Re: [gentoo-user] update fails, but I don't see why

[Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com>]

n952162 wrote:
> On 12/13/20 10:02 PM, n952162 wrote:
>> On 12/13/20 9:06 PM, Dale wrote:
>>> Mark Knecht wrote:
>>>>
>>>> On Sun, Dec 13, 2020 at 12:03 PM n952162 <n952162@web.de
>>>> <mailto:n952162@web.de>> wrote:
>>>>> On 12/13/20 9:18 AM, Neil Bothwick wrote:
>>>>>> Nearly 2 months, quite a long time in Gentoo update terms.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>> Okay, is the solution then to re-install?
>>>>>
>>>> Personally I wouldn't start with a reinstall.
>>>>
>>>> I'd start with my world file and remove/comment out every
>>>> 'application' not required to keep the machine running/booting. That
>>>> should be nearly everything other than things like grub, your kernels,
>>>> hardware drivers, terminals, etc.
>>>>
>>>> NOTE: Just because you comment something out in the world file doesn't
>>>> mean it won't run, it just won't get updated or be part of portage's
>>>> considerations about what to do.
>>>>
>>>> At that point emerge @world should only be considering, from a build
>>>> POV, the stuff you really need.
>>>>
>>>> This python problem everyone is having I cannot help with. Solving
>>>> problems like that is why people run Gentoo. With lots of power comes
>>>> lots of responsibility. However with all the applications
>>>> 'unconsidered' you have a chance of getting the really important stuff
>>>> built and booting.
>>>>
>>>> If I got that far then I'd start adding apps back in/uncommenting one
>>>> or two at a time and see if I could make headway.
>>>>
>>>> I've updated machines that were a year out of date but it took days
>>>> and days. If I didn't want to build code every week I decided I
>>>> couldn't run Gentoo.
>>>>
>>>> HTH,
>>>> Mark
>>>
>>> I agree.  I update once a week.  It seems a pretty good balance between
>>> not having to do it to often and not having such drastic changes
>>> that it
>>> makes things hard to work through.
>>>
>>> That said, when the tree is in the process of huge changes, it can
>>> create problems even with weekly updates.  Right now, it is python and
>>> the speed it is moving at.  Some versions that have been around for
>>> ages, 2.7, is being removed.  Then python 3.6 is leaving etc etc etc.
>>> Those of us that have been around long enough have seen this with other
>>> packages as well.  Some packages are just hard to upgrade to begin with
>>> and some create circular problems. The longer it goes between updates,
>>> the larger that problem gets to be.  You get two different packages
>>> doing that, you can find yourself running around in circles trying to
>>> get emerge to chew what it can.
>>>
>>> While I usually do updates on Sunday evening, I'm considering doing
>>> twice a week, Sunday and Wednesday.  At least until python settles down
>>> a bit. Thing is, I think the worst part may be about over.  I think 2.7
>>> is gone here, I think 3.6 is too.  That's two down.  It seems 3.7 and
>>> above will be around a while but if they start going away soon, I
>>> may do
>>> two updates a week if it starts making updates harder.
>>>
>>> Time can be a problem but sometimes it just depends on what packages
>>> have changed and how fast they have changed.  For some systems that
>>> haven't been updated in a while, having to remove python 2.7 and 3.6 in
>>> one go, can cause problems that are hard to get around.  Right now just
>>> isn't a good time to let updates get to far apart.
>>>
>>> The only thing that makes some of this survivable, getting help on this
>>> mailing list.  Some people can decode the output of emerge and find a
>>> way to work through it. Some are fairly easy, some not so much.
>>> Sometimes removing/commenting out things in the world file will help.
>>> Sometimes doing @system first helps. Sometimes you just have to update
>>> certain packages in small chunks to get through a upgrade. Finding that
>>> right option sometimes requires help.
>>>
>>> Just some thoughts.
>>>
>>> Dale
>>>
>>> :-)  :-)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> My problem is I can't find a diagnostic methodology.  The one I most
>> often hear is, update more often, or trail and error solutions.
>>
>> Does all that information in emerge's output point the way to the
>> problem, and I just have to learn to understand it,  or am I just
>> wasting my time there?  Are there better tools than log parsing? I know,
>> there are lots of good tools,  but there needs to be methodology for
>> using them (like understanding gentoo ;-) )
>>
>>
>
> But commenting stuff out of the world file is at least a path. I'll
> start with that tomorrow.
>
>
>
>


Another option some use, sets.  That way instead of updating world all
in one go, they update sets instead.  Example.  You have several GUIs
installed, KDE, Gnome and maybe even a couple more.  You break those up
into sets for each one.  Most of the time, you may can just update world
all in one go.  At times, it may be easier to update the lighter
desktops first then move to the next until they are all done.  Then
update world which should be a much smaller set of updates since most
updates would already be done. 

Quite a few here use sets.  It can work well depending on your setup. 
If you do use them, there is people here than can help you work through
issues.  Linkys:

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki//etc/portage/sets

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Package_sets

Last one is about sets already being used.  Good for examples tho. 
Helps to understand how they work. 

Dale

:-)  :-)