Bug 628858 – Messages like "emerge: there are no ebuilds to satisfy..." need to be more informative

• Product: Portage Development
• Status: RESOLVED OBSOLETE

[Description konsolebox 2017-08-24 21:27:31 UTC]

In this problem I had, it was not so obvious that a keyword would have to be added.  This would have been easily solved with a more informative message.

<konsolebox> i hope someone here can explain why this happens: "emerge: there are no ebuilds to satisfy "app-text/ronn[ruby_targets_ruby24]"."
<konsolebox> the ebuild is well-defined with USE_RUBY="ruby21 ruby22 ruby23 ruby24"
<konsolebox> but i can only install it with ruby_targets_ruby22: https://bpaste.net/show/cf87fd0f3d76
<konsolebox> can't force it with emerge 'app-text/ronn[ruby_targets_24]'.
<slyfox> i think it's because 'profiles/base/use.stable.mask:ruby_targets_ruby24'
<slyfox> that use flag is masked on stable
<slyfox> if you really want to try ruby 2.4 you need to unmask a flag first
<slyfox> i think the way to do it is to create /etc/portage/use.stable.mask file and add '-ruby_targets_ruby24' there
<konsolebox> slyfox: but why are other packages install-able with ruby_targets_ruby24?
<slyfox> are they?
<konsolebox> https://bpaste.net/show/cf87fd0f3d76
<slyfox> i'd expect them not enable that USE
<konsolebox> the dependencies can be installed
<konsolebox> with ruby_targets_ruby24
<konsolebox> even the ebuild i'm creating can
<slyfox> ah, maybe because you have keyworded packages as ~arch
<slyfox> that would also work
<slyfox> my suggestion is a bit too harsh
<konsolebox> i see
<slyfox> adding app-text/ronn to package.accept_keywords should also allow ruby24
<konsolebox> yeah, just did it (to package.keywords that is)
<konsolebox> looks like it's working now thanks a lot
<konsolebox> imo, the error message should have been more informative, than just saying "no ebuilds satisfy..."
<veremitz> konsolebox: file a portage patch :P they're a *lot* more descriptive than they used to be :p
<konsolebox> veremitz: yeah, someday maybe
<slyfox> konsolebox: i suggest filing a portage bug
<slyfox> because it confuses a lot of people
<konsolebox> slyfox: i find it difficult to elaborate the issue. can i just copy-paste this discussion as a comment for the bug?
<slyfox> I think so

Other people also get to have the same trouble: https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=580034