How to satisfy Portage dependencies with dummy packages (or other methods)?

Hi folks,

I'm not sure how to handle the following situation: I want to use
Postfix compiled from the official sources instead of any of the
mail-mta/* packages. I removed mail-mta/ssmtp, which seems to be the
default for my selected profile, but "emerge --update --deep world"
reinstalls the ssmtp package, which renders my own Postfix unusable.

On SuSE Linux, I have created a dummy SMTP service RPM to keep the
YaST dependency checks for the "smtp_daemon" service satisfied. How
can I satisfy Portage's dependency checks to keep it from installing
any mail-mta/* package?

I have not yet found relevant information in the forums or mailing
list archives, but as I am new to Gentoo, I might not have worded my
questions correctly, lacking the Gentoo specific terminology. Any
pointers are welcome!

-- 
Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Sincerely
Dipl. Inform. Ralph Seichter


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