Eix

eix is a tool for searching the package tree that is faster and more flexible than emerge's search function. Also worth mention is eix's very nice colorized output, which makes it easy to spot important information when searching through a long list of packages.

Installation
Install eix with:

Updating the Cache
Eix uses a cache which must be updated before eix will reflect any changes to the package tree. Update the local cache with:

Eix provides a handy command that will run an emerge --sync and then update the eix cache:

Usage
For a full list of options, see:

To search for a (partial) package name, simply put the search term:

Available versions: 5.40 Homepage:           http://www.astrolog.org/astrolog.htm Description:        ephemeris files for optional extended accuracy of astrolog's calculations
 * app-misc/astrolog-ephemeris

Available versions: 0.043 0.044 ~0.045 0.046 ~0.047 Homepage:           http://download.mpsna.de/opensource/demerge/ Description:        demerge - revert to previous installation states
 * app-portage/demerge

Available versions: ~3.3 ~3.5.1 ~3.5.1-r1 3.5.1-r2 Homepage:           http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/portage/index.xml Description:        emerge-webrsync using patches to minimize bandwidth
 * app-portage/emerge-delta-webrsync

Available versions: 1.11 Homepage:           http://xemacs.org/ Description:        Another interface over GNU patch.
 * app-xemacs/emerge

Available versions: *0.2.1-r1 *0.2.1-r2 ~*0.3.1 ~0.9.2 ~0.9.3 Homepage:           http://www.nemerle.org/ Description:        A hybrid programming language for the .NET platform
 * dev-lang/nemerle

Available versions: ~*0.9!s Homepage:           http://emergence.uk.net/ Description:        Network-only top down space arcade game
 * games-arcade/emergence-bin

Available versions: ~2.20 {X} Homepage:           http://www.fgdc.gov/HSWG/ Description:        FGDC Emergency Response Symbology Prototype
 * media-fonts/fgdc-emergency

Available versions: ~0.5!s Homepage:           http://icecc.sourceforge.net/ Description:        IceWM private/global preferences merger
 * x11-misc/icemergeprefs

Available versions: ~0.5.2 Homepage:           http://compiz-fusion.org Description:        Emerald Window Decorator Themes (git)
 * x11-themes/emerald-themes

Available versions: ~0.5.2!t ~0.7.8 {debug} Homepage:           http://compiz-fusion.org Description:        Emerald Window Decorator (git)
 * x11-wm/emerald

Found 10 matches.

To search for package within a given category, use the -C option:

Available versions: 0.043 0.044 ~0.045 0.046 ~0.047 Homepage:           http://download.mpsna.de/opensource/demerge/ Description:        demerge - revert to previous installation states
 * app-portage/demerge

Available versions: ~3.3 ~3.5.1 ~3.5.1-r1 3.5.1-r2 Homepage:           http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/portage/index.xml Description:        emerge-webrsync using patches to minimize bandwidth
 * app-portage/emerge-delta-webrsync

Found 2 matches.

To search for only installed packages, use the -I option. Options can be combined, so to search for any installed package with porta in the name in the app-portage category, run:

[I] app-portage/portage-utils Available versions: 0.1.28 0.1.29 Installed versions: 0.1.29(14:16:58 06/11/08) Homepage:           http://www.gentoo.org/ Description:        small and fast portage helper tools written in C

To search packages descriptions:

To search packages descriptions and print a compact list:

[N] dev-ada/polyorb (~2.1.0): A CORBA implementation for Ada [N] dev-libs/libIDL (0.8.14): CORBA tree builder [N] gnome-base/libbonobo (2.24.3): GNOME CORBA framework [N] gnome-base/orbit (2.14.18(2)): ORBit2 is a high-performance CORBA ORB [N] net-misc/mico (~2.3.13-r3): A freely available and fully compliant implementation of the CORBA standard [N] net-misc/omniORB (4.1.4-r1): A robust, high-performance CORBA 2 ORB [N] net-misc/omnievents (--): An implementation of the CORBA Events Service for omniORB Found 7 matches.

Remote Overlay Searches
Eix also has the handy ability to search for packages in a selection of overlays without having those overlays installed.

To update the remote overlay cache, run:

Now search for packages as normal and you'll also see items from the selection of overlays listed:

The overlay where the package or specific version is available will be denoted with a number in brackets. The overlays and their corresponding numbers will be listed at the end of the output.

Available versions: 0.9.3.1 0.9.3.2 0.9.3.3 0.9.3.320071130[2] 0.9.4 ~0.9.4-r1 **9999[2] ~9999-r1[4] {injection kernel_linux} Homepage:           http://www.madwifi.org/ Description:        Next Generation driver for Atheros based IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless LAN cards
 * net-wireless/madwifi-ng

Available versions: 0.9.2 0.9.3 0.9.3.1 0.9.3.2 0.9.3.3 0.9.4 **9999[2] Homepage:           http://www.madwifi.org/ Description:        Next Generation tools for configuration of Atheros based IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless LAN cards
 * net-wireless/madwifi-ng-tools

Available versions: ~0.0.1417.20060128 {amrr kernel_linux onoe} Homepage:           http://www.madwifi-project.org/ Description:        Driver for Atheros based IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless LAN cards
 * net-wireless/madwifi-old

Available versions: ~0.0.1417.20060128 Homepage:           http://www.madwifi-project.org/ Description:        Tools for configuration of Atheros based IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless LAN cards
 * net-wireless/madwifi-old-tools

Available versions: ~*0.10.5.6.9999!m {kernel_linux} Homepage:           http://www.madwifi.org/ Description:        Next Generation driver for Atheros based IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless LAN cards
 * net-wireless/madwifi-hal [1]

Available versions: ~*0.10.5.6.9999!m Homepage:           http://www.madwifi.org/ Description:        Next Generation tools for configuration of Atheros based IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless LAN cards
 * net-wireless/madwifi-hal-tools [1]

Available versions: ~3112 ~3223 ~3277 ~3319 ~3361 ~3452 ~3480 ~3545 ~3693 ~3714 ~3742 ~3750 ~3811 {kernel_linux} Homepage:           http://www.madwifi.org/ Description:        Wireless-ng driver for Atheros chipset a/b/g cards
 * net-wireless/madwifi-ng-svn [3]

[1] "allenjb-svn" /usr/local/portage_svn [2] (layman/arcon) [3] (layman/je/fro) [4] (layman/sabayon)

Found 7 matches.

Obsolete and Missing Package Search
Search for obsolete and missing packages found in portage and overlays on your system, display brief output