I tried to update my gentoo system, but the emrege failed. I received a couple of error messages, but they did not help solving the problem. The error messages should be corrected so that they give a hint what to do. See the details below. ========================================================================= # emerge --update --ask --verbose world These are the packages that would be merged, in order: Calculating world dependencies / !!! Packages for the following atoms are either all !!! masked or don't exist: net-print/hpoj ... done! ------------------<snip>-------------------- Above is the first problem. I did install this package earlier without problems. I don't know what changed with this package, but it should not prevent me from updating the other packages. Emerge should give me a hint how to update world excluding this package or any other solution. (At least a hint what to read.) ------------------<snip>-------------------- [blocks B ] <=x11-base/xorg-x11-6.9 (is blocking x11-proto/xextproto-7.0.2) [blocks B ] <=x11-base/xorg-x11-6.9 (is blocking x11-proto/xf86bigfontproto-1.1.2) ------------------<snip>-------------------- xf86bigfontproto and xextproto etc. are not in my world file, so they must be a dependency of something. I don't know what happened with the dependency system, but when I installed the programs that are present on my computer they din't complain about blocking each other. Emerge should tell me which programs in the world file have become incompatible with each other so I could choose between them. Or it should suggest an other solution. (At least a hint what to read.) ------------------<snip>-------------------- [blocks B ] dev-python/f2py (is blocking dev-python/numpy-0.9.8) ------------------<snip>-------------------- Similar to the above. Two packages coexist on my system which seem to have become incompatible. f2py is not in my world file. Emerge should tell me which program in the world file needs f2py thus blocking numpy. ------------------<snip>-------------------- !!! Error: The above package list contains packages which cannot be installed !!! at the same time on the same system. These final lines after the long list of packages to be updated give no hint what to do. At least a reference to a howto should be put here.
> !!! Packages for the following atoms are either all > !!! masked or don't exist: > net-print/hpoj > I don't know what changed with this package, but it should not prevent me from >updating the other packages Uhm, it doesn't prevent you from updating anything, it's an informative message. And it tells you exactly what happened. As for the blockers, unmerge them, not a rocket science really. And, it's covered by documentation as well. http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/desktop/x/x11/modular-x-howto.xml
Thank you for your helpful link to the documentation. It solved one of my problems, but unfortunately not the problems of `emerge'. Emerge does not give enough information. You write that >> !!! Packages for the following atoms are either all >> !!! masked or don't exist: >> net-print/hpoj is just a warning, and it is not the problem that prevents starting compilation. If true, emerege should