and glibc C library.  Thus, the current crop of ARCH-based keywords 
(x86, ppc, etcetera) require no change whatsoever.  For the *BSD-based
systems the default USERLAND and LIBC would be those normally associated
with the corresponding KERNEL, so &quot;x86-obsd&quot; describes an x86 system
with an OpenBSD kernel, a BSD userland, and the OpenBSD C library.  If
either USERLAND or LIBC is specified, and thus not the default, then the
entire four-parameter string must be used.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="ebuild-keyword-database">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id21" name="ebuild-keyword-database">Ebuild Keyword Database?</a></h2>
<p>One issue that has been raised is that adding a large number of keywords
to ebuilds is likely to become cumbersome over the long run.  (One could
imagine that for a simple <cite>econf &amp;&amp; emake &amp;&amp; einstall</cite> ebuild that the
list of keywords could grow to be the lengthiest part of the ebuild.)
Instead, perhaps it would make more sense to move each ebuild's keywords
out of the ebuild proper into a separate, perhaps online, database.
Nothing in this GLEP would be incompatible with such an approach, so
any further discussion will be deferred to a possible future GLEP on
that topic.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="profiles">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id22" name="profiles">Profiles</a></h2>
<p>Along with an explosion of keywords comes a concomitant explosion of potential
profiles.  Just as in the current system, the profile name would be
&quot;FLAVOR-KEYWORD-VERSION&quot; (such as &quot;default-s390-2004.1&quot;).  One drawback
to having a large number of profiles is that maintainance becomes a
significant problem.  In fact, one could reasonably argue that the current
number of profiles is already too many to be easily maintained.  One proposal
that has been raised to simplify matters is the idea of stackable, or
cascading, profiles, so that only differences between profiles would have to
be maintained.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="rationale">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id23" name="rationale">Rationale</a></h1>
<p>The proposed new &quot;keywording&quot; system is far from elegant, which is
a substantial drawback.  On the other hand, it is simple, it requires
relatively minor changes, and the changes can be implemented
gradually over time.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="implementation">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id24" name="implementation">Implementation</a></h1>
<p>Since the new keyword system is backwards-compatible with the current
system, &quot;implementation&quot; just means adding new keywords to ebuilds
as new systems are supported.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="backwards-compatibility">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id25" name="backwards-compatibility">Backwards Compatibility</a></h1>
<p>Backwards compatibility has already been addressed in some detail,
with the stated goal being a system that would leave all current
ebuilds working exactly as they are now.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="id1">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id26" name="id1">References</a></h1>
<table class="footnote" frame="void" id="id2" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a name="id2">[1]</a></td><td><em>(<a class="fn-backref" href="#id3">1</a>, <a class="fn-backref" href="#id4">2</a>)</em> <a class="reference" href="http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/gentoo-alt/index.xml">http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/gentoo-alt/index.xml</a></td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="footnote" frame="void" id="id5" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a name="id5">[2]</a></td><td><em>(<a class="fn-backref" href="#id6">1</a>, <a class="fn-backref" href="#id7">2</a>)</em> <a class="reference" href="http://www.openbsd.com">http://www.openbsd.com</a></td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="footnote" frame="void" id="id8" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id9" name="id8">[3]</a></td><td><a class="reference" href="http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/gentoo-alt/bsd/index.xml">http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/gentoo-alt/bsd/index.xml</a></td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="footnote" frame="void" id="id10" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id11" name="id10">[4]</a></td><td><a class="reference" href="http://www.debian.org">http://www.debian.org</a></td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="footnote" frame="void" id="id12" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id13" name="id12">[5]</a></td><td><a class="reference" href="http://www.debian.org/ports/netbsd/">http://www.debian.org/ports/netbsd/</a></td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<div class="section" id="copyright">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id27" name="copyright">Copyright</a></h1>
<p>This document has been placed in the public domain.</p>
</div>
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1	g2boojum	1.1	<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
