Since bashdb 4.1.0.4 requires bash 4.1 or later, it should not have allowed a parallel build when I had bash 4.0 installed. Here is the current DEPENDS line: DEPEND="!>=app-shells/bash-${PV:0:1}.$((${PV:2:1}+1))" I suggest something akin to this: DEPEND="<app-shells/bash-${PV:0:1}.$((${PV:2:1}+1)) >=app-shells/bash-${PV:0:3" However, I don't know much about bashdb and maybe the bash 4.1 requirement is exclusive to this particular version of bashdb. Simply attempting to emerge it again solved the problem, so I see this as a minor bug. Here was my output: ==================================== emerge -auv app-shells/bashdb bash These are the packages that would be merged, in order: Calculating dependencies... done! [ebuild N ] app-shells/bashdb-4.1.0.4 0 kB [ebuild U ] app-shells/bash-4.1_p7 [4.0_p37] USE="examples mem-scramble net nls plugins -afs -bashlogger -vanilla" 6,456 kB Total: 2 packages (1 upgrade, 1 new), Size of downloads: 6,456 kB Would you like to merge these packages? [Yes/No] yes >>> Verifying ebuild manifests >>> Starting parallel fetch >>> Emerging (1 of 2) app-shells/bashdb-4.1.0.4 >>> Emerging (2 of 2) app-shells/bash-4.1_p7 >>> Failed to emerge app-shells/bashdb-4.1.0.4, Log file: >>> '/var/log/portage/app-shells:bashdb-4.1.0.4:20101017-035459.log' >>> Installing (2 of 2) app-shells/bash-4.1_p7 >>> Jobs: 1 of 2 complete, 1 failed Load avg: 1.74, 0.54, 0.19 * CPV: app-shells/bashdb-4.1.0.4 * REPO: gentoo . . snipped . . checking for bash... /bin/bash configure: WARNING: You have Bash GNU bash, version 4.0.37(2)-release (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) Copyright (C) 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html> This is free software; you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. installed. configure: error: This package is only known to work with Bash 4.1. !!! Please attach the following file when seeking support: !!! /tmp/portage/app-shells/bashdb-4.1.0.4/work/bashdb-4.1-0.4/config.log * ERROR: app-shells/bashdb-4.1.0.4 failed: * econf failed # emerge --info Portage 2.1.8.3 (default/linux/amd64/10.0/desktop, gcc-4.4.3, glibc-2.11.2-r0, 2.6.34-gentoo-r11 x86_64) ================================================================= System uname: Linux-2.6.34-gentoo-r11-x86_64-AMD_Phenom-tm-_9850_Quad-Core_Processor-with-gentoo-1.12.13 Timestamp of tree: Tue, 12 Oct 2010 20:00:19 +0000 distcc 3.1 x86_64-pc-linux-gnu [disabled] ccache version 2.4 [enabled] app-shells/bash: 4.1_p7 dev-java/java-config: 2.1.11 dev-lang/python: 2.6.5-r3, 3.1.2-r4 dev-util/ccache: 2.4-r7 dev-util/cmake: 2.8.1-r2 sys-apps/baselayout: 1.12.13 sys-apps/sandbox: 2.3-r1 sys-devel/autoconf: 2.13, 2.65-r1 sys-devel/automake: 1.8.5-r3, 1.9.6-r3, 1.10.3, 1.11.1 sys-devel/binutils: 2.20.1-r1 sys-devel/gcc: 4.4.3-r2 sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.4.1 sys-devel/libtool: 2.2.10 sys-devel/make: 3.81-r2 virtual/os-headers: 2.6.30-r1 ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64" ACCEPT_LICENSE="* -@EULA dlj-1.1 sun-bcla-java-vm skype-eula googleearth AdobeFlash-10 AdobeFlash-10.1" CBUILD="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" CFLAGS="-march=amdfam10 -O2 -ggdb" CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/kde/3.5/env /usr/kde/3.5/share/config /usr/kde/3.5/shutdown /usr/share/X11/xkb /usr/share/config /var/lib/hsqldb" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/ca-certificates.conf /etc/env.d /etc/env.d/java/ /etc/fonts/fonts.conf /etc/gconf /etc/php/apache2-php5/ext-active/ /etc/php/cgi-php5/ext-active/ /etc/php/cli-php5/ext-active/ /etc/revdep-rebuild /etc/sandbox.d /etc/splash /etc/terminfo /etc/texmf/language.dat.d /etc/texmf/language.def.d /etc/texmf/updmap.d /etc/texmf/web2c" CXXFLAGS="-march=amdfam10 -O2 -ggdb" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS="-j2" FEATURES="assume-digests buildpkg ccache distlocks fixpackages installsources news parallel-fetch protect-owned sandbox sfperms splitdebug strict unmerge-logs unmerge-orphans userfetch userpriv usersandbox" GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://mirrors.cs.wmich.edu/gentoo http://mirror.mcs.anl.gov/pub/gentoo/ http://osmirrors.cerias.purdue.edu/pub/gentoo/" LANG="en_US.UTF-8" LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1 -Wl,--as-needed" LINGUAS="en_US en" MAKEOPTS="-j5" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_COMPRESS="bzip2" PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS="-9" 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 --exclude '/lost+found'" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" PORTDIR_OVERLAY="/var/lib/layman/sunrise /var/lib/layman/pro-audio /var/lib/layman/java-overlay /var/lib/layman/kde-sunset /var/lib/layman/zugaina /usr/local/portage" SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage" USE="3dnow 3dnowext 3ds 64bit 7zip X Xaw3d a52 aac aalib acl acpi adns aim aio akode alsa amd64 amr ao aotuv apache2 applet ares arts async audacious audiofile authdaemond authfile autoipd automount bash-completion bazaar berkdb binfilter bittorrent bl bluetooth bonjour boost branding bs2b bsf bugzilla bzip2 c3p0 cairo calendar cdaudio cdb cdda cddb cdparanoia cdr cegui cg cgi chm cjk cleartype cli commons-digester console consolekit corefonts cpufreq cpulimit cracklib crypt cscope css cups curl curlwrappers custom-optimization cvs cxx darcs dbus dedicated devil dga dirac directfb divx djbfft djvu dmx dns dolby-record-switch dri dssi dtmf dts dv dvb dvd dvdr editor emboss emoticon encode enscript excel exif expat extraicons faac faad fam fasttrack fax fbcon ffmpeg fftw firefox fits flac flash fltk fluidsynth fmod font-server fontconfig fontforge foomaticdb fortran fping fpx ftp fuse fusion gadu gcj gd gdbm geoip geos ggi gif ginac git glib glitz glut gmedia gmp gmtfull gnokii gnome gnutella gnutls gpg gphoto2 gpm gps graphviz gs gsl gsm gtk gzip h224 h281 h323 hal hddtemp html htmlhandbook hwmixer icecast iceweasel iconv icq icu id3 id3tag idn ieee1394 ilbc imagemagick imap imlib inifile ipv6 irc irda irrlicht jabber jack jackmidi jadetex java java5 java6 javascript jbig jce jingle jmx joystick jpeg jpeg2k kde kdrive kpathsea ladspa lame lash latex lcms ldap libcaca libnotify libsamplerate libv4l libvisual libwww lirc live lm_sensors log4j logitech-mouse lua lzma lzo mad maildir maps math md5sum meanwhile mercurial midi mikmod mime mjpeg mmap mmkeys mmx mmxext mng modperl modplug modules motif mouse mozdevelop mozilla mp2 mp3 mp4 mp4live mpeg mpeg2 mplayer msn mtp mudflap multicall multilib multislot multitarget musepack music musicbrainz mysql mysqli mythtv nas ncurses net netjack network njb nls nntp nptl nptlonly nsplugin nss nvidia nvtv ode odk offensive ogg ogm openal openexr opengl openmp oscar otr pam pango pch pcntl pcre pda pdf perl php player plotutils png policykit portaudio posix postproc ppds pppd projectm pulseaudio python qq qt3support qt4 quicktime radio rar raw readline reflection rrdcgi rss rtc ruby samba sametime sasl scanner schroedinger sdl sdl-image sdl-sound semantic-desktop sensord session sharedext silc sip slp smp smtp sndfile snmp soap sockets sound speex spell sql sqlite sqlite3 srvdir sse sse2 sse3 ssl startup-notification stream subtitles subversion suexec svg sysfs syslog sysvipc t1lib tagwriting tcl tcpd test tga theora threads thumbnail tidy tiff timidity tk tokenizer tools transcode translator trayicon truetype tse3 twolame type3 udev unicode upnp urandom usb userlocales v4l v4l2 vcd vdpau vdr vhosts videos vim-syntax vim-with-x visualization vorbis vorbis-psy vst vxml wav wavpack webdav wifi wma wmf wxwidgets wxwindows x264 xanim xattr xcb xcomposite xface xforms xft xine xinerama xinetd xml xmlreader xmlrpc xmlwriter xorg xpm xprint xscreensaver xsl xulrunner xv xvid xvmc yaepg yahoo yv12 zeroconf zip zlib" ALSA_CARDS="hdsp emu10k1 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 auth_digest authn_alias authn_dbd authn_anon authn_dbm authn_default authn_file authz_dbm authz_default authz_groupfile authz_host authz_owner authz_user autoindex cache dav dav_fs dav_lock dbd deflate dir disk_cache dumpio env expires ext_filter file_cache filter headers ident imagemap include info log_config log_forensic logio mem_cache mime mime_magic negotiation rewrite setenvif speling status unique_id userdir usertrack vhost_alias substitute" COLLECTD_PLUGINS="df interface irq load memory rrdtool swap syslog" ELIBC="glibc" FOO2ZJS_DEVICES="hpp1006" 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="keyboard mouse joystick evdev" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" LINGUAS="en_US en" PHP_TARGETS="php-5.2" 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, FFLAGS, INSTALL_MASK, LC_ALL, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS
the blocker merely keeps people from installing bashdb. the DEPEND you suggest would allow emerge to suggest a downgrade of bash. this is undesirable and a worse situation than allowing people to install it with an older bash.