Project:Package Manager Specification

Has Name::Package Manager Specification
Description Has Description::The Package Manager Specification aims to document what is required of a Gentoo package manager, and what ebuilds may assume about their environment.
Project email Has Contact::pms@gentoo.org
IRC channel #gentoo-pms
Lead(s) SMW::off
  • Ulrich Müller (ulm)
    Lead
SMW::on
Last elected: Has Lead Election Date::2018/09/05
Member(s) SMW::off
  • Michał Górny (mgorny)
SMW::on
Subproject(s)
(and inherited member(s))		 (none)
Parent Project Quality Assurance
Project listing

In the past, the ebuild environment has been defined by what Portage has supported. With the advent of alternative package managers, such a moving standard is no longer sufficient. The Package Manager Specification (PMS) aims to solve this by defining, independent of any package manager, what is and is not allowed in the tree, and what ebuilds may assume about their environment.

It is also required to document what each value of the EAPI ebuild variable actually means. At present PMS aims to document all Council-approved EAPIs.

A git repository with the document's sources can be found at:

A convenient way to be up to date with the current document is the live ebuild found in the Gentoo repository, called app-doc/pms (TeX Live needs to be installed). Additionally, the latest approved version is available as ebuild of that package. Alternatively, app-doc/pms-bin will install pre-built PDF and HTML files.

Generated versions of the document

Here are links to generated PDF versions of the document to make it easier for some people to read it. Approved versions of the document will be here along with those considered of interest by the PMS editors.

Versions approved by the Gentoo Council
eapi-5-approved-2012-09-20 (PDF, HTML, Cheat Sheet)
eapi-6-approved-2017-04-29 (PDF, HTML, Cheat Sheet)
eapi-7-approved-2018-04-30 (PDF, HTML, Cheat Sheet)
Current HEAD (might not be completely up to date)
master (PDF, HTML, Cheat Sheet)

EAPI life cycle

Council approval and use in Gentoo repository

EAPICouncilGentoo repository
approveddeprecatedbannedfirst ebuild addedlast ebuild removedfirst profile addedlast profile removed
0 2008-09-112014-02-252016-01-10(pre-EAPI-0)2019-12-09(pre-EAPI-0)2014-03-27
1 2007-11-08 (use in tree)2013-04-092014-03-112007-11-102017-01-142009-06-262014-03-27
2 2008-09-252013-04-092014-03-112008-09-262019-10-042009-08-172014-03-27
3 2010-01-182014-02-252016-01-102010-01-292018-05-20(never used in profiles)
4 2011-01-172015-10-112018-04-082011-01-252020-11-26(never used in profiles)
5 2012-09-202018-05-132012-10-092013-01-14
6 2015-11-132015-11-21
7 2018-04-302018-05-05

Implementation in package managers

EAPIPortagePaludisPkgcorecomment
unstable versionunstable datestable versionstable dateversiondateversiondate
0 2.0.532005-12-012.0.532005-12-260.2.12006-05-030.12006-09-30first PM versions aware of EAPI
1 2.1.3.122007-10-062.1.3.192007-12-110.26.02008-04-250.3.32007-12-15
2 2.1.62008-12-072.1.6.42009-01-080.30.12008-09-250.4.7.92008-10-06
3 2.1.7.172010-01-292.1.7.172010-03-080.44.12010-01-190.5.102010-02-08
4 2.1.9.312011-01-122.1.9.422011-03-170.62.02011-06-130.6.52011-06-22
5 2.1.11.192012-09-202.1.11.312012-12-110.80.02012-09-230.92015-04-02
6 2.2.252015-11-172.2.262016-01-172.6.02016-05-030.9.32016-05-28
7 2.3.322018-05-012.3.40-r12018-06-270.10.02019-08-23

See also

This article is issued from Gentoo. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.