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31			<tbody valign="top">
32			<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">GLEP:</th><td class="field-body">22</td>
33			</tr>
34			<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Title:</th><td class="field-body">New "keyword" system to incorporate various userlands/kernels/archs</td>
35			</tr>
36	g2boojum	1.3	<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Version:</th><td class="field-body">1.4</td>
37	g2boojum	1.1	</tr>
38	g2boojum	1.3	<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Last-Modified:</th><td class="field-body"><a class="reference" href="http://www.gentoo.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/xml/htdocs/proj/en/glep/glep-0022.txt?cvsroot=gentoo">2004/06/06 00:41:40</a></td>
39	g2boojum	1.1	</tr>
40			<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Author:</th><td class="field-body">Grant Goodyear <g2boojum at gentoo.org></td>
41			</tr>
42	g2boojum	1.3	<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Status:</th><td class="field-body">Draft</td>
43	g2boojum	1.1	</tr>
44			<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Type:</th><td class="field-body">Standards Track</td>
45			</tr>
46			<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Content-Type:</th><td class="field-body"><a class="reference" href="glep-0002.html">text/x-rst</a></td>
47			</tr>
48			<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Created:</th><td class="field-body">6-Mar-2004</td>
49			</tr>
50	g2boojum	1.3	<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Post-History:</th><td class="field-body">6-Mar-2004, 5-Jun-2004</td>
51	g2boojum	1.1	</tr>
52			</tbody>
53			</table>
54			<hr />
55			<div class="contents topic" id="contents">
56			<p class="topic-title"><a name="contents">Contents</a></p>
57			<ul class="simple">
58	g2boojum	1.2	<li><a class="reference" href="#status" id="id14" name="id14">Status</a></li>
59			<li><a class="reference" href="#credits" id="id15" name="id15">Credits</a></li>
60			<li><a class="reference" href="#abstract" id="id16" name="id16">Abstract</a></li>
61			<li><a class="reference" href="#motivation" id="id17" name="id17">Motivation</a></li>
62			<li><a class="reference" href="#specification" id="id18" name="id18">Specification</a><ul>
63	g2boojum	1.3	<li><a class="reference" href="#keyword-fragments" id="id19" name="id19">Keyword Fragments</a></li>
64	g2boojum	1.2	<li><a class="reference" href="#reasonable-defaults" id="id20" name="id20">Reasonable Defaults</a></li>
65	g2boojum	1.3	<li><a class="reference" href="#ebuild-keyword-database" id="id21" name="id21">Ebuild Keyword Database?</a></li>
66			<li><a class="reference" href="#profiles" id="id22" name="id22">Profiles</a></li>
67	g2boojum	1.1	</ul>
68			</li>
69	g2boojum	1.3	<li><a class="reference" href="#rationale" id="id23" name="id23">Rationale</a></li>
70			<li><a class="reference" href="#implementation" id="id24" name="id24">Implementation</a></li>
71			<li><a class="reference" href="#backwards-compatibility" id="id25" name="id25">Backwards Compatibility</a></li>
72			<li><a class="reference" href="#id1" id="id26" name="id26">References</a></li>
73			<li><a class="reference" href="#copyright" id="id27" name="id27">Copyright</a></li>
74	g2boojum	1.1	</ul>
75			</div>
76	g2boojum	1.2	<div class="section" id="status">
77			<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id14" name="status">Status</a></h1>
78	g2boojum	1.3	<p>After withdrawing this GLEP temporarily, a rewritten version has
79			now been resubmitted. This version no longer tries to prevent a
80			keyword explosion, but merely tries to make it manageable.</p>
81	g2boojum	1.2	</div>
82	g2boojum	1.1	<div class="section" id="credits">
83	g2boojum	1.2	<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id15" name="credits">Credits</a></h1>
84	g2boojum	1.3	<p>This GLEP originated from the concerns that Daniel Robbins had with the
85			<em>x86obsd</em> keyword, and his desire to make the KEYWORDS variable more
86			"feature-rich". Drobbins' original idea was that we should allow compound
87	g2boojum	1.1	keywords such as gnu/x86, gnu/ppc, and macos/ppc (which would be explicit
88			versions of the more familiar x86, ppc, and macos keywords). Method noted
89	g2boojum	1.3	that userland/arch failed to capture the full range of possibilities (what
90			about a GNU userland on a BSD kernel+libc?), and the issue has languished due
91			to a lack of reasonable solutions. The original version of this GLEP
92			generated quite useful comments which hopefully have been addressed here to
93			make the GLEP much more reasonable.</p>
94	g2boojum	1.1	</div>
95			<div class="section" id="abstract">
96	g2boojum	1.2	<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id16" name="abstract">Abstract</a></h1>
97	g2boojum	1.3	<p>As Gentoo branches out to support non-Linux and non-GNU systems (such as Hurd,
98			the *BSDs, or even the soon-to-be-open-sourced Solaris), the potential for an
99			"explosion" of possible keywords becomes rather large, since each new
100			userland/kernel/arch/whatever combination will require a new keyword. This
101			GLEP proposes a simple extension to the current KEYWORDS variable that
102			encompasses the four parameters ARCH, USERLAND, KERNEL, and LIBC, but uses
103			sensible defaults to keep the new system manageable.</p>
104	g2boojum	1.1	</div>
105			<div class="section" id="motivation">
