[gentoo-portage-dev] Re: [PATCH] unprivileged mode: generate PORTAGE_DEPCACHEDIR

[Duncan <1i5t5.duncan@cox.net>]

Zac Medico posted on Sun, 09 Nov 2014 15:24:40 -0800 as excerpted:

> [...] then automatically make PORTAGE_DEPCACHEDIR relative to
> the current target root (which should always be writable for
> unprivileged mode).

Why?

Why does emerge --pretend need a writable target root in the first place, 
or it dies a horrible death (traceback)?

I keep root read-only by default, making it writable when I'm updating.  
When I'm simply doing an emerge --pretend, however, whether simply to 
satisfy my own curiosity or because I'm posting a reply to some other 
user where the output from emerge --pretend would be useful, why does 
emerge die a horrible death and traceback, when all I wanted was 
--pretend output that shouldn't be changing the target root at all and 
thus shouldn't /need/ a writable target root in the first place?

https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=490732

FWIW, $PORTAGE_TMPDIR is writable, as is /run/lock (and thus
/var/run/lock).  In both tracebacks in the bug, it's a *.portage_lockfile 
that's not writable.  Why are those not in (possibly some subdir of)
/run/lock in the first place, or in $PORTAGE_TMPDIR, given the temporary 
nature of the files?  At least for --pretend.

-- 
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"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
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