Re: [gentoo-user] Still not feeling familiar with emerge

[Alan McKinnon]

On Friday 15 January 2010 00:36:16 hkml@×××××××××××.de wrote:
> Dear group,
>
> I'm using gentoo for more than three years now and using the gentoo
>  packaging system in general is exactly what I expect from a packaging
>  system. You just open a shell somewhere on your virtual desktop, start a
>  process and the rest is done automatically (in general).
>
> But, when it comes to packages blocking each other I simply have to guess,
>  what to do next and sometimes I fail in guessing the right things I once
>  removed the wrong package, which left me with a system without working
>  packaging system - a very bad experience. In fact I could only solve this
>  problem by copying a dynamic library from another linux installation to
>  reanimate emerge.
>
> So some weeks ago I was too busy to take care of some conflicts caused by
>  the end of support for KDE 3.5). I stopped updating, because I didn't have
>  the time to switch to newer KDE version and wanted to do that later on.

Everything above this line is fascinating but completely unrelated to your 
post. Please omit such in future

> Now I want to upgrade, but I would like to better understand the messages
>  telling me the conflicting packets. A current call to 'emerge --update
>  --deep --ask world' gives me the following conflicts:
>
>
>  * Error: The above package list contains packages which cannot be
>  * installed at the same time on the same system.
>
>   ('installed', '/', 'sys-fs/device-mapper-1.02.24-r1', 'nomerge') pulled
>  in by
>
>     >=sys-fs/device-mapper-1.00.07-r1 required by ('installed', '/',
>     > 'sys-fs/cryptsetup-1.0.6-r2', 'nomerge')

Read it backwards from the bottom up. It means that cryptsetup requires 
device-mapper (a version greater than 1.00.07-r1) and portage has chosen  
device-mapper-1.02.24-r1

>   ('ebuild', '/', 'kde-base/kdebase-data-4.3.3', 'merge') pulled in by
>
>     >=kde-base/kdebase-data-4.3.3[-kdeprefix] required by ('ebuild', '/',
>     > 'kde-base/kdelibs-4.3.3-r1', 'merge')
>     > =kde-base/kdebase-data-4.3.3[-kdeprefix] required by ('ebuild', '/',
>     > 'kde-base/kdebase-meta-4.3.3', 'merge')

Same as above, except that both kdelibs and kdebase-meta have pulled in 
kdebase-data. Sometimes the list of package that pull in other gets very long 
and the list might be truncated with a message something like "plus 33 
others..."

>   ('installed', '/', 'app-arch/lzma-utils-4.32.7', 'nomerge') pulled in by
>     app-arch/lzma-utils required by ('ebuild', '/',
>  'dev-libs/mpfr-2.4.1_p5', 'merge') app-arch/lzma-utils required by
>  ('ebuild', '/', 'dev-texlive/texlive-basic-2008-r1', 'merge')
>  app-arch/lzma-utils required by ('ebuild', '/',
>  'dev-texlive/texlive-latex-2008-r2', 'merge') (and 5 more)
>
>   ('installed', '/', 'kde-base/akregator-3.5.10', 'nomerge') pulled in by
>
>     >=kde-base/akregator-3.5.10:3.5 required by ('installed', '/',
>     > 'kde-base/konqueror-akregator-3.5.10', 'nomerge')
>
>   ('ebuild', '/', 'sys-fs/udev-146-r1', 'merge') pulled in by
>     virtual/dev-manager required by world
>
>     >=sys-fs/udev-103 required by ('ebuild', '/', 'media-gfx/iscan-2.21.0',
>     > 'merge') =sys-fs/udev-124 required by ('installed', '/',
>     > 'sys-fs/cryptsetup-1.0.6-r2', 'nomerge')
>
>     (and 3 more)
>
>   ('ebuild', '/', 'net-wireless/bluez-4.39-r2', 'merge') pulled in by
>     net-wireless/bluez required by ('ebuild', '/', 'gnome-base/gvfs-1.2.3',
>  'merge') net-wireless/bluez required by ('ebuild', '/',
>  'kde-base/solid-4.3.3', 'merge')
>
>   ('ebuild', '/', 'kde-base/akregator-4.3.3', 'merge') pulled in by
>
>     >=kde-base/akregator-4.3.3[-kdeprefix] required by ('ebuild', '/',
>     > 'kde-base/kdepim-meta-4.3.3', 'merge')
>
>   ('ebuild', '/', 'app-arch/xz-utils-4.999.9_beta', 'merge') pulled in by
>     app-arch/xz-utils required by ('ebuild', '/',
>  'app-arch/libarchive-2.7.1-r1', 'merge')
>
>   ('installed', '/', 'net-wireless/bluez-libs-3.36', 'nomerge') pulled in
>  by net-wireless/bluez-libs required by ('installed', '/',
>  'net-libs/libpcap-1.0.0-r2', 'nomerge')
>
>   ('installed', '/', 'kde-base/kdebase-data-3.5.10', 'nomerge') pulled in
>  by
>
>     >=kde-base/kdebase-data-3.5.10:3.5 required by ('installed', '/',
>     > 'kde-base/kcontrol-3.5.10', 'nomerge')
>     > =kde-base/kdebase-data-3.5.10:3.5 required by ('installed', '/',
>     > 'kde-base/kicker-3.5.10-r1', 'nomerge')
>
> For me some of the messages are mysterious. What is e.g. the exact meaning
>  of the four components in
>  ('ebuild', '/', 'net-wireless/bluez-4.39-r2', 'merge') or
>  ('installed', '/', 'kde-base/akregator-3.5.10', 'nomerge')

