[wplug] Compiler questions

[redtoade]

> 3) Aside from compiler optimizations, most software has a number of
>   compile-time options you can tweak (not all related to performance)
>   For example, I just recompiled Sylpheed with GnuPG support.

Let me ask the dumb question then:
if in /etc/make.conf I have the line "USE=-X" (plus others) because my
machine does not run X, then when I "emerge emacs" don't I get an
emacs install that does not include that annoying X based GNU emacs
(not to be confused with xemacs)?  Otherwise, if I "USE=X", I
typically get a few more dependencies and a somewhat larger binary?

That was always my problem with RedHat rpms.  They would package
binaries that I didn't want and that weren't really dependencies.  As
in my previous example, the emacs rpm included a lot of klunk, and if
I wanted to run emacs inside a bash shell, I needed to type "emacs
-nw"... otherwise it would automatically launch a new window.  If I
didn't want this, then my only option was to compile from source.  And
that option has NO package management!

It seems that streamlining for your particular system's installed
programs is more important to me than the compiler optimizations that
other gentoo users promote.  I mean when I'm on a gnome only system,
the end product of "USE = -kde" is smaller binaries, with fewer
dependencies.  Which is better than the one binary fits all method. 
Plus it is all done within the bounds of an effective package
management system, so it's easy to install/uninstall on the fly.  Am I
misunderstanding how this works?