On Friday, August 26, 2011 05:08:08 PM James wrote:
> Hello,
>
>
> In /usr/portage/sci-chemistry, there are lots
> of software offerings. My son is new to Gentoo
> but now I let him go root and install packages.
>
> Does Gentoo maintain an online index with brief
> description of each so one can make a guess as to
> which packages might be useful to him?
>
> Is there some slick way to install all of the packages
> in this dir? (drawing a blank --most-likely-TGIF-syndrome)
>
> and then go down a list (index) and test which ones
> he would want to keep?
>
> suggestions are most welcome.
>
> I'm looking for suggestions better than:
> eix <package> one at a time....

Got a few ideas:

You can have "eix" give details for all the packages in a "group" in one go
though. Try:
# eix sci-chemistry/
(Yes, use a training slash "/" )

To install all the packages in "sci-chemistry/" you can do the following:
# emerge -va `eix sci-chemistry/ --only-names`

Be prepared to have to unmask a lot of packages.

To get a list of all the sci-chemistry/ packages installed (eg. still to check
and/or already selected to keep:
# eix -I --only-names sci-chemistry/

Hope these help with what you're trying to do.

--
Joost