CLI flags

Every flag accepted by emerge — actions, modifiers, Gentoo-compat no-ops, and generated completions/man page.

The emerge(1) man page is generated from the same CLI definition via clap_mangen ((emerge --gen-manpage), so it cannot drift from --help.

Actions

Flag	Description
-s	Search packages
--searchdesc	Search by description
-sv	Detailed package info
-u	Full system upgrade (does not read world)
--devel	With -u: also rebuild -git/-hg/-svn/-bzr whose upstream moved
--check-devel	Report devel packages with upstream drift (no rebuild)
-C / --unmerge	Remove packages (unmerge)
-c / --depclean	Remove orphans
--sync	Sync package databases
--refresh	Force -Syy (with --sync or -u)
--info	System info (Gentoo-style)
--news [N|all]	Arch Linux news; N reads one, all marks all read
--check-news	Alias for --news
--prune	Remove packages not in world
--select	Add to world without installing
--deselect	Remove from world without unmerging
--revdep-rebuild	Find & fix binaries with broken library links
--undo	Undo last install/unmerge (one step; -u not reversible)
--resume	Resume interrupted transaction
--skipfirst	Skip first package on resume
--batchinstall <FILE>	Mass-install from a text list (same format as a custom set)
--install-pkgbuild <PATH>	Build+install a local PKGBUILD checkout (scanner + bwrap)
--scan	Audit-only PKGBUILD/.install scan (AUR or --install-pkgbuild); non-zero on findings
--clean-source-cache	Wipe persistent VCS source cache
--regen	Regenerate package metadata cache
--regen-world	Re-resolve repo prefixes in world
--regen-sets <SET>	Re-resolve prefixes for one custom set
--regen-sort	With --regen-sets: also sort the file (drops comments)
--regen-world-from-explicit	One-time migration: seed world from pacman -Qeq

Source & build

Flag	Description
--aur	Force AUR (AUR-only deps resolved recursively)
--only-repos	Official repos only (never AUR)
--abs	Build from ABS (pkgctl), in bwrap sandbox
--no-sandbox	Disable bwrap; plain makepkg
--unshare-net-build	No network during build()/check()/package()
--skippgp	Skip PGP checks (ABS)
--autopgp	Auto-import missing PGP keys (ABS)
--edit	Edit PKGBUILD in $EDITOR before build; regenerates .SRCINFO
--skip-srcinfo-regen	With --edit: do not regenerate .SRCINFO
--pkgbuild-view	Show/diff PKGBUILD, confirm before build

Security-related

Flag	Description
--scan	Audit PKGBUILD/.install only
--no-sandbox	Turn off bwrap (warning printed)
--unshare-net-build	Network off for build/check/package phases
--pkgbuild-view	Human review gate before build

World & sets

Flag	Description
--list-sets	List available @sets
--err-install	On @world, also try Err/ entries
--exclude <ATOM>	Leave a package out of this run (repeatable / comma-separated)

Output & plan

Flag	Description
-p / --pretend	Dry run
-a / --ask	Ask before acting
-v / --verbose	Verbose output
-t / --tree	Show plan as a dependency tree
-D / --deep[=N]	With -t: nest N levels, or every level if bare
-1 / --oneshot	Install as dependency (not added to world)
-n / --noreplace	Do not reinstall if present
--sudoloop	Keep sudo timestamp warm for the whole run
--keep-going	Don’t stop a batch at the first failure; summarize at the end
--ignore-default-opts	Ignore EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS from make.conf for this run

Batch & resume

Flag	Description
--batchinstall <FILE>	Mass-install from list file
--keep-going	Continue after failures; non-zero exit + summary
--resume	Retry failed packages from last run
--skipfirst	Skip first package when resuming

Help, version, generated

Flag	Description
-h / --help	Help
-V / --version	Version
--gen-completions <SHELL>	Generate shell completions (bash/zsh/fish) to stdout
--gen-manpage	Generate emerge(1) man page to stdout

Gentoo compat

Many Portage flags (-N/--newuse, -e/--emptytree, -O/--nodeps, -k/-K/-g/-G/-b/-B, --jobs, --load-average, …) are accepted silently as no-ops so scripts and muscle memory don’t break.