portupd is a python extension for portage it is a daemon that at a given interval will synchronize the remote portage tree with the local one. Future plans are to extend it to notify the user in the case of updates. Read INSTALL for installation information start daemon with /etc/init.d/portupd start stop with /etc/init.d/portupd stop restart with /etc/init.d/portupd stop If you want to run this service when your computer starts add it to the default runlevel with rc-update add portupd default