Bug 219734 – sys-libs/cracklib-2.8.12: when i used "emerge --update --deep --newuse world"

• Product: Gentoo Linux
• Status: RESOLVED NEEDINFO

[Description Leo Chen 2008-04-29 16:54:34 UTC]

* ERROR: sys-libs/cracklib-2.8.12 failed.
 * Call stack:
 *                ebuild.sh, line   49:  Called pkg_setup
 *   cracklib-2.8.12.ebuild, line   26:  Called die
 * The specific snippet of code:
 *   		die "Please run: FEATURES=-unmerge-orphans emerge cracklib"
 *  The die message:
 *   Please run: FEATURES=-unmerge-orphans emerge cracklib
 * 
 * If you need support, post the topmost build error, and the call stack if relevant.
 * A complete build log is located at '/var/tmp/portage/sys-libs/cracklib-2.8.12/temp/build.log'.
 * The ebuild environment file is located at '/var/tmp/portage/sys-libs/cracklib-2.8.12/temp/die.env'.
 * 
 * GNU info directory index is up-to-date.


Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.run "emerge --sync"
2.emerge --update --deep --newuse world
3.The second is sys-libs/cracklib-2.8.12  then  will get error.

Actual Results:  
It cannot finished update.

[Comment 1 Nicolas Litchinko 2008-04-29 17:16:08 UTC]

* The specific snippet of code:
*   die "Please run: FEATURES=-unmerge-orphans emerge cracklib"
* The die message:
*   Please run: FEATURES=-unmerge-orphans emerge cracklib

Please do and let us know if that fixed your problem.

[Comment 2 austin emser 2008-05-16 22:06:00 UTC]

when i run FEATURES=-unmerge-orphans emerge cracklib

i just keep getting the same error it is like looping and it keeps telling me to run
FEATURES=-unmerge-orphans emerge cracklib

[Comment 3 Michael Brown 2008-06-05 14:23:07 UTC]

I have the same error with this version.  The error message leaves out the word "export" in the command you are supposed to run.  The correct command is 

export FEATURES=-unmerge-orphans emerge cracklib

Then you can emerge cracklib just fine.  Worked for me.

[Comment 4 Michael Mrozek 2008-06-19 00:51:36 UTC]

I'm not sure how comment #3 worked for Michael Brown, but it's inaccurate, you shouldn't prefix the command with export. export is for setting a global environment variable, so you could do export FEATURES=-unmerge-orphans and then run emerge cracklib separately. The command provided (FEATURES=-unmerge-orphans emerge cracklib) runs emerge cracklib with a local environment variable FEATURES=-unmerge-orphans; the two amount to the same thing except FEATURES remains set globally in the former. The command comment #3 provides (export FEATURES=-unmerge-orphans emerge cracklib) sets three global variables; FEATURES is set to -unmerge-orphans and emerge and cracklib are just set to empty strings, since there are no =value options after them; this command doesn't even run emerge at all.

Anyway, after all that, I'm not sure why emerge is ignoring the environment variable. You can check it by running FEATURES=-unmerge-orphans emerge --info | grep FEATURES; you'll see that unmerge-orphans still appears in the FEATURES list. I ended up getting around it by temporarily adding a FEATURES=-unmerge-orphans line to my /etc/make.conf; running emerge --info | grep FEATURES after this will show the same FEATURES line as before sans unmerge-orphans, which is what you want. You can then run emerge cracklib and then remove the FEATURES change from /etc/make.conf. This isn't a fix, but it's a workaround for anyone else having this problem

[Comment 5 Michael Mrozek 2008-06-19 01:27:51 UTC]

I talked with some people much smarter than me who figured it out; the command I and probably others having problems are actually running is FEATURES=-unmerge-orphans sudo emerge cracklib, and the sudo messes up the environment variable setting. You need to move sudo to the front (sudo FEATURES=-unmerge-orphans emerge cracklib) or switch to root so you can run the command without sudo. Hopefully that helps

[Comment 6 Damon Hogan 2008-07-01 18:23:50 UTC]

(In reply to comment #5)
> I talked with some people much smarter than me who figured it out; the command
> I and probably others having problems are actually running is
> FEATURES=-unmerge-orphans sudo emerge cracklib, and the sudo messes up the
> environment variable setting. You need to move sudo to the front (sudo
> FEATURES=-unmerge-orphans emerge cracklib) or switch to root so you can run the
> command without sudo. Hopefully that helps

I used the command that michael provided above before reading further.  It did resolve my issue however I fear this is now a permanent global variable.  How do I remove this global variable from my system now?  I fear that it may cause some damage with something else in the future.  Meanwhile emerge system is continuing to run here.

[Comment 7 icy` 2008-07-12 19:26:21 UTC]

(In reply to comment #6)
> (In reply to comment #5)
> > I talked with some people much smarter than me who figured it out; the command
> > I and probably others having problems are actually running is
> > FEATURES=-unmerge-orphans sudo emerge cracklib, and the sudo messes up the
> > environment variable setting. You need to move sudo to the front (sudo
> > FEATURES=-unmerge-orphans emerge cracklib) or switch to root so you can run the
> > command without sudo. Hopefully that helps
> 
> I used the command that michael provided above before reading further.  It did
> resolve my issue however I fear this is now a permanent global variable.  How
> do I remove this global variable from my system now?  I fear that it may cause
> some damage with something else in the future.  Meanwhile emerge system is
> continuing to run here.
> 

Michael's point about sudo is dead on.  Running it as root fixes the problem.  Damon, a simple echo $FEATURES  should tell you if it's global or not.  It should come up as an empty string, so no need to worry.