sys-kernel/gentoo-sources-3.2.21 has been removed from the tree and I have masked all newer versions. Emerge correctly installs an older version that is still in the tree: # emerge -auDN world These are the packages that would be merged, in order: Calculating dependencies... done! [ebuild NS ] sys-kernel/gentoo-sources-3.0.53 [3.2.21] USE="-build -deblob -symlink" But then emerge --depclean removes it again: sys-kernel/gentoo-sources selected: 3.0.53 protected: none omitted: 3.2.21 Emerge should be consistent about what packages are needed in normal and depclean modes. Presumably depclean should favor packages that are still in the tree over newer slots that have been removed. $ emerge --info Portage 2.2.0_alpha143 (default/linux/amd64/10.0, gcc-4.6.3, glibc-2.16.0, 3.2.21-gentoo x86_64) ================================================================= System uname: Linux-3.2.21-gentoo-x86_64-Intel-R-_Core-TM-2_CPU_T5500_@_1.66GHz-with-gentoo-2.2 Timestamp of tree: Sat, 01 Dec 2012 07:45:01 +0000 ld GNU ld (GNU Binutils) 2.23.1 distcc 3.1 x86_64-pc-linux-gnu [disabled] app-shells/bash: 4.2_p39 dev-java/java-config: 2.1.12 dev-lang/python: 2.7.3-r2, 3.2.3-r1 dev-util/cmake: 2.8.10.2 dev-util/pkgconfig: 0.27.1 sys-apps/baselayout: 2.2 sys-apps/openrc: 0.11.6 sys-apps/sandbox: 2.6 sys-devel/autoconf: 2.13, 2.69 sys-devel/automake: 1.11.6, 1.12.5 sys-devel/binutils: 2.23.1 sys-devel/gcc: 4.6.3 sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.8 sys-devel/libtool: 2.4.2 sys-devel/make: 3.82-r4 sys-kernel/linux-headers: 3.6 (virtual/os-headers) sys-libs/glibc: 2.16.0 Repositories: gentoo crossdev wthrowe java-overlay Installed sets: @system ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64 ~amd64" ACCEPT_LICENSE="@FREE" CBUILD="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" CFLAGS="-march=native -O2 -pipe" CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/ca-certificates.conf /etc/env.d /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="-march=native -O2 -pipe" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS="--ask --quiet-build=n" FCFLAGS="-O2 -pipe" FEATURES="assume-digests binpkg-logs clean-logs compress-build-logs config-protect-if-modified distlocks ebuild-locks fixlafiles merge-sync news parallel-fetch preserve-libs protect-owned sandbox sfperms strict unknown-features-warn unmerge-orphans userfetch" FFLAGS="-O2 -pipe" GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://gentoo.netnitco.net http://mirror.mcs.anl.gov/pub/gentoo/ http://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/gentoo-distfiles/ http://mirror.datapipe.net/gentoo ftp://mirror.datapipe.net/gentoo" LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1 -Wl,--as-needed -Wl,--hash-style=gnu" MAKEOPTS="-j3" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_CONFIGROOT="/" PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --stats --human-readable --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" PORTDIR_OVERLAY="/usr/local/crossdev /var/lib/layman/wthrowe /var/lib/layman/java-overlay" SYNC="rsync://rsync.namerica.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage" USE="X acl acpi alsa amd64 berkdb bindist bzip2 cairo caps cdr cli cracklib crypt cxx dbus dri dvd dvdr emacs fortran gd gdbm gimp gpm gtk iconv jpeg latex mmx modules mudflap multilib ncurses nptl opengl openmp pam pcre png pppd readline session smp sse sse2 ssl ssse3 system-sqlite tcpd truetype unicode xscreensaver zlib" ALSA_CARDS="ali5451 als4000 atiixp atiixp-modem bt87x ca0106 cmipci emu10k1x ens1370 ens1371 es1938 es1968 fm801 hda-intel intel8x0 intel8x0m maestro3 trident usb-audio via82xx via82xx-modem ymfpci" 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="authn_core authz_core socache_shmcb unixd 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 sheets stage tables krita karbon braindump" CAMERAS="ptp2" COLLECTD_PLUGINS="df interface irq load memory rrdtool swap syslog" 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 synaptics" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" LIBREOFFICE_EXTENSIONS="presenter-console presenter-minimizer" PHP_TARGETS="php5-3" PYTHON_SINGLE_TARGET="python2_7" PYTHON_TARGETS="python2_7 python3_2" RUBY_TARGETS="ruby18 ruby19" SANE_BACKENDS="epson2" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="radeon" 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, LANG, LC_ALL, LINGUAS, PORTAGE_BUNZIP2_COMMAND, PORTAGE_COMPRESS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS, USE_PYTHON
(In reply to comment #0) > Emerge should be consistent about what packages are needed in normal and > depclean modes. Presumably depclean should favor packages that are still in > the tree over newer slots that have been removed. Normally, it does. However, I suspect that you have something installed which has a dependency which cannot be satisfied by the older slot. If you attach a debug log then we should be able to see the source of that dependency: emerge --pretend --depclean --debug > debug.log 2>&1
Created attachment 331166 [details] debug.log.gz Here you go. Had to compress it because of the bugzilla size limit.
This is fixed in git: http://git.overlays.gentoo.org/gitweb/?p=proj/portage.git;a=commit;h=4b897286cf94c6ec2c556a75ea2e67798e1157cc
This is fixed in 2.1.11.34 and 2.2.0_alpha145.