With default USE flags, on a fresh install, glibc-2.4 fails to emerge because 2.4 is nptl-only, and the merge says to add USE="nptl nptlonly" to make.conf. So, if 2.4 is nptl only, there probably shouldn't be a nptlonly USE flag. emerge info: Portage 2.1.1_rc1 (default-linux/amd64/2006.0, gcc-3.4.4, glibc-2.3.5-r2, 2.6.17-gentoo-r4 x86_64) ================================================================= System uname: 2.6.17-gentoo-r4 x86_64 AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+ Gentoo Base System version 1.12.4 Last Sync: Unknown app-admin/eselect-compiler: [Not Present] dev-lang/python: 2.4.3-r2 dev-python/pycrypto: 2.0.1-r5 dev-util/ccache: [Not Present] dev-util/confcache: [Not Present] sys-apps/sandbox: 1.2.18.1 sys-devel/autoconf: 2.13, 2.60 sys-devel/automake: 1.4_p6, 1.5, 1.6.3, 1.7.9-r1, 1.8.5-r3, 1.9.6-r2 sys-devel/binutils: 2.17 sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.3.13-r3 sys-devel/libtool: 1.5.22 virtual/os-headers: 2.6.16 ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64 ~amd64" AUTOCLEAN="yes" CBUILD="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" CFLAGS="-march=k8 -Os -pipe" CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/env.d /etc/gconf /etc/terminfo" CXXFLAGS="-march=k8 -Os -pipe" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" FEATURES="autoaddcvs autoconfig collision-protect cvs distlocks java-strict metadata-transfer multilib multilib-strict sandbox sfperms strict stricter userpriv" GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://darkstar.ist.utl.pt/gentoo/ http://gentoo.mirrors.pair.com/ ftp://ftp.twaren.net/Linux/Gentoo/" LINGUAS="" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --delete-after --stats --timeout=180 --exclude='/distfiles' --exclude='/local' --exclude='/packages'" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage" USE="amd64 X alsa avi berkdb bitmap-fonts cli crypt cups dlloader dri eds elibc_glibc emboss encode foomaticdb fortran gif gnome gpm gstreamer gtk gtk2 imlib input_devices_evdev input_devices_keyboard input_devices_mouse ipv6 isdnlog jpeg kde kernel_linux lzw lzw-tiff mp3 mpeg ncurses nls nptl nptlonly opengl pam pcre pdflib perl png pppd python qt3 qt4 quicktime readline reflection sdl session spell spl ssl tcpd tiff truetype-fonts type1-fonts usb userland_GNU video_cards_apm video_cards_ark video_cards_ati video_cards_chips video_cards_cirrus video_cards_cyrix video_cards_dummy video_cards_fbdev video_cards_glint video_cards_i128 video_cards_i810 video_cards_mga video_cards_neomagic video_cards_nv video_cards_rendition video_cards_s3 video_cards_s3virge video_cards_savage video_cards_siliconmotion video_cards_sis video_cards_sisusb video_cards_tdfx video_cards_tga video_cards_trident video_cards_tseng video_cards_v4l video_cards_vesa video_cards_vga video_cards_via video_cards_vmware video_cards_voodoo xorg xpm xv zlib" Unset: CTARGET, EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS, INSTALL_MASK, LANG, LC_ALL, LDFLAGS, MAKEOPTS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS, PORTDIR_OVERLAY
this is done on purpose ... people cannot simply upgrade to glibc-2.4 and suddenly have linuxthreads go missing on them as that may cause some systems to suddenly stop running and probably not boot
