Gentoo USE Flag
Variable Description
3dfx Adds support for 3dfx video cards to XFree86. See: voodoo3
3dnow Adds support for 3dnow multimedia processor instructions
X Adds support for X11
Xaw3d Adds support of the 3d athena widget set
a52 Enables support for decoding ATSC A/52 streams used in DVD
aac Enables support for MPEG-4 AAC Audio
aalib Adds support for media-libs/aalib (ASCII-Graphics Library)
accessibility Adds support for accessibility (eg ‘at-spi’ library)
acl Adds support for Access Control Lists
acpi Adds support for Advanced Configuration and Power Interface
adabas Adds support for the Adabas database engine
adns Adds support for the adns DNS client library
afs Adds OpenAFS support (distributed file system)
aim Enable AIM IM protocol support
alsa Adds support for media-libs/alsa-lib (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture)
altivec Adds support for optimizations for G4 and G5/ppc970 processors
apache Chooses Apache1 support when a package optionally supports Apache1
apache2 Chooses Apache2 support when a package supports both Apache1 and Apache2
apm Adds APM (Advanced Power Management) support
arts Adds support for aRts: the KDE sound daemon
audiofile Adds support for libaudiofile where applicable
bash-completion Enable bash-completion support
bcmath Adds support for libbcmath
berkdb Adds support for sys-libs/db (Berkeley DB for MySQL)
bidi Enables bidirectional language support
bindist Flag to enable or disable options for prebuilt (GRP) packages (eg. due to licensing issues)
birdstep Adds support for the Birdstep Database Server
blas Adds support for the virtual/blas numerical library
bluetooth Enables Bluetooth Support
bmp Adds beep media player support. Mainly used to support bmp plugins in xmms, though also used for generic BMP support.
bonobo Adds support for gnome-base/bonobo (Gnome CORBA interfaces)
bootstrap !!internal use only!! DO NOT SET THIS FLAG YOURSELF!, used during original system bootstrapping
boundschecking Adds the bounds checking patch by Haj Ten Brugge, this will DISABLE the hardened PIE+SSP patches
build !!internal use only!! DO NOT SET THIS FLAG YOURSELF!, used for creating build images and the first half of bootstrapping.
bzip2 Use the bzlib compression library
calendar Adds support for calendars (not using mcal!)
canna Adds support for the Canna kana to kanji conversion engine
caps Use Linux capabilities library to control privileges.
cdb Adds support for the CDB database engine from the author of qmail
cdinstall Copies files from the CD rather than asking the user to copy them, mostly used with games
cdparanoia Enables cdparanoia (audio CD ripper) support
cdr Adds support for CD writer hardware
chasen Enable chasen (Japanese Morphological Analysis System) support
cjk Adds support for Multi-byte character languages (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
clamav Adds support for Clam AntiVirus software (usually with a plugin)
crypt Add support for encryption — using mcrypt or gpg where applicable
cscope Enables cscope interface — in vim for example
ctype Enables ctype functions
cups Add support for CUPS (Common Unix Printing System)
curl Adds support for client-side URL transfer library
curlwrappers Adds support for using curl in streams
db2 Enables support for IBM DB2 database server
dba Enables dbm-compatible layers
dbase Adds support for dbase file format
dbm Adds support for generic DBM databases.
