ShALLaX.com Forums

I know this really doesn't have anything to do with gentoox but here goes..

Ok i was having a problem with install xfce (running pro edition) emerge was failing so i went to your faq and found this

· Problems installing XFCE? (Emerge failed)

1) Make sure your clock is set.
2) emerge -C virtual/modutils
3) Re-run magic.

of couse i did this and everything works.. i know that the -C command is used to remove this package. I am just wondering what is this virutal/modutils package... ? I know the normal modutils which is part of the sys-apps catagory..

So my question just is whats the virutal catagory and why was it preventing it from working.. Thanks..

virtuals are like generic packages for which there are one or more options. An example would be kernel sources, any package that requires kernel-sources will depend on virtual/linux-sources but this could be any of the sources (vanilla, gentoo, development etc.)
Other common examples are cron, logger, mta, java and now the X server (xorg or xfree)

On my box I have module-init-tools providing virtual/modutils

ok i think i understand.. thanks for the explanation.