From gentoo-user  Tue Sep 12 09:26:09 2023
From: Nikos Chantziaras <realnc () gmail ! com>
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2023 09:26:09 +0000
To: gentoo-user
Subject: [gentoo-user] Re: long compiles
Message-Id: <udparh$112f$2 () ciao ! gmane ! io>
X-MARC-Message: https://marc.info/?l=gentoo-user&m=169451063315583

On 11/09/2023 23:21, Alan McKinnon wrote:
> Yup, that jibes with what I see. Oh well, just means that the need for 
> overnight compiles did not go away haha

Ever since I added the following to my make.conf:

PORTAGE_NICENESS=19
PORTAGE_IONICE_COMMAND="sh -c \"schedtool -D \${PID} && ionice -c 3 -p 
\${PID}\""

I never needed overnight compiles again. Make sure sys-process/schedtool 
is installed. As long as you have plenty of RAM so the system doesn't 
swap, you can use the system normally even while building monster 
packages. I can even play video games without issue while portage is 
emerging now.