dbmaker Adds support for dbmaker database server
dbus Enable dbus support for anything that needs it (gpsd, gnomemeeting, etc)
dbx Adds database abstraction layer
debug Tells configure and the makefiles to build for debugging. Effects vary across packages, but generally it will at least add -g to CFLAGS. Remember to set FEATURES=nostrip too
dedicated Adds support for dedicated game servers (some packages do not provide clients and servers at the same time)
dga Adds DGA Support (Xfree86) (DGA=Direct Graphic Access)
dio Adds direct i/o support
directfb Adds support for DirectFB layer (library for FB devices)
doc Adds extra documentation (API, Javadoc, etc)
dri Enable direct rendering: used for accelerated 3D and some 2D, like DMA
dts Enables libdts (DTS Coherent Acoustics decoder) support
dv Enables support for a codec used by many camcorders
dvb Adds support for DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting)
dvd Adds support for DVDs
dvdr Adds support for DVD writer hardware (e.g. in xcdroast)
dvdread Enables usage of Ogle’s libdvdread for DVD playback
eds Enables support for Evolution-Data-Server (EDS)
emacs Adds support for GNU Emacs
emacs-w3 Add support for Emacs/W3 where applicable
emboss Adds support for the European Molecular Biology Open Software Suite
empress Adds support for the Empress database server
empress-bcs Adds local access support for the Empress database server
emul-linux-x86 Pull in binary support libraries for x86 applications
encode Adds support for encoding of audio or video files
esd Adds support for media-sound/esound (Enlightened Sound Daemon)
esoob Adds support for Easysoft OOD database
ethereal Adds support for ethereal wiretap log support in kismet
ev6 Assume Alpha processor is EV6 or better
evo Adds support for evolution in gnumeric and multisync
examples Install example source code
exif Adds support for reading EXIF headers from JPEG and TIFF images
expat Enable the use of dev-libs/expat
fam Enable FAM (File Alteration Monitor) support
fastcgi Add support for the FastCGI interface
fbcon Adds framebuffer support for the console, via the kernel
fdftk Add supports for Adobe’s FDF toolkit.
ffmpeg Enable ffmpeg support
fftw Use FFTW library for computing Fourier transforms
filepro Adds support for filePro databases
firebird Adds support for the Firebird relational database
flac Adds support for the flac audio codec
flash Adds support for creating flash files using Ming
flatfile Adds dbm support for flat files
foomaticdb Adds support for the foomatic printing driver database
fortran Adds support for fortran (formally f77)
freetds Adds support for the TDS protocol to connect to MSSQL/Sybase databases
freewnn Adds support for FreeWnn kana to kanji conversion engine
frontbase Adds support for the frontbase sql server
ftp Adds FTP (File Transfer Protocol) support
gb Adds support for Gnome Basic to gnumeric
gcj Enable building with gcj (The GNU Compiler for the Javatm Programming Language)
gd Adds support for media-libs/gd (to generate graphics on the fly)
gd-external Use the external version of gd rather than the bundled one (possibly dangerous)
gdbm Adds support for sys-libs/gdbm (GNU database libraries)
geoip Add geoip support
ggi Adds support for media-libs/libggi (non-X video api/drivers)
gif Adds GIF image support
ginac Adds sci-mathematics/ginac (symbolic math) support
glut Build an OpenGL plugin using the GLUT library
gmp Adds support for dev-libs/gmp (GNU MP library)
gnome Adds GNOME support
gnustep Adds integration with GNUstep environment
gnutls Adds support for net-libs/gnutls
gphoto2 Adds digital camera support
gpm Adds support for sys-libs/gpm (Console-based mouse driver)
gps Adds support for Global Positioning System
gstreamer Adds support for media-libs/gstreamer (Streaming media)
gtk Adds support for x11-libs/gtk+ (The GIMP Toolkit)
gtk2 Use gtk+-2.0.0 over gtk+-1.2 in cases where a program supports both.