106	g2boojum	1.2	<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id17" name="motivation">Motivation</a></h1>
107	g2boojum	1.1	<p>Since the beginning, Gentoo Linux has been conceived as a "metadistribution"
108			that combines remarkable flexibility with sensible defaults and exceptional
109			maintainablilty. The goal of the <a class="reference" href="http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/gentoo-alt/index.xml">Gentoo-Alt</a> <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id2" id="id3" name="id3">[1]</a> project has been to extend that
110			flexibility to include systems other than GNU/Linux. For example, the author
111	g2boojum	1.3	of this GLEP has been working to create a <a class="reference" href="http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/gentoo-alt/bsd/index.xml">version</a> <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id8" id="id9" name="id9">[3]</a> of Gentoo that uses
112			<a class="reference" href="http://www.openbsd.com">OpenBSD</a> <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id5" id="id6" name="id6">[2]</a> as the underlying kernel, userland, and libc. <a class="reference" href="http://www.openbsd.com">OpenBSD</a> <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id5" id="id7" name="id7">[2]</a> supports a
113			variety of different architectures, so, in principle, we would need a new
114			<em>openbsd-arch</em> keyword for each supported architecture. In fact, the
115			situation is even more complicated, because the <a class="reference" href="http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/gentoo-alt/index.xml">Gentoo-Alt</a> <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id2" id="id4" name="id4">[1]</a> project would
116			eventually like to support the option of "mixing-and-matching"
117			GNU/*BSD/whatever userlands and libcs irrespective of the underlying kernel.
118			(<a class="reference" href="http://www.debian.org">Debian</a> <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id10" id="id11" name="id11">[4]</a>, for example has a similar BSD <a class="reference" href="http://www.debian.org/ports/netbsd/">project</a> <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id12" id="id13" name="id13">[5]</a>, except that they have
119			replaced the BSD userland with a GNU userland.) The net result is that we
120			need keywords that can specify all possible permutations of arch,
121			userland, kernel and libc. A systematic nomenclature is needed.
122			Fortunately, the author is a Chemist. <em>Grin</em></p>
123	g2boojum	1.1	</div>
124			<div class="section" id="specification">
125	g2boojum	1.2	<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id18" name="specification">Specification</a></h1>
126	g2boojum	1.3	<div class="section" id="keyword-fragments">
127			<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id19" name="keyword-fragments">Keyword Fragments</a></h2>
128			<p>Each keyword needs to specify, either explicitly or
129			implicitly, the following parameters: ARCH, USERLAND, LIBC, and KERNEL.</p>
130	g2boojum	1.1	<blockquote>
131			<dl>
132			<dt>ARCH: </dt>
133			<dd>x86, amd64, cobalt, mips64, arm, hppa, ia64, ppc64, sparc</dd>
134			<dt>USERLAND: </dt>
135			<dd>gnu, bsd</dd>
136			<dt>LIBC: </dt>
137			<dd>glibc, openbsd, freebsd, netbsd, macosx</dd>
138			<dt>KERNEL: </dt>
139			<dd>linux, selinux, openbsd, freebsd, netbsd, macosx</dd>
140			</dl>
141			</blockquote>
142			<p>(The above examples are not meant to be complete. Hurd, for example
143	g2boojum	1.3	is not included because I know very little about Hurd.)</p>
144			<p>A fully-specified keyword would look like
145			"ARCH-KERNEL-USERLAND-LIBC", so, for example,
146			"ppc-fbsd-gnu-glibc" would indicate a Gentoo system corresponding to
147			a ppc architecture running the FreeBSD kernel with a GNU userland and glibc
148			as the system C library.</p>
149	g2boojum	1.1	</div>
150			<div class="section" id="reasonable-defaults">
151	g2boojum	1.2	<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id20" name="reasonable-defaults">Reasonable Defaults</a></h2>
152	g2boojum	1.3	<p>To keep this system manageable (and both to reduce typing and maintain
153			backwards compatibility), we need sensible defaults. For backwards
154			compatibility, the Gentoo default is a Linux kernel with a GNU userland
155			and glibc C library. Thus, the current crop of ARCH-based keywords
156			(x86, ppc, etcetera) require no change whatsoever. For the *BSD-based
157			systems the default USERLAND and LIBC would be those normally associated
158			with the corresponding KERNEL, so "x86-obsd" describes an x86 system
159			with an OpenBSD kernel, a BSD userland, and the OpenBSD C library. If
160			either USERLAND or LIBC is specified, and thus not the default, then the
161			entire four-parameter string must be used.</p>
162			</div>
163			<div class="section" id="ebuild-keyword-database">
164			<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id21" name="ebuild-keyword-database">Ebuild Keyword Database?</a></h2>
165			<p>One issue that has been raised is that adding a large number of keywords
166			to ebuilds is likely to become cumbersome over the long run. (One could
167			imagine that for a simple <cite>econf && emake && einstall</cite> ebuild that the
168			list of keywords could grow to be the lengthiest part of the ebuild.)
