Bug 388001 – xen USE flag masked for *all* versions of libvirt

• Product: Gentoo Linux
• Status: VERIFIED TEST-REQUEST

[Description Another Mortal 2011-10-21 12:13:45 UTC]

Apparently, due to a problem with xen-tools-3.4.2 as
"a dependency for =app-emulation/libvirt-0.9.3-r1[xen]"
(direct quote from bug #379815), and a related concern
for protecting the stable tree the xen USE flag is hard 
masked in $PORTDIR/profiles/base/package.use.mask
for *all* versions of libvirt.

Additionally, repeated requests for xen support are being
routinely ignored (marked as DUPLICATE of bug #379815,
which they are NOT), e.g. bug #385615 & bug #381371...

The suggested fix is to mask what's broken and not to
inconvenience those trying to use a non-stable (and,
incidentally, *not* broken) version e.g. libvirt-0.9.6
in combination with xen-tools-4.1.1-r5, which build fine;
that is, please replace

app-emulation/libvirt xen

by 

=app-emulation/libvirt-0.9.3-r1 xen

in $PORTDIR/profiles/base/package.use.mask!!


BTW, is there an easy way to permanently disable
such overly generous masking?  So far I've tried
/etc/portage/package.use.{mask,force} without any
luck.  Is it time yet for a package.use.unmask?

Reproducible: Always

[Comment 1 Alex Legler (RETIRED) 2011-10-22 13:40:39 UTC]

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 379815 ***

[Comment 2 Another Mortal 2011-10-23 19:36:23 UTC]

This is decidedly *NOT* a duplicate of bug 379815,
The overly generous masking used to _fix_ that bug
is causing this one (and two others I mentioned, i.e.
bug #385615 & bug #381371, which really _are_ duplicates
of this bug, but for some unknown reason they get marked
as duplicates of the bug introducing this issue).

Please take another good look at this and if you can
please indicate why you think the fully unqualified
masking "app-emulation/libvirt xen" is justified in
favor of the more specific variant suggested here, i.e.
"=app-emulation/libvirt-0.9.3-r1 xen"!