Re: [gentoo-user] State of emergency is now in effect.

[Michael]

On Saturday, 30 January 2021 15:20:42 GMT Arve Barsnes wrote:
> On Sat, 30 Jan 2021 at 15:58, Dr Rainer Woitok <rainer.woitok@×××××.com>
wrote:
> > Since I've installed Gentoo more than a year back  I have a small script
> > in "/etc/portage/postsync.d/" which just contains
> >
> >    #! /bin/bash
> >    emerge --ask --changed-deps --changed-use --deep --newuse --oneshot \
> >
> >           --update --with-bdeps=y sys-apps/portage
> >
> > I'm not sure where I got that from, I thought it was in the Gentoo Hand-
> > book, but looking there just now I didn't find anything like that.  May-
> > be I invented that myself.
> >
> > Am I interpreting you correctly  that such a postsync hook is never nec-
> > essary, that is,  that the "portage" package itself is always a built-in
> > build dependency for every other package?
>
> No, it is not a build dependency, but it is a part of the @system set,
> so it will always be included in any @system or @world updates you do.
> I would not bother updating it especially.
>
> Regards,
> Arve

Yes, what Arve said.

Updating portage manually, whether using a postsync script like Rainer or not, 
is not necessary.  However, it will not hurt, as long as the rest of the 
system is in a healthy state at the time.  Trying to manually resolve issues 
with changed/obsolete USE flags, changing deps, python being half way through 
an upgrade, dangling symlinks, etc., will also not hurt, as long as you *know* 
what you're doing and are able to navigate your way through such transient 
problems.

Letting portage update itself and its dependencies in the order it deems to be 
optimal invariably works without drama, even at 4:00 am.  I am grateful to the 
Gentoo devs for this.  :-)