Re: [gentoo-user] Portage update errors

[Neil Bothwick]

On Wed, 21 Nov 2018 13:52:50 +1100, Zoltán Kócsi wrote:

> I have a machine with Gentoo, which was installed from scratch 5 months
> ago, was updated 3 months ago. Time to look at it again.
>
> emerge --sync
>
> told me that I was strongly advised to update portage.
>
> emerge portage
>
> comes back with lots of errors, see below (the output is slightly
> edited for brevity).
>
> There is nothing to mask those packages, for example the word 'certifi'
> does not occur in *any* file under /etc/portage at all.
>
> As per the "5 config files ..." bit, well, dispatch-conf and etc-update
> tell me that they have nothing to do, so I have no idea what 5 files
> need updating, to what and how to update them.

find /etc/portage -name ._cfg\*

Config files for updating start with ._cfg

> I don't really understand how portage works (but I'd be glad if someone
> could point me to a single-entity document of its architecture and
> internals) so I couldn't even guess what its problem is. And the system
> is not *that* old, really.

The Gentoo Handbook and man portage are good starting points.

> tade ~ # emerge portage 2> /tmp/emsg
>
>  * IMPORTANT: 5 config files in '/etc/portage' need updating.
>  * See the CONFIGURATION FILES and CONFIGURATION FILES UPDATE TOOLS
>  * sections of the emerge man page to learn how to update config files.
>
> [ebuild     U  ] app-crypt/openpgp-keys-gentoo-release-20180706
>    [20180703] USE="{-test%}"
>
> [ebuild   R    ] dev-python/setuptools-36.7.2
>    PYTHON_TARGETS="python3_6* -python3_5*"
>
> [ebuild   R    ] dev-python/certifi-2018.4.16
>   PYTHON_TARGETS="python3_6* -python3_5* (-python3_7)"
>
> [ebuild     U *] app-portage/gemato-9999 [13.0-r1]
>   PYTHON_TARGETS="python3_6* -python3_5* -python3_7%"
>
> [ebuild     U *] sys-apps/portage-9999 [2.3.40-r1]
>   PYTHON_TARGETS="python3_6* -python3_5* -python3_7%"

This would appear to be your problem, you are trying to emerge version
9999 of portage. Version 9999 usually refers to a git version, so not
usually desirable, especially for a critical system tool. So the first
step is to find out why portage wants version 9999.

grep -r portage /etc/portage

will tell you if you have set it for installation. Otherwise repeat the
emerge command with the -t option, which shows what is pulling in a
particular package.
 
>
> !!! Multiple package instances within a single package slot have been
> pulled
> !!! into the dependency graph, resulting in a slot conflict:
>
> sys-apps/portage:0
>
>   (sys-apps/portage-9999:0/0::gentoo, ebuild scheduled for merge)
>   pulled in by sys-apps/portage (Argument)

This implies you have somehow unmasked portage-9999


-- 
Neil Bothwick

[---- Printed on recycled electrons ----]