Lots of circular dependencies here: emerge -vp edit-utils These are the packages that would be merged, in order: Calculating dependencies... done! [nomerge ] app-xemacs/xemacs-devel-1.50 [nomerge ] app-xemacs/gnus-1.71 [nomerge ] app-xemacs/net-utils-1.32 [nomerge ] app-xemacs/bbdb-1.21 [nomerge ] app-xemacs/edit-utils-1.98 [nomerge ] app-xemacs/dired-1.13 [nomerge ] app-xemacs/prog-modes-1.72 [nomerge ] app-xemacs/vc-1.35 [nomerge ] app-xemacs/ediff-1.46 [ebuild N ] app-xemacs/pcl-cvs-1.64 [ebuild N ] app-xemacs/vc-1.35 [ebuild N ] app-xemacs/ediff-1.46 [ebuild N ] app-xemacs/prog-modes-1.72 [ebuild N ] app-xemacs/net-utils-1.32 [ebuild N ] app-xemacs/bbdb-1.21 [ebuild N ] app-xemacs/efs-1.29 [nomerge ] app-xemacs/vc-1.35 [nomerge ] app-xemacs/ediff-1.46 [nomerge ] app-xemacs/pcl-cvs-1.64 [nomerge ] app-xemacs/prog-modes-1.72 [nomerge ] app-xemacs/xemacs-devel-1.50 [nomerge ] app-xemacs/gnus-1.71 [nomerge ] app-xemacs/net-utils-1.32 [nomerge ] app-xemacs/bbdb-1.21 [ebuild N ] app-xemacs/edit-utils-1.98 [ebuild N ] app-xemacs/dired-1.13 [ebuild N ] app-xemacs/mailcrypt-2.12 [ebuild N ] app-xemacs/xemacs-devel-1.50 [nomerge ] app-xemacs/vc-1.35 [nomerge ] app-xemacs/ediff-1.46 [nomerge ] app-xemacs/pcl-cvs-1.64 [nomerge ] app-xemacs/prog-modes-1.72 [nomerge ] app-xemacs/xemacs-devel-1.50 [nomerge ] app-xemacs/gnus-1.71 [nomerge ] app-xemacs/net-utils-1.32 [nomerge ] app-xemacs/bbdb-1.21 [ebuild N ] app-xemacs/mh-e-1.17 [ebuild N ] app-xemacs/gnus-1.71 [ebuild N ] app-xemacs/tm-1.35 [ebuild N ] app-xemacs/rmail-1.13 !!! Error: circular dependencies: ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/prog-modes-1.72', 'merge') depends on ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/dired-1.13', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/xemacs-devel-1.50', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/edit-utils-1.98', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/efs-1.29', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/vc-1.35', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/ediff-1.46', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/edit-utils-1.98', 'merge') depends on ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/xemacs-devel-1.50', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/dired-1.13', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/bbdb-1.21', 'merge') depends on ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/gnus-1.71', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/edit-utils-1.98', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/tm-1.35', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/rmail-1.13', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/mh-e-1.17', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/rmail-1.13', 'merge') depends on ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/tm-1.35', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/net-utils-1.32', 'merge') depends on ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/gnus-1.71', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/tm-1.35', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/rmail-1.13', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/bbdb-1.21', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/efs-1.29', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/efs-1.29', 'merge') depends on ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/dired-1.13', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/ediff-1.46', 'merge') depends on ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/prog-modes-1.72', 'merge') (hard) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/dired-1.13', 'merge') (hard) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/pcl-cvs-1.64', 'merge') (hard) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/pcl-cvs-1.64', 'merge') depends on ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/prog-modes-1.72', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/edit-utils-1.98', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/vc-1.35', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/dired-1.13', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/ediff-1.46', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/gnus-1.71', 'merge') depends on ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/mailcrypt-2.12', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/tm-1.35', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/rmail-1.13', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/net-utils-1.32', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/mh-e-1.17', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/tm-1.35', 'merge') depends on ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/gnus-1.71', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/mailcrypt-2.12', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/rmail-1.13', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/mh-e-1.17', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/vc-1.35', 'merge') depends on ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/dired-1.13', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/ediff-1.46', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/mailcrypt-2.12', 'merge') depends on ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/gnus-1.71', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/rmail-1.13', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/mh-e-1.17', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/xemacs-devel-1.50', 'merge') depends on ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/gnus-1.71', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/tm-1.35', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/rmail-1.13', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/dired-1.13', 'merge') depends on ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/prog-modes-1.72', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/mh-e-1.17', 'merge') depends on ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/gnus-1.71', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/tm-1.35', 'merge') (medium) ('ebuild', '/', 'app-xemacs/rmail-1.13', 'merge') (medium) The 2nd half of the output lists all the circular deps. For example you can see that mh-e depends on gnus, and gnus depends on mh-e.
Thanks to Zac Medico: Circular RDEPENDs are (usually) fine, portage can often resolve them. However, circular DEPENDs are never fine. 22:42 < zmedico> dsd: vc-1.35 -> ediff-1.46 -> pcl-cvs-1.64 -> vc-1.35 22:42 < zmedico> that's one at least, could be more
Yes, all the new xemacs ebuilds are using RDEPEND not just to avoid the dependency issues but because they really are runtime dependencies. These are on the verge of being stabled and then this bug will go away. I thought I fixed the worst offenders for the ~3year old packages but I now see that I did not commit the changes for ediff, which is what is causing the circular dependencies below.
