I think this describes it the best.... desktop root # ./qpkg -d -v -s sys-libs/db-3.2.3h-r4 sys-libs/db-3.2.9 desktop root # cat /var/db/pkg/sys-libs/db-3.2.3h-r4/db-3.2.3h-r4.ebuild | grep SLOT SLOT="3" desktop root # cat /var/db/pkg/sys-libs/db-3.2.9/db-3.2.9.ebuild | grep SLOT SLOT="3" desktop root # emerge -c >>> No outdated packages were found on your system. As you can see... it's not picking up a version to remove.
Don't know if this is the same problem but: laptop kdebase # emerge qt -c x11-libs/qt selected: none protected: 3.0.5-r1 2.3.2-r1 omitted: none >>> clean: No packages selected for removal. ...And I have 3.0.5 as well as 3.0.5-r1. This is portage 2.0.17.
This will be fixed in 2.0.19