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+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<guide self="general-concepts/slotting/">
+<chapter>
+<title>Slotting</title>
+
+<body>
+<p>
+Packages can support having multiple versions installed simultaneously. This is
+useful for libraries which may have changed interfaces between versions -- for
+example, the <c>gtk+</c> package can install both versions <c>1.2</c> and <c>2.6</c> in
+parallel. This feature is called slotting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Most packages have no need for slotting. These packages specify <c>SLOT="0"</c> in
+the ebuilds. This is <b>not</b> the same as specifying an empty slot -- an empty
+slot means &quot;disable slotting entirely&quot;, and should not be used.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Portage permits at most one instance of a package installation <e>per <c>SLOT</c>
+value</e>.  For example, say we have the following:
+</p>
+
+<ul>
+  <li><c>foo-1.1</c> with <c>SLOT="1"</c></li>
+  <li><c>foo-1.2</c> with <c>SLOT="1"</c></li>
+  <li><c>foo-2.0</c> with <c>SLOT="2"</c></li>
+  <li><c>foo-2.1</c> with <c>SLOT="2"</c></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>
+Then the user could have, say, <c>foo-1.2</c> and <c>foo-2.0</c> installed in
+parallel, but <e>not</e> <c>foo-1.1</c> and <c>foo-1.2</c>. Note that it is entirely
+possible that the user may have <c>foo-2.0</c> installed and no <c>foo-1.x</c> at all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is not possible to <c>DEPEND</c> upon a package in a specific slot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Currently portage will accept an arbitrary string for the value of <c>SLOT</c>. For
+future compatibility, it is recommended that slots contain only characters which
+are allowed in an ebuild name or version (alphanumerics, hypens, full stops,
+underscores, the plus character) -- other characters may cause problems with
+future portage enhancements.
+</p>
+</body>
+
+</chapter>
+</guide>