gtkhtml Adds support for gnome-extra/gtkhtml
guile Adds support for dev-util/guile (interpreter for Scheme)
hal Enable Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) support
hardened activate default security enhancements for toolchain (gcc, glibc, binutils)
hardenedphp include the hardened php security patch for the php group of ebuilds
howl Enable howl support, enables DNS Service Discovery (DNS-SD)
hyperwave-api Adds support for Hyperwave document storage system
ibm Add support for IBM ppc64 specific systems
icc Add support for the Intel C++ Compiler (does _not_ set $CC)
iconv Enable support for the iconv character set conversion library
icq Enable ICQ IM protocol support
idn Enable support for Internationalized Domain Names
ieee1394 Enable FireWire/iLink IEEE1394 support (dv, camera, …)
ifc use ifc instead of g77 to build
imagemagick Enables support for Imagemagick (image converter)
imap Adds support for IMAP (Internet Mail Application Protocol)
imlib Adds support for imlib, an image loading and rendering library
informix Adds support for Informix database
ingres Adds support for Ingres database
inifile Adds dbm support for .ini files
innodb Adds innodb support for mySQL (transaction support)
interbase Adds support for Interbase database
iodbc Adds support for iODBC library
ipv6 Adds support for IP version 6
jabber Enable jabber IM protocol support
jack Adds support for the JACK Audio Connection Kit
java Adds support for Java
javascript Enables javascript support
jikes Compile Java source code with jikes (faster)
joystick Add support for joysticks in all packages
jpeg Adds JPEG image support
jpeg2k Support for JPEG 2000, a wavelet-based image compression format.
junit Adds junit awareness — useful for developers.
kde Adds support for kde-base/kde (K Desktop Enviroment)
kdeenablefinal Makes kde ebuilds use the enable-final flag, yielding big compilation speedups at the cost of very heavy mem usage
kdexdeltas Makes kde ebuilds download binary diffs rather than entire new tarballs for every new release
kerberos Adds kerberos support
krb4 Adds optional kerberos 4 compatibility support
ladcca Adds Linux Audio Developer’s Configuration and Connection API support (LADCCA)
lapack Adds support for the virtual/lapack numerical library
lcms Adds lcms support (color management engine)
ldap Adds LDAP support (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol)
leim Adds input methods support to Emacs
lesstif Use lesstif over openmotif in cases where a program supports both
libcaca Add support for colored ASCII-art graphics
libedit Use the libedit library (replacement for readline)
libg++ Adds C++ modules in dev-db/postgresql (libpq++)
libgda Adds GNU Data Access (CORBA wrapper) support for gnumeric
libwww Adds libwww support (General purpose WEB API)
lirc Adds support for lirc (Linux’s Infra-Red Remote Control)
livecd !!internal use only!! DO NOT SET THIS FLAG YOURSELF!, used during livecd building.
lm_sensors Adds linux lm_sensors (hardware sensors) support
lua Enable Lua scripting support
m17n-lib Enable m17n-lib support
mad Adds support for mad (high-quality mp3 decoder library and cli frontend)
maildir Adds support for maildir (~/.maildir) style mail spools
mailwrapper Adds mailwrapper support to allow multiple MTAs to be installed
matroska Adds support for the matroska container format
matrox Adds Matrox MGA support to mplayer
mbox Adds support for mbox (/var/spool/mail) style mail spools
mcal Adds support for MCAL calendar system
mcve Support for the MCVE credit card payment system
memlimit Adds memory usage limiting in supporting programs
mhash Adds support for the mhash library
migemo Enables migemo support for Japanese
mikmod Adds libmikmod support to allow playing of SoundTracker-style music files
milter Adds sendmail mail filter (milter) support
mime Adds MIME support
ming Adds support for ming library for creating flash format files
minimal Install a very minimal build (disables, for example, plugins, fonts, most drivers, non-critical features)
mmap Adds mmap (memory map) support
mmx Adds support for optimizations for Pentium MMX and Athlon class processors
mng Adds support for libmng (MNG images)
mnogosearch Adds support for the mnoGoSearch search engine
mono Build Mono bindings to support dotnet type stuff
motif Adds motif support (x11-libs/openmotif x11-libs/lesstif)
mozilla Adds support for the Mozilla web-browser
mp3 Add support for reading mp3 files
mpeg Adds libmpeg3 support to various packages.
mpi Adds MPI (Message Passing Interface) layer to the apps that support it.
