Re: [gentoo-user] Gentoo is the best linux distro

[Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon@gmail.com>]

On Wed, 12 Sep 2012 11:15:25 -0400
Michael Mol <mikemol@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 10:55 AM, Alan McKinnon
> <alan.mckinnon@gmail.com>wrote:
> 
> > On Wed, 12 Sep 2012 16:00:34 +0200
> > Alex Schuster <wonko@wonkology.org> wrote:
> >
> > > Michael Mol writes:
> > >
> > > > On Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 9:33 AM, Neil Bothwick
> > > > <neil@digimed.co.uk <mailto:neil@digimed.co.uk>> wrote:
> > >
> > > >     Instead we get, try USE="-*" :P
> > > >
> > > > "Try MAKEOPTS='-j1'"
> > >
> > > Which in fact often helps... especially for me, I am using
> > > MAKEOPTS="-j --load=4", and I often experience build problems that
> > > are not reproducible with a fixed number of jobs, regardless how
> > > large.
> >
> > Yes indeed, and that one is good advice.
> >
> > Not every Makefile out there is safe for -j > 1, so running it as
> > one job is valid debugging. It's the correct thing to do with weird
> > build failures as it tests if a specific condition is true or not.
> >
> >
> Yeah, except I've already gone that route, or otherwise ruled it out,
> before I ask. That's why it's grating. (Even more grating when I have
> to spend the time building a package again, just to convince someone
> that, no, it's not MAKEOPTS that's the problem.)
> 
> It's like "Have you tried turning it off and back on again".

I learned that one the hard way :-)

Now when I submit support posts, I try emulate what bgo asks:

1. nature of problem
2. what have I tried already
3. steps to reproduce
4. result gotten
5. expected result
6. relevant config files and settings

Tends to weed out a lot of the silly auto-bot style answers


> 
> 
> > >
> > > > "Turn off distcc"
> > >
> > > "revdep-rebuild"
> > >
> > > And "emerge -e world && perl-cleaner --all && python-updater &&
> > > lafilefixer --justfixit".
> >
> > Another example of proper debugging. A wise troubleshooter will
> > first verify that all relevant maintenance and consistency factors
> > have been done first before doing extensive troubleshooting.
> >
> > The last one, "lafilefixer --justfixit" is especially valuable as it
> > gets right of a huge gigantic steaming pile of crap that a) should
> > never have been there at all in the first place and b) if it's
> > causing the problem is almost impossible to pin down without lots
> > of work. So even if b) is not true, you still get the huge benefit
> > of a)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Alan McKinnon
> > alan.mckinnon@gmail.com
> >
> >
> >
> 
> 



-- 
Alan McKinnon
alan.mckinnon@gmail.com