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On Thursday, 31 December 2020 09:31:13 GMT Neil Bothwick wrote: |
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> On Thu, 31 Dec 2020 08:34:42 +0100, n952162 wrote: |
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> > Why do you specify -1? That's the most common advice I get for avoiding |
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> > slot-conflicts, but I can't imagine a system without cups. |
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> |
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> To avoid adding to your world file. If a package needs to be in @world, |
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> it will already be there to -1 will be harmless. In the case of CUPS, you |
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> don't want it in world as it is a dependency of any program that wants to |
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> be able to print. |
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Yes, what Neil sagely advised. :-) |
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I suggest you make it a rule to always run emerge for any individual package |
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atom with -1, unless you *really* intend to install such a package yourself |
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and it has not been already installed as a dependency for other package(s). |
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If you do not use -1 the package you emerge will be added in your world file |
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and then you could end up fighting against portage sooner or later. |
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Imagine a hypothetical scenario where one day CUPS is deprecated and replaced |
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by the oh-so-marvellous latest and greatest CUPS-ng. You try to update your |
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system, but come up against a blocker because the recently deprecated old CUPS |
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now clashes with CUPS-ng. The old CUPS is in your world file, because you |
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added it there by running emerge without -1 and consequently portage cannot |
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override your choice and unmerge it to replace it with CUPS-ng. Portage will |
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now throw a wobbly, alerting you to a blocker you must resolve yourself. |
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This is why you were advised in previous messages related to the recent python |
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updates to make sure among other things no python packages have inadvertently |
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ended up in your world file. Unless you're a developer with specific python |
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requirements, you would not want python which is both a @system set and |
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potentially @world set dependency to end up in there. |