169			Instead, perhaps it would make more sense to move each ebuild's keywords
170			out of the ebuild proper into a separate, perhaps online, database.
171			Nothing in this GLEP would be incompatible with such an approach, so
172			any further discussion will be deferred to a possible future GLEP on
173			that topic.</p>
174	g2boojum	1.1	</div>
175			<div class="section" id="profiles">
176	g2boojum	1.3	<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id22" name="profiles">Profiles</a></h2>
177			<p>Along with an explosion of keywords comes a concomitant explosion of potential
178			profiles. Just as in the current system, the profile name would be
179			"FLAVOR-KEYWORD-VERSION" (such as "default-s390-2004.1"). One drawback
180			to having a large number of profiles is that maintainance becomes a
181			significant problem. In fact, one could reasonably argue that the current
182			number of profiles is already too many to be easily maintained. One proposal
183			that has been raised to simplify matters is the idea of stackable, or
184			cascading, profiles, so that only differences between profiles would have to
185			be maintained.</p>
186	g2boojum	1.1	</div>
187			</div>
188			<div class="section" id="rationale">
189	g2boojum	1.3	<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id23" name="rationale">Rationale</a></h1>
190	g2boojum	1.1	<p>The proposed new "keywording" system is far from elegant, which is
191			a substantial drawback. On the other hand, it is simple, it requires
192	g2boojum	1.3	relatively minor changes, and the changes can be implemented
193	g2boojum	1.1	gradually over time.</p>
194			</div>
195			<div class="section" id="implementation">
196	g2boojum	1.3	<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id24" name="implementation">Implementation</a></h1>
197			<p>Since the new keyword system is backwards-compatible with the current
198			system, "implementation" just means adding new keywords to ebuilds
199			as new systems are supported.</p>
200	g2boojum	1.1	</div>
201			<div class="section" id="backwards-compatibility">
202	g2boojum	1.3	<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id25" name="backwards-compatibility">Backwards Compatibility</a></h1>
203	g2boojum	1.1	<p>Backwards compatibility has already been addressed in some detail,
204			with the stated goal being a system that would leave all current
205	g2boojum	1.3	ebuilds working exactly as they are now.</p>
206	g2boojum	1.1	</div>
207			<div class="section" id="id1">
208	g2boojum	1.3	<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id26" name="id1">References</a></h1>
209	g2boojum	1.1	<table class="footnote" frame="void" id="id2" rules="none">
210			<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
211			<tbody valign="top">
212			<tr><td class="label"><a name="id2">[1]</a></td><td><em>(<a class="fn-backref" href="#id3">1</a>, <a class="fn-backref" href="#id4">2</a>)</em> <a class="reference" href="http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/gentoo-alt/index.xml">http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/gentoo-alt/index.xml</a></td></tr>
213			</tbody>
214			</table>
215			<table class="footnote" frame="void" id="id5" rules="none">
216			<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
217			<tbody valign="top">
218			<tr><td class="label"><a name="id5">[2]</a></td><td><em>(<a class="fn-backref" href="#id6">1</a>, <a class="fn-backref" href="#id7">2</a>)</em> <a class="reference" href="http://www.openbsd.com">http://www.openbsd.com</a></td></tr>
219			</tbody>
220			</table>
221			<table class="footnote" frame="void" id="id8" rules="none">
222			<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
223			<tbody valign="top">
224			<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id9" name="id8">[3]</a></td><td><a class="reference" href="http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/gentoo-alt/bsd/index.xml">http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/gentoo-alt/bsd/index.xml</a></td></tr>
225			</tbody>
226			</table>
227			<table class="footnote" frame="void" id="id10" rules="none">
228			<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
229			<tbody valign="top">
230			<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id11" name="id10">[4]</a></td><td><a class="reference" href="http://www.debian.org">http://www.debian.org</a></td></tr>
231			</tbody>
232			</table>
233			<table class="footnote" frame="void" id="id12" rules="none">
234			<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
235			<tbody valign="top">
236			<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id13" name="id12">[5]</a></td><td><a class="reference" href="http://www.debian.org/ports/netbsd/">http://www.debian.org/ports/netbsd/</a></td></tr>
237			</tbody>
238			</table>
239			</div>
240			<div class="section" id="copyright">
241	g2boojum	1.3	<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id27" name="copyright">Copyright</a></h1>
242			<p>This document has been placed in the public domain.</p>
243	g2boojum	1.1	</div>
244			</div>
245
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