Re: [gentoo-user] understanding --depclean

[Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com>]

Neil Bothwick wrote:
> On Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:13:00 -0600, Dale wrote:
>
>   
>>> That may have been the case some time ago, but depclean is much safer
>>> now. Notice that the warning at the start of its output has
>>> disappeared now?
>>>       
>
>
>   
>> That is true but let's say a person updates python but forgets or
>> doesn't know,  to run python-updater, will --depclean know that?
>>     
>
> If packages depnd on the older version of python, depclean won't remove
> them. If it's just a matter of depending on the correct modules,
> python-updater will fix that after the older python has been removed.
>   

It seems portage has changed a lot in how it tracks things. 

>   
>> What if emerge doesn't work and they don't have buildpkg of some sort in
>> make.conf?
>>     
>
> Why would emerge stop itself working?
>   

From my unerstanding, if it can't find python, no worky.  See above tho.

>   
>> I agree that --depclean is a LOT better but there are still situations
>> where it can mess up a system.   It is best to be careful and really
>> look at that list before letting it remove a package.  Basically, don't
>> type it in and walk off to let it do whatever it wants.
>>     
>
> While I always run it with --pretend first, that's because I'm more
> curious than paranoid. What are these situations in which it can really
> mess up a system and are they situations that any sensible user would put
> themselves in?
>
>   
>> I also seem to remember that big warning when --depclean runs.  I think
>> that may still be there for a reason.  ;-) 
>>     
>
> See above, that warning has been gone for some time. The preamble now
> contains this indication that depclean is a lot more cautious.
>
>  * As a safety measure, depclean will not remove any packages
>  * unless *all* required dependencies have been resolved.  As a
>  * consequence, it is often necessary to run `emerge --update
>  * --newuse --deep @system @world` prior to depclean.
>
>
>   

I haven't used it in a while so I was not aware that it was changed. 
Looks like there as been some new code added here as well. 

I still think it reasonable to say that a person should be careful. 
Nothing is perfect.  I know I watch it when I am doing some house cleaning.

Dale

:-)  :-)