$ layman -l
* sabayon [Git ] (git://sabayon.org/projects/overlay.git )
* sunrise [Subversion] (svn://overlays.gentoo.org/proj/sunrise/reviewed/ )

eix-update -a sunrise
Reading Portage settings ..
Building database (/var/cache/eix) ..
[0] “gentoo” /mnt/entropy/usr/portage/ (cache: metadata-flat)
Reading category 154|154 (100%) Finished
[1] “sabayon” /mnt/entropy/usr/local/portage/layman/sabayon (cache: parse#metadata-flat#assign)
Reading category 154|154 (100%) Finished
[2] “sunrise” /mnt/entropy/var/lib/layman/sunrise (cache: parse#metadata-flat#assign)
Reading category 154|154 (100%) Finished
Applying masks ..
Calculating hash tables ..
Writing database file /var/cache/eix ..
Database contains 15178 packages in 154 categories.

but after that:

eix-update
Reading Portage settings ..
Building database (/var/cache/eix) ..
[0] “gentoo” /mnt/entropy/usr/portage/ (cache: metadata-flat)
Reading category 154|154 (100%) Finished
[1] “sabayon” /mnt/entropy/usr/local/portage/layman/sabayon (cache: parse#metadata-flat#assign)
Reading category 154|154 (100%) Finished
Applying masks ..
Calculating hash tables ..
Writing database file /var/cache/eix ..
Database contains 14469 packages in 154 categories.

this means eix-update -a sunrise do not make permanent changes … grrrr … eix-layman -a sunrise has no effect … now a real puffy begginer linux user will run around screaming ;-D

but … hey! lets do it again and this time MAKE OUR EYES EAGLES EYES:

eix-layman -a sunrise
Usage: eix-layman [options] command
Add or remove local layman overlays to the eix database (eix 0.20.6).

Explanation: If your /etc/make.conf does not source layman/make.conf,
then the layman overlays are not considered as part of you PORTDIR_OVERLAY;
in this case, they are are usually not added to your eix database and thus
cannot be found with eix.
However, you might want to add/remove them temporarily to your eix database
without changing your /etc/make.conf. This is the purpose of this script.
This script is also meant as an example how to use eix-functions.sh.

The following commands are provided:

add: Add the local layman overlays to the eix database
remove: Remove the local layman overlays from the eix database.

Available options:

-a OVERLAY Add overlay to the list of layman overlays.
-A PATH Add PATH to the sourced make.confs used to determine
the layman overlays. Current value:
/usr/local/portage/layman/make.conf
-C Clear the above list
-c LAYMAN_CFG Use layman.cfg file to determine entry for above list
-v Verbose (default)
-q Quiet

Current value: /usr/local/portage/layman/make.conf … hmmmm … let’s see:

eix-update -a sunrise

cat “/usr/local/portage/layman/make.conf”
PORTDIR_OVERLAY=”
/usr/local/portage/layman/sabayon
$PORTDIR_OVERLAY
”
ha! one step more:

cat /var/lib/layman/make.conf
PORTDIR_OVERLAY=”
/var/lib/layman/sabayon
/var/lib/layman/sunrise
$PORTDIR_OVERLAY

BINGO! look like layman use “/var/lib/layman/make.conf” but eix read “/usr/local/portage/layman/make.conf” … yeah! smart!

sudo cp -i /var/lib/layman/make.conf /usr/local/portage/layman/make.conf
cp: overwrite `/usr/local/portage/layman/make.conf’? y

eix-update
Reading Portage settings ..
Building database (/var/cache/eix) ..
[0] “gentoo” /mnt/entropy/usr/portage/ (cache: metadata-flat)
Reading category 154|154 (100%) Finished
[1] “sabayon” /mnt/entropy/var/lib/layman/sabayon (cache: parse#metadata-flat#assign)
Reading category 154|154 (100%) Finished
[2] “sunrise” /mnt/entropy/var/lib/layman/sunrise (cache: parse#metadata-flat#assign)
Reading category 154|154 (100%) Finished
Applying masks ..
Calculating hash tables ..
Writing database file /var/cache/eix ..
Database contains 15245 packages in 154 categories.

problem solved … as an extra investigation:

cat /etc/make.conf | grep layman
source /usr/local/portage/layman/make.conf

“If your /etc/make.conf does not source layman/make.conf” is a confusing statement … layman/make.conf is not a real path!