It's just a statement that something will be merged, followed by the packages 
that caused it to be merged. It's all usually of the form

"exact package" pulled in by
"package spec from an ebuild"
pulled in by
"something else"

Apparently you have konqueror-akregator in world (nothing else is pulling it 
in) which causes akregator to be merged. You must remove konqueror-akregator 
manually using

emerge -C konqueror-akregator

> How should I resolve the conflict
>   net-libs/libpcap-1.0.0-r2 versus gnome-base/gvfs-1.2.3 and
>  kde-base/solid-4.3.3 I don't even have any bluetooth device in my
>  computer. Should I fiddle with the USE flags of KDE and Gnome or libpcap
>  to avoid they pull in net-wireless/bluez?

You don't have a conflict per the above.

Actually, you removed the relevant part of the output and didn't post it, so 
now we can't help you.

Please repost the full output.

When you identify the blocker, you have to ask yourself some intelligent 
questions, like:

portage wants to merge packages A and B, but the ebuilds say that A and B 
cannot be installed together. What is pulling in A and what is pulling in B, 
and why? It might be a hard dependency, it might be a USE flag issue, it might 
be that the package is in world. Also learn how to read ebuilds

> Which packets are causing the device-mapper conflict?

Not the foggiest idea - you removed the info that tells me that :-)

> What is the most secure way to switch to KDE 4? Should I remove the
>  packages konqueror-akregator, kcontrol and kicker, then update to KDE 4
>  and then reinstall those packets?

First get rid of KDE-3.5 completely, then install KDE-4:

Inspect you world file and unmerge everything related the KDE-3.5. Then run a 
--depclean o remove dependencies not in world, then run emerge -uND world and 
double check that nothing kde-3.5 related is pulled in. Rinse and repeat till 
this is true.

Then merge KDE-4 as usual

> Maybe someone can explain how to proceed best. Are there some things I can
>  check using equery or whatsoever to support my decisions? I'm feeling
>  unsure how to handle these problems keeping the risk to leave my system
>  (partially) unusable as small as possible. Maybe someone can give me a
>  hint, where to find more information about how to handle conflicts in the
>  packaging system.

Before anyone explains to you how to drive gentoo, you should help yourself 
first:

1. Re-read the install document. All of it. Maybe read it three times.

2. Read the man pages, all of them, several times. You can find this list 
with"equery files portage" and looking for files under "/usr/share/man"


There is no easy way through this, you have to understand how portage and it's 
builds work and that involves study on your part.

-- 
alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com