When there is an error in the log, then genlop -c does not output a realistic value. For example, genlop seems to have a problem parsing my logfile for the package sci-mathematics/singular: ~ $ genlop -t singular * sci-mathematics/singular Thu Apr 3 18:19:40 2008 >>> sci-mathematics/singular-3.0.3 merge time: log error; merge time unknown. Fri Apr 11 11:19:58 2008 >>> sci-mathematics/singular-3.0.3 merge time: 12 minutes and 18 seconds. Tue Apr 22 15:51:56 2008 >>> sci-mathematics/singular-3.0.4.2 merge time: 27 minutes and 42 seconds. Thu Jan 22 16:42:02 2009 >>> sci-mathematics/singular-3.0.4.4 merge time: 15 minutes and 5 seconds. Wed Feb 25 10:33:06 2009 >>> sci-mathematics/singular-3.0.4.4 merge time: 12 minutes and 36 seconds. Tue Jun 16 15:29:18 2009 >>> sci-mathematics/singular-3.1.0 merge time: 8 minutes and 15 seconds. ~ $ genlop -c Currently merging 1 out of 1 * sci-mathematics/singular-3.1.0.7 current merge time: 23 seconds. ETA: any time now. The expected behaviour: Genlop should ignore all entries which it does not understand, and the estimated time should be the mean of the remaining values.
An example of the bad log would help.