Some of the fetchrestricted files are on a nfs which is defined in PORTAGE_RO_DISTDIRS. First emerge creates the symlink indor DISTDIR and succeeds. Second emerge fails with this backtrace $ ebuild unio-2.0.2.ebuild install Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/bin/ebuild", line 326, in <module> vartree=portage.db[portage.root]['vartree']) File "/usr/lib64/portage/pym/portage/package/ebuild/doebuild.py", line 929, in doebuild digests=dist_digests): File "/usr/lib64/portage/pym/portage/proxy/objectproxy.py", line 31, in __call__ return result(*args, **kwargs) File "/usr/lib64/portage/pym/portage/package/ebuild/fetch.py", line 640, in fetch stat_cached=mystat) File "/usr/lib64/portage/pym/portage/util/__init__.py", line 1084, in apply_secpass_permissions stat_cached=stat_cached, follow_links=follow_links) File "/usr/lib64/portage/pym/portage/util/__init__.py", line 914, in apply_permissions os.chown(filename, uid, gid) File "/usr/lib64/portage/pym/portage/__init__.py", line 230, in __call__ rval = self._func(*wrapped_args, **wrapped_kwargs) OSError: [Errno 121] Remote I/O error: '/usr/portage/distfiles/UNIO10-Distribution21Dec2011.tar.gz' $ einfo Portage 2.2.0_alpha81 (default/linux/amd64/10.0, gcc-4.6.2-asneeded, glibc-2.14.1-r1, 3.1.5-lh x86_64) ================================================================= System uname: Linux-3.1.5-lh-x86_64-Intel-R-_Core-TM-_i7-2600_CPU_@_3.40GHz-with-gentoo-2.1 Timestamp of tree: Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:30:01 +0000 ccache version 3.1.6 [enabled] app-shells/bash: 4.2_p20 dev-java/java-config: 2.1.11-r3 dev-lang/python: 2.6.7-r2, 2.7.2-r3, 3.2.2 dev-util/ccache: 3.1.6 dev-util/cmake: 2.8.6-r4 dev-util/pkgconfig: 0.26 sys-apps/baselayout: 2.1 sys-apps/openrc: 0.9.7 sys-apps/sandbox: 2.5 sys-devel/autoconf: 2.13, 2.68 sys-devel/automake: 1.9.6-r3, 1.10.3, 1.11.1-r1 sys-devel/binutils: 2.22-r1 sys-devel/gcc: 4.4.6-r1, 4.5.3-r2, 4.6.2 sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.5-r2 sys-devel/libtool: 2.4.2 sys-devel/make: 3.82-r3 sys-kernel/linux-headers: 3.1 (virtual/os-headers) sys-libs/glibc: 2.14.1-r1 Repositories: gentoo sunrise bicatali betagarden dummy neurogeek science last-hope g-ctan Installed sets: ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64 ~amd64" ACCEPT_LICENSE="*" CBUILD="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" CFLAGS="-O2 -pipe -ftracer -march=corei7-avx -mtune=corei7-avx -mcx16 -msahf -mno-movbe -maes -mpclmul -mpopcnt -mno-abm -mno-lwp -mno-fma -mno-fma4 -mno-xop -mno-bmi -mno-tbm -mavx -msse4.2 -msse4.1 --param l1-cache-size=32 --param l1-cache-line-size=64 --param l2-cache-size=8192 -frecord-gcc-switches -g -Wimplicit-function-declaration" CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/share/eselect/ /usr/share/gnupg/qualified.txt /usr/share/nano/ /usr/share/openvpn/easy-rsa /var/lib/hsqldb /var/spool/torque" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/ca-certificates.conf /etc/dconf /etc/env.d /etc/env.d/java/ /etc/fonts/fonts.conf /etc/gconf /etc/gentoo-release /etc/revdep-rebuild /etc/sandbox.d /etc/terminfo /etc/texmf/language.dat.d /etc/texmf/language.def.d /etc/texmf/updmap.d /etc/texmf/web2c" CXXFLAGS="-O2 -pipe -ftracer -march=corei7-avx -mtune=corei7-avx -mcx16 -msahf -mno-movbe -maes -mpclmul -mpopcnt -mno-abm -mno-lwp -mno-fma -mno-fma4 -mno-xop -mno-bmi -mno-tbm -mavx -msse4.2 -msse4.1 --param l1-cache-size=32 --param l1-cache-line-size=64 --param l2-cache-size=8192 -frecord-gcc-switches -g -Wenum-compare" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS="--jobs=12 --load-average=12 -t --keep-going --autounmask-write --autounmask --quiet-build=n" FEATURES="assume-digests binpkg-logs buildsyspkg ccache collision-protect distlocks ebuild-locks fixlafiles metadata-transfer multilib-strict news noinfo parallel-fetch parallel-install preserve-libs protect-owned sandbox sfperms sign split-log splitdebug strict unknown-features-warn unmerge-logs unmerge-orphans userfetch userpriv usersandbox usersync" FFLAGS="-O2 -pipe -ftracer -march=corei7-avx -mtune=corei7-avx -mcx16 -msahf -mno-movbe -maes -mpclmul -mpopcnt -mno-abm -mno-lwp -mno-fma -mno-fma4 -mno-xop -mno-bmi -mno-tbm -mavx -msse4.2 -msse4.1 --param l1-cache-size=32 --param l1-cache-line-size=64 --param l2-cache-size=8192 -frecord-gcc-switches -g" GENTOO_MIRRORS=" /mnt/tmpfs/ http://gentoo.j-schmitz.net/mirror/ ftp://ftp.gentoo.mesh-solutions.com/gentoo/ ftp://sunsite.