Unmasking Packages

=Introduction=

Most gentoo users reach a point where well-tested software doesn't quite cut it, and they want to try newer, less polished versions of their favourite packages. The official way is to use a system that is fully KEYWORDed, but many people upgrade to ~KEYWORDED software one package at a time.

= Terminology = {TODO| Explain KEYWORD, ACCEPT_KEYWORD, MASKing and UNMASKING here}

Global ACCEPT_KEYWORD
This will cause your whole system to be rebuilt with less-well-tested software. Generally, this works fine, but you are effectively volunteering to encounter bugs before regular users do. Early bug reports are really appreciated, but please be aware that you may encounter more problems than usual.

Adjust as applicable to your architecture; these are the two most common.

Then prepare for a full system recompile.

On the command-line
This is the bad, stupid way that unfortunately, people still use. It works initially but leads to problems when upgrading your system, as the KEYWORD setting is not preserved anywhere, and packages get downgraded. Don't use this, it is only included here for completeness.

Accepting Keywords
(If these files / directories don't exist, create them)

Unversioned
Unversioned unKEYWORDing will allow portage to upgrade the package to the latest unMASKed version whenever it performs upgrades.

Version-Specific
Versioned unKEYWORDing will allow portage to merge a single KEYWORDed version of a program, but no others. As time passes, that version may be superseded by an unKEYWORDED newer version of the program, and portage will upgrade to this newer version. With that in mind, version-specific unKEYWORDing can be used to revert from a KEYWORDed system to a non-KEYWORDED one over a longer period and with less disruption.

Using autounmask
The easiest way to deal with masked packages is by using.

You should note that autounmask always unKEYWORDs in a version-specific manner.

Masking and Unmasking Packages
Manual Example:

Masowe odmaskowywanie