I,m a bit concerned as to why my #CFLAGS" & #CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}" are crossed out on my make.conf.
Ive been using Calculate for a long time & have found it fantastic at how simple its been to upgrade the kernel etc which I think I have done 3 times now on the same rolling desktop but I i have struggled at times at not being able just use youre "make.conf" file to make changes like in the past with a gentoo distro where you could change your USE FLAGS, PORTDIR_OVERLAY & LINGUAS etc etc...
But now its like where do you find these files so you can adjust these things ,as for example I have found the "/etc/portage/package.use file doesnt match my "emerge --info" .
In other words the emerge --info collects its info from somewhere to display what I have below but Where From. it does not seem to get its info from /etc/portage for example.

CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS are written as an example.

"emerge --info" shows the global settings. In the file "/etc/portage/package.use" you change the settings for a particular package, and they do not appear in the output.

Flags and masks are stored in a profile in the overlay Calculate (to view "eselect profile list").

If you change the USE flags, use when updating flag "--newuse" ("-N"). In this case, will not be installed binary package with pre-defined flags, but will compile under your flag.

Hey Laurie thanks for trying to answer both questions But now I was hoping you could give me an example for a problem I have had.

When I did a rebuild I would get some pkgs that wont install because of an error & it would stop my rebuild from finishing, & sometimes they are pkgs I dont need or would use. So I tried masking them & that didnt seem to work. I also temporarily copied the use flags from emerge --info to my make.conf & added the " - minus sign" in front of the name of the pkg like this , "-ipw3945 -wimax" & it seemed to of worked But I didnt like doing that.
So what would be the best solution for this kind of problem as this was the main reason I wanted to know where the file with the collection of Use Flags were that emerge --info showed I had were, As I wanted to add the - minus sign to the pkg name as a quick solution but had to choose the uncomfortable way as I explained above.

Also I seem to have found the files that give my emerge --info the info it needs in the " /var/lib/layman/calculate/profiles" folder as I was able to alter the "LINGUAS=" there.

To mask packages that you dont need you can try use /etc/portage/package.provided or /etc/portage/package.mask
Yes, this in /var/lib/layman/calculate/profiles, but if you change this file it will be droped on next "emerge-sync"
Changes to "LINGUAS=" must be in /etc/make.conf

I' seem to be miss understood or I am misunderstanding something.
On all my uses so far of using calculate my make.conf & emerge --info are totally separate in big ways as I show below.

$ cat /etc/make.conf
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Modified Calculate-install 2.2.19
# Processed template files:
# /usr/share/calculate/templates/install/1merge/portage/make.conf
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#-------------------
# Basic build option
#-------------------
# Exception of the software. The list of possible flags can be found here:
# /var/lib/layman/calculate/profiles/desc/calculate.desc
# Separated by a space. To remove programs, do update `emerge -uDN world`,
# and then delete the packages by running `emerge -ac`.
#CALCULATE=""

# Valid license. Need to specify for such packages as:
# net-wireless/broadcom-sta, dev-java/sun-jdk and others.
ACCEPT_LICENSE="*"

# Alternative mirror updates repository. In case of problems with access
# at the beginning try to update the overlay by running `layman-s calculate`.
#PORTAGE_BINHOST="http://77.88.19.68/calculate/CLD/grp/x86_64"
#PORTAGE_BINHOST="ftp://ftp.linux.kiev.ua/pub/Linux/Calculate/CLD/grp/x86_64"
#PORTAGE_BINHOST="ftp://opennix.tula.su/calculate/CLD/grp/x86_64"
#PORTAGE_BINHOST="http://mirror.cnet.kz/calculate/CLD/grp/x86_64"

# Connecting overlays layman. You should not change this setting, as this may
# disrupt the package manager.
source /var/lib/layman/make.conf

#-----------------
# Compiler Options
#-----------------
# Additional options passed to the compiler. The flag "-march=native"
# Optimize the program by your hardware.
#CFLAGS="-O2 -march=native -pipe"
#CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"

#-------------------
# Faster Compilation
#-------------------
# Number of parallel processes that run when you install.
MAKEOPTS="-j9"

# The number of packets for simultaneous assembly.
#EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS="--jobs=4"

GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://ftp.swin.edu.au/gentoo http://chi-10g-1-mirror.fastsoft.net...too-distfiles/ http://gentoo.channelx.biz/ http://gentoo.osuosl.org/"


