vdb Repository Format
The vdb
repository format is used on Gentoo and derived distributions to track packages installed from
an ebuild. It is not used on Exherbo; exndbam serves the equivalent purpose there.
As well as the general keys supported for all repositories, the following keys have meaning
for vdb
format repositories:
location
- The location of the repository. Mandatory. On Gentoo systems, this must be
${root}/var/db/pkg
to avoid problems with broken ebuilds that illegally access the VDB. provides_cache
- The directory to use for reading and writing a cache of providers of old-style virtuals. See Getting Started for notes. Optional, set to
/var/empty
to disable. names_cache
- The directory in which to look for a names cache, and in which to generate a names cache. A names cache will
significantly speed up converting a
pkg
into acat/pkg
. See Getting Started for notes. Optional, set to/var/empty
to disable. builddir
- The directory to use when 'building' a package for an uninstall (a temporary directory is needed for various operations). Optional.