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/pub/Linux/gentoo ftp://ftp.tu-clausthal.de/pub/linux/gentoo/" LANG="en_GB.UTF-8" LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1 -Wl,--as-needed -Wl,-O1 -Wl,--hash-style=gnu -Wl,--sort-common" LINGUAS="en" MAKEOPTS="-j16 -l12" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_COMPRESS="xz" PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS="-z -e -9 -v" PORTAGE_CONFIGROOT="/" PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --stats --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" PORTDIR_OVERLAY="/local/overlays/sunrise/reviewed /local/overlays/bicatali /local/overlays/betagarden /local/overlays/dummy /local/overlays/neurogeek /local/overlays/sci /local/overlays/lh/ebuilds /local/overlays/g-ctan" SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage" USE="64bit 7zip X acpi additions alsa amd64 arpwarp atlas bash-completion berkdb blas branding bzip2 c++ cairo caps cblas ccache cleartype cli command-args consolekit corefonts cracklib crypt cuda cups cupsddk custom-optimization cxx dbus dri dts exif fbcondecor fortran gdbm gif glib glibc-omitfp gmp gnome gnome-keyring gpm graphics gstreamer gtk hddtemp iconv icu ios ipod iproute2 iptables ipv6 ipython javascript jpeg jpeg2k kqemu lapack largefile lcms ldap libnotify libsexy lm_sensors lzma mailtrain md5sum mmx mmxext mng modules mp3 mudflap multilib multiuser nagios-dns nagios-ntp nagios-ping nagios-ssh nano-syntax ncurses network-cron nls nptl nptlonly nsplugin numa opencl opengl openmp openntpd pam pcre pdf png policykit pppd pulseaudio pymol qt-static qt3support readline rrdcgi rrdtool science sensord session smp sqlite sqlite3 sse sse2 sse3 sse4 sse4a sse5 ssl startup-notification svg sysfs system-sqlite tcpd threads tiff truetype type1 udev unicode vaapi vdpau x264 xcb xcomposite xinerama xorg xulrunner zlib" ALSA_CARDS="hda-intel" ALSA_PCM_PLUGINS="adpcm alaw asym copy dmix dshare dsnoop empty extplug file hooks iec958 ioplug ladspa lfloat linear meter mmap_emul mulaw multi null plug rate route share shm softvol" APACHE2_MODULES="actions alias auth_basic authn_alias authn_anon authn_dbm authn_default authn_file authz_dbm authz_default authz_groupfile authz_host authz_owner authz_user autoindex cache cgi cgid dav dav_fs dav_lock deflate dir disk_cache env expires ext_filter file_cache filter headers include info log_config logio mem_cache mime mime_magic negotiation rewrite setenvif speling status unique_id userdir usertrack vhost_alias" CALLIGRA_FEATURES="kexi words flow plan stage tables krita karbon braindump" CAMERAS="ptp2" COLLECTD_PLUGINS="df interface irq load memory rrdtool swap syslog" DRACUT_MODULES="plymouth" ELIBC="glibc" GPSD_PROTOCOLS="ashtech aivdm earthmate evermore fv18 garmin garmintxt gpsclock itrax mtk3301 nmea ntrip navcom oceanserver oldstyle oncore rtcm104v2 rtcm104v3 sirf superstar2 timing tsip tripmate tnt ubx" INPUT_DEVICES="evdev" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" LINGUAS="en" PHP_TARGETS="php5-3" QEMU_SOFTMMU_TARGETS="i386 x86_64" QEMU_USER_TARGETS="i386 x86_64" RUBY_TARGETS="ruby18" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="nvidia" XTABLES_ADDONS="quota2 psd pknock lscan length2 ipv4options ipset ipp2p iface geoip fuzzy condition tee tarpit sysrq steal rawnat logmark ipmark dhcpmac delude chaos account" Unset: CPPFLAGS, CTARGET, INSTALL_MASK, LC_ALL, PORTAGE_BUNZIP2_COMMAND, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS
I've fixed it to skip permission adjustment for symlinks: http://git.overlays.gentoo.org/gitweb/?p=proj/portage.git;a=commit;h=a34586a73724d6075a556f82a05fc16893db31e0
This is fixed in 2.1.10.42 and 2.2.0_alpha82.