& MY emerge --info

$ emerge --info
Portage 2.2.0_alpha85 (!../var/lib/layman/calculate/profiles/calculate/desktop/CLD/amd64/binary, gcc-4.6.0, glibc-2.14, 3.2.5-calculate x86_64)
=================================================================
System uname: Linux-3.2.5-calculate-x86_64-Intel-R-_Core-TM-_i7_CPU_920_@_2.67GHz-with-gentoo-11.6
Timestamp of tree: Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:30:01 +0000
app-shells/bash: 4.1_p9
dev-java/java-config: 2.1.11-r3
dev-lang/python: 2.7.2-r3, 3.1.4-r3
dev-util/cmake: 2.8.7-r2
dev-util/pkgconfig: 0.26
sys-apps/baselayout: 2.0.3
sys-apps/openrc: 0.9.8.4
sys-apps/sandbox: 2.5
sys-devel/autoconf: 2.13, 2.68
sys-devel/automake: 1.9.6-r3, 1.10.3, 1.11.1
sys-devel/binutils: 2.21.1-r1
sys-devel/gcc: 4.4.5, 4.5.3-r1, 4.6.0
sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.4.1-r1
sys-devel/libtool: 2.4-r1
sys-devel/make: 3.82-r1
sys-kernel/linux-headers: 3.1 (virtual/os-headers)
sys-libs/glibc: 2.14
Repositories: gentoo calculate
Installed sets:
ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64"
ACCEPT_LICENSE="*"
CBUILD="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"
CFLAGS="-O2 -march=x86-64 -pipe"
CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"
CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/share/config /usr/share/gnupg/qualified.txt /usr/share/openvpn/easy-rsa /usr/share/themes/oxygen-gtk/gtk-2.0"
CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/ca-certificates.conf /etc/env.d /etc/env.d/java/ /etc/fonts/fonts.conf /etc/gconf /etc/gentoo-release /etc/revdep-rebuild /etc/sandbox.d /etc/splash /etc/terminfo"
CXXFLAGS="-O2 -march=x86-64 -pipe"
DISTDIR="/var/calculate/remote/distfiles"
EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS="--binpkg-respect-use=y --quiet-build=n"
FEATURES="assume-digests binpkg-logs distlocks ebuild-locks fixlafiles getbinpkg metadata-transfer parallel-fetch parallel-install preserve-libs protect-owned sandbox sfperms strict unknown-features-warn unmerge-logs unmerge-orphans userfetch"
FFLAGS=""
GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://ftp.swin.edu.au/gentoo http://chi-10g-1-mirror.fastsoft.net...too-distfiles/ http://gentoo.channelx.biz/ http://gentoo.osuosl.org/"
LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
LDFLAGS="-Wl,--as-needed"
LINGUAS="en"
MAKEOPTS="-j9"
PKGDIR="/var/calculate/remote/packages/CLD/x86_64"
PORTAGE_CONFIGROOT="/"
PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --stats --human-readable --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages"
PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/calculate/tmp"
PORTDIR="/usr/portage"
PORTDIR_OVERLAY="/var/lib/layman/calculate"
SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"
USE="3dnow X a52 aac aalib acl acpi alsa amd64 amr audiofile avi bash-completion berkdb bittorrent bluetooth bzip2 cairo cdda cddb cdparanoia cdr chm clamav cli consolekit cpudetection cracklib crypt css cups cxx dbus djvu dri dv dvd dvdr dvdread ebook encode exif fbcon ffmpeg flac flash foomaticdb fortran ftp gd gdbm ggi gif gphoto2 gpm gtk iconv id3tag ieee1394 imagemagick ipod ipv6 irc jabber jingle jpeg jpeg2k kde libcaca libnotify libwww lirc logrotate lzo mad matroska mbox mikmod mmx mmxext mng modules mp3 mpeg mplayer mudflap multilib musepack nas ncurses networkmanager nfs nls nptl nptlonly nsplugin ogg oggvorbis openal opencore-amr openexr opengl openmp oscar pam pcre pdf png policykit portaudio ppp pppd qt3support qt4 quicktime raw rdesktop readline samba scanner sdl semantic-desktop session smp speex spell srt sse sse2 sse3 sse4.1 sse4.2 sse4a sse5 ssl ssse3 svg sysfs tcpd tga theora tiff truetype unicode usb userlocales v4l v4l2 vaapi vcd vdpau vhosts vorbis webkit wmf wxwindows x264 xanim xcomposite xinerama xorg xpm xv xvid xvmc yahoo zlib" ALSA_CARDS="ali5451 als4000 atiixp atiixp-modem bt87x ca0106 cmipci emu10k1x ens1370 ens1371 es1938 es1968 fm801 hda-intel intel8x0 intel8x0m maestro3 trident usb-audio via82xx via82xx-modem ymfpci" ALSA_PCM_PLUGINS="adpcm alaw asym copy dmix dshare dsnoop empty extplug file hooks iec958 ioplug ladspa lfloat linear meter mmap_emul mulaw multi null plug rate route share shm softvol" APACHE2_MODULES="actions alias auth_basic authn_alias authn_anon authn_dbm authn_default authn_file authz_dbm authz_default authz_groupfile authz_host authz_owner authz_user autoindex cache cgi cgid dav dav_fs dav_lock deflate dir disk_cache env expires ext_filter file_cache filter headers include info log_config logio mem_cache mime mime_magic negotiation rewrite setenvif speling status unique_id userdir usertrack vhost_alias" CALCULATE="printer wireless" CALLIGRA_FEATURES="kexi words flow plan stage tables krita karbon braindump" CAMERAS="* ptp2" CDISTRO="CLD desktop" CL="builder client desktop installgui" COLLECTD_PLUGINS="df interface irq load memory rrdtool swap syslog" ELIBC="glibc" FOO2ZJS_DEVICES="*" GPSD_PROTOCOLS="ashtech aivdm earthmate evermore fv18 garmin garmintxt gpsclock itrax mtk3301 nmea ntrip navcom oceanserver oldstyle oncore rtcm104v2 rtcm104v3 sirf superstar2 timing tsip tripmate tnt ubx" INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse evdev mutouch synaptics" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" LINGUAS="en" LIRC_DEVICES="devinput" PHP_TARGETS="php5-3" RUBY_TARGETS="ruby18" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="fbdev glint intel mach64 mga neomagic nouveau nv r128 radeon savage sis tdfx trident vesa via vmware nouveau nvidia radeonhd dummy v4l" XTABLES_ADDONS="quota2 psd pknock lscan length2 ipv4options ipset ipp2p iface geoip fuzzy condition tee tarpit sysrq steal rawnat logmark ipmark dhcpmac delude chaos account"
Unset: CPPFLAGS, CTARGET, INSTALL_MASK, LC_ALL, PORTAGE_BUNZIP2_COMMAND, PORTAGE_COMPRESS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS


There are no USE FLAGS & "LINGUAS=" & other stuff there. But are on my emerge --info

hi browser,

of course your make.conf file and your emerge --info output will be different! emerge --info taking into account the system settings AND make.conf settings combined, while make.conf is only for modifying the existing defaults.