msession Adds support for msession daemon
msn Enable MSN Messenger IM protocol support
msql Adds support for the MSQL database server
mssql Adds support for Microsoft SQL Server database
mule Adds multi-language support to XEmacs
multilib On 64bit systems, if you want to be able to compile 32bit and 64bit binaries
mysql Adds mySQL Database support
mysqli Adds support for the improved mySQL libraries
nas Adds support for network audio sound
ncurses Adds ncurses support (console display library)
netboot Enables network booting
netcdf Enable NetCDF data format support
neXt Enable neXt toolkit
nhc98 Use the nhc98 Haskell compiler instead of GHC if the package supports it
nis Support for NIS/YP services
nls Adds Native Language Support (using gettext - GNU locale utilities)
nocd Tells emerge to install all files required to run the application without a CD mounted
nocxx Disable support for C++ (DON’T USE THIS UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING)
nptl Enable support for Native POSIX Threads Library, the new threading module (requires linux-2.6 or better usually)
nsplugin Builds plugins for Netscape compatible browsers
ocaml Adds support/bindings for the Ocaml language
oci8 Adds Oracle 8 Database Support
odbc Adds ODBC Support (Open DataBase Connectivity)
offensive Enables potentially offensive items in packages
ofx Enable support for importing (and exporting) OFX (Open Financial eXchange) data files
ogg Adds support for the Ogg container format (commonly used by Vorbis, Theora and flac)
oggvorbis Adds support for the OggVorbis audio encoding - DEPRECATED useflag
openal Adds support for the Open Audio Library
opengl Adds support for OpenGL (3D graphics)
oracle7 Adds support for the Oracle 7 Database
oracle Enable Oracle Database support
osc Enables support for Open Sound Control
oscar Enable Oscar (AIM/ICQ) IM protocol support
oss Adds support for OSS (Open Sound System)
ovrimos Adds support for the Ovrimos Database engine
pam Adds support PAM (Pluggable Authentication Modules) - DANGEROUS to arbitrarily flip
pcmcia Adds support for PCMCIA slots/devices found on laptop computers
pcntl Adds support for process creation functions
pcre Adds support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions
pda Adds support for portable devices.
pdf Adds general support for PDF (Portable Document Format), this replaces the pdflib and cpdflib flags
perl Adds support/bindings for the Perl language.
pfpro Adds support for Verisign Payflow Pro
php Include support for php
pic Build Position Independent Code. Do not utilize this flag unless you know what you’re doing.
plotutils Adds plotutils support to gnuplot (library for 2-D vector graphics)
png Adds support for libpng (PNG images)
portaudio Adds support for the crossplatform portaudio audio API
posix Adds support for POSIX-compatible functions
postgres Adds support for the postgresql database
ppds Adds support for automatically generated ppd (printing driver) files
prelude Adds support/bindings for the Prelude Intrusion Detection System
profile Adds profile support to builds of packages (will likely vary from ebuild to ebuild in support)
python Adds support/bindings for the Python language
qdbm Adds support for the qdbm (Quick Database Manager) library
qt Adds support for the Qt GUI/Application Toolkit
quicktime Adds support for OpenQuickTime
radius Adds support for RADIUS authentication”
readline Enables support for libreadline, a GNU line-editing library that almost everyone wants
recode Enables support for the GNU recode library
ruby Adds support/bindings for the Ruby language
samba Adds support for SAMBA (Windows File and Printer sharing)
sapdb Adds support for SAP DB
sasl Adds support for the Simple Authentication and Security Layer
scanner Adds support for scanner hardware (e.g. build the sane frontend in kdegraphics)
sdl Adds support for Simple Direct Layer (media library)
selinux !!internal use only!! Security Enhanced Linux support, this must be set by the selinux profile or breakage will occur
session Adds persistent session support
sharedext Adds support for building shared extensions in php
sharedmem Adds support for shared memory use
shorten Adds support for the shorten audio compressor
simplexml support for simplexml
skey Enable S/Key (Single use password) authentication support
slang Adds support for the slang text display library (it’s like ncurses, but different)
slp Adds Service Locator Protocol support to CUPS
smartcard Enables smartcard support
sndfile Adds support for libsndfile
snmp Adds support for the Simple Network Management Protocol if available
soap Adds support for SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol)
sockets Adds support for tcp/ip sockets
socks5 Adds support for the socks5 proxy
solid Adds support for the Solid database engine
source Zip the sources and install them
sox Adds support for Sound eXchange (SoX)
speex Adds support for the speex audio codec
spell Adds dictionary support
spl Adds support for the Standard PHP Library
sqlite Adds support for sqlite - embedded sql database
sqlite3 Adds support for sqlite3 - embedded sql database
sse fast floating point optimization for PentiumIII+ class chips
sse2 faster floating point optimization for SSE2 capable chips
ssl Adds support for Secure Socket Layer connections
static !!do not set this during bootstrap!! Causes binaries to be statically linked instead of dynamically
svg Adds support for SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG ). This option is mainly intended for users that tend to browse multimedia sites frequently.
