From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from lists.gentoo.org (pigeon.gentoo.org [208.92.234.80]) by finch.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4C4821384AE for ; Sun, 20 Sep 2015 00:38:07 +0000 (UTC) Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id EB9CFE08B8; Sun, 20 Sep 2015 00:37:57 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-1.ca.inter.net (mail-1.ca.inter.net [208.85.220.69]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ADH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id CC0A8E08A6 for ; Sun, 20 Sep 2015 00:37:56 +0000 (UTC) Received: from localhost (offload-3.ca.inter.net [208.85.220.70]) by mail-1.ca.inter.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5F1C32EBD98 for ; Sat, 19 Sep 2015 20:37:56 -0400 (EDT) Received: from mail-1.ca.inter.net ([208.85.220.69]) by localhost (offload-3.ca.inter.net [208.85.220.70]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id Uw1cIk2cw4VK for ; Sat, 19 Sep 2015 20:37:54 -0400 (EDT) Received: from ca.inter.net (host-45-58-241-73.dyn.295.ca [45.58.241.73]) by mail-1.ca.inter.net (Postfix) with SMTP id 87B7F2EB8B7 for ; Sat, 19 Sep 2015 20:37:53 -0400 (EDT) Received: by ca.inter.net (sSMTP sendmail emulation); Sat, 19 Sep 2015 20:37:53 -0400 Date: Sat, 19 Sep 2015 20:37:53 -0400 From: Philip Webb To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] update problems Message-ID: <20150920003753.GN1080@ca.inter.net> Mail-Followup-To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org References: <87eghucic9.fsf@heimdali.yagibdah.de> <55FDBE16.1070404@gmail.com> <55FDE5C9.6070801@gmail.com> Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <55FDE5C9.6070801@gmail.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.23 (2014-03-12) X-Archives-Salt: 7e85fa5c-60b1-48b1-b752-e858a9e51c63 X-Archives-Hash: a3d411a1ab67770ba0ca9e2ec8fa9847 150920 Alan McKinnon wrote: > On 20/09/2015 00:17, Rich Freeman wrote: >> While Gentoo doesn't do as much handholding as many distros, >> the Portage output above should not be viewed >> as something we are proud of. > It's either due to it being a really hard problem > or the Portage team is short of manpower. > Either way, I'm content not to bitch about it mainly > as the tree is a unique thing in the Linux world > Portage only knows what it has in it's internal data structures > when it decides it can't continue. It can't provide the user > with a meaningful answer as is so often asked for here, > so what is it supposed to do? My impression is that using Portage has become more complicated & its warning/error messages have not been given the necessary attention. Complaints or pleas for help like the OP's here are quite frequent & not all of them come from novices who don't understand what Gentoo does. Portage sb able to report eg "Pkg1 & Pkg2 (of Version1 & Version2) can't be installed together ; Pkg1 is needed for Pkg3, which you already have installed ; Pkg2 is needed for Pkg4, which you are trying to install. Please review your needs : you may need to remove a package temporarily in order for Portage to proceed, then restore a different version of it". That's a common problem, which experienced users can diagnose themselves, but the present Portage output is too opaque to help newcomers. -- ========================,,============================================ SUPPORT ___________//___, Philip Webb ELECTRIC /] [] [] [] [] []| Cities Centre, University of Toronto TRANSIT `-O----------O---' purslowatchassdotutorontodotca