For example now I am getting an output like: Total: 257 packages (40 upgrades, 1 downgrade, 105 new, 111 reinstalls), Size of downloads: 374.171 KiB * Error: circular dependencies: (dev-util/cucumber-2.4.0-r1:0/0::gentoo, ebuild scheduled for merge) depends on (dev-util/cucumber-2.4.0-r1:0/0::gentoo, ebuild scheduled for merge) (buildtime) It might be possible to break this cycle by applying the following change: - dev-util/cucumber-2.4.0-r1 (Change USE: -test) Note that this change can be reverted, once the package has been installed. Note that the dependency graph contains a lot of cycles. Several changes might be required to resolve all cycles. Temporarily changing some use flag for all packages might be the better option. !!! Multiple package instances within a single package slot have been pulled !!! into the dependency graph, resulting in a slot conflict: media-gfx/imagemagick:0 (media-gfx/imagemagick-7.0.8.11:0/7.0.8.11::gentoo, ebuild scheduled for merge) pulled in by (no parents that aren't satisfied by other packages in this slot) (media-gfx/imagemagick-7.0.8.5:0/7.0.8.5::gentoo, installed) pulled in by media-gfx/imagemagick:0/7.0.8.5= required by (media-gfx/uniconvertor-2.0_pre379-r2:0/0::gentoo, installed) ^^^^^^^^^^^ dev-haskell/quickcheck:2 (dev-haskell/quickcheck-2.9.2:2/2.9.2::gentoo, ebuild scheduled for merge) pulled in by >=dev-haskell/quickcheck-2.8.2 required by (dev-haskell/doctest-0.11.1:0/0.11.1::gentoo, ebuild scheduled for merge) ^^ ^^^^^ (dev-haskell/quickcheck-2.8.1:2/2.8.1::gentoo, ebuild scheduled for merge) pulled in by <dev-haskell/quickcheck-2.9:2=[profile?] required by (dev-haskell/test-framework-0.8.1.1:0/0.8.1.1::gentoo, ebuild scheduled for merge) ^ ^^^^^^ gnome-base/libgtop:2 (gnome-base/libgtop-2.36.0:2/10::gentoo, installed) pulled in by >=gnome-base/libgtop-2.12.0:2/10= required by (mate-base/mate-applets-1.18.2:0/0::gentoo, installed) ^^^^^^ (and 3 more with the same problem) (gnome-base/libgtop-2.38.0:2/11::gentoo, ebuild scheduled for merge) pulled in by >=gnome-base/libgtop-2.37.2:2= required by (gnome-extra/gnome-system-monitor-3.26.0:0/0::gentoo, ebuild scheduled for merge) ^^ ^^^^^^^^^ NOTE: Use the '--verbose-conflicts' option to display parents omitted above It may be possible to solve this problem by using package.mask to prevent one of those packages from being selected. However, it is also possible that conflicting dependencies exist such that they are impossible to satisfy simultaneously. If such a conflict exists in the dependencies of two different packages, then those packages can not be installed simultaneously. For more information, see MASKED PACKAGES section in the emerge man page or refer to the Gentoo Handbook. The error that administrator should take care at first is the circular deps issue, hence, the first important message that he should get would be: * Error: circular dependencies: (dev-util/cucumber-2.4.0-r1:0/0::gentoo, ebuild scheduled for merge) depends on (dev-util/cucumber-2.4.0-r1:0/0::gentoo, ebuild scheduled for merge) (buildtime) It might be possible to break this cycle by applying the following change: - dev-util/cucumber-2.4.0-r1 (Change USE: -test) On the other hand, the hard to follow: !!! Multiple package instances within a single package slot have been pulled !!! into the dependency graph, resulting in a slot conflict: ... messages tend to be shown at the end of the output, causing the output to be completely clobbered and also suggesting people that they need to start thinking about that error instead of, at first, dealing with all the other errors and, once they are handle, re-run emerge to see if the "multiple package instances..." problem is solved (as it's done most of the times) Thanks a lot