svga Adds support for SVGAlib (graphics library)
sybase Adds support for the Sybase SQL Database Server
sybase-ct Adds support for Sybase-CT
symlink Force kernel ebuilds to automatically update the /usr/src/linux symlink.
sysvipc Support for System V-compatible inter-process communication
szip Use the szip compression library
tcltk Support for Tcl and/or Tk GUI toolkits
tcpd Adds support for TCP wrappers
test Workaround to pull in packages needed to run with FEATURES=maketest / FEATURES=test
tetex Adds support for teTeX (typesetting package)
theora Adds support for the Theora Video Compression Codec
threads Adds threads support for various packages. Usually pthreads
tidy Adds support for HTML Tidy
tiff Adds support for the tiff image format
tokenizer Adds support for the PHP file parser
truetype Adds support for FreeType and/or FreeType2 fonts
uclibc Enable uclibc specific patches and build or link uclibc
unicode Adds support for Unicode
usb Adds USB support to applications that have optional USB support (e.g. cups)
v4l Enables video4linux support
vanilla Do not add extra patches which change default behaviour; DO NOT USE THIS ON A GLOBAL SCALE as the severity of the meaning changes drastically
vcd Video CD support
verbose effects vary across packages; generally used to enable extra informational output during a build or at runtime
vhosts Adds support for installing web-based applications into a virtual-hosting environment
videos Tells portage to install optional video files (used in some games)
voodoo3 Adds support for 3Dfx’s Voodoo3 video chipset, else defaults to Voodoo4/5 support if not in USE.
vorbis Adds support for the OggVorbis audio codec
wddx Adds support for Web Distributed Data eXchange
wifi Enable wireless network functions
win32codecs use win32codecs package for dll avi decoding support (wmv and what not)
wmf Adds support for the wmf vector image format
wxwindows Adds support for wxWindows/wxGTK GUI toolkit
xface Adds xface support used to allow a small image of xface format to be included in an email via the header ‘X-Face’.
xine Add support for the XINE movie libraries
xinerama Add support for the xinerama X11 extension, which allows you to stretch your display across multiple monitors
xml Add support for XML files
xml2 Check/Support flag for XML library (version 2) (deprecated, use xml)
xmlrpc Support for xml-rpc library
xmms Check/Support for XMMS (X MultiMedia System) player
xosd Sends display using the X On Screen Display library
xpm Adds support for XPM graphics format
xprint Support for xprint, http://www.mozilla.org/projects/xprint/
xsl Check/Support flag for XSL library (version 1)
xv Adds in optional support for the Xvideo extension (an X API for video playback)
xvid Adds support for xvid.org’s open-source mpeg-4 codec
yahoo Enable Yahoo Messenger IM protocol support
yaz Adds in optional support for the Z39.50 Protocol for Information Retrieval (YAZ)
zeo Adds support for Zope Enterprise Objects
zlib Adds support for zlib (de)compression