--- portage.py.orig	2004-02-08 12:54:40.000000000 +0200
+++ portage.py	2004-02-08 16:34:06.063654437 +0200
@@ -5018,42 +5018,27 @@
 		myc.close()
 		pos=1
 		for line in mylines:
-			mydat = string.split(line)
-			# we do this so we can remove from non-root filesystems
-			# (use the ROOT var to allow maintenance on other partitions)
 			try:
-				mydat[1]=os.path.normpath(root+mydat[1][1:])
-				if mydat[0]=="obj":
-					#format: type, mtime, md5sum
-					pkgfiles[string.join(mydat[1:-2]," ")]=[mydat[0], mydat[-1], mydat[-2]]
-				elif mydat[0]=="dir":
-					#format: type
-					pkgfiles[string.join(mydat[1:])]=[mydat[0] ]
-				elif mydat[0]=="sym":
-					#format: type, mtime, dest
-					x=len(mydat)-1
-					if (x >= 13) and (mydat[-1][-1]==')'): # Old/Broken symlink entry
-						mydat = mydat[:-10]+[mydat[-10:][ST_MTIME][:-1]]
-						writemsg("FIXED SYMLINK LINE: %s\n" % mydat, 1)
-						x=len(mydat)-1
-					splitter=-1
-					while(x>=0):
-						if mydat[x]=="->":
-							splitter=x
-							break
-						x=x-1
-					if splitter==-1:
-						return None
-					pkgfiles[string.join(mydat[1:splitter]," ")]=[mydat[0], mydat[-1], string.join(mydat[(splitter+1):-1]," ")]
-				elif mydat[0]=="dev":
-					#format: type
-					pkgfiles[string.join(mydat[1:]," ")]=[mydat[0] ]
-				elif mydat[0]=="fif":
-					#format: type
-					pkgfiles[string.join(mydat[1:]," ")]=[mydat[0]]
+				fixroot = lambda x:os.path.normpath(root+x[1:])
+				if line[:3] == 'obj':
+					m = re.match(r"obj (.*) ([0-9a-f]+) ([0-9]+)\n$", line)
+					assert m  # make sure we matched, otherwise, trapped below
+					fname = fixroot(m.group(1))
+					# format: type, mtime, md5sum
+					pkgfiles[fname] = [line[:3], m.group(3), m.group(2)]
+				elif line[:3] in ['dir','dev','fif']:
+					# format: type
+					fname = fixroot(line[4:-1]) # strip newline
+					pkgfiles[fname] = [line[:3]]
+				elif line[:3] == 'sym':
+					# format: type, mtime, dest
+					m = re.match(r"sym (.*) -> (.*) ([0-9]+)\n$", line)
+					assert m  # make sure we matched, otherwise, trapped below
+					fname = fixroot(m.group(1))
+					pkgfiles[fname] = [line[:3], m.group(3), m.group(2)]
 				else:
-					return None
-			except (KeyError,IndexError):
+					assert None  # throw an AssertionError, this line is unrecognised
+			except (AssertionError,KeyError,IndexError):
 				print "portage: CONTENTS line",pos,"corrupt!"
 			pos += 1
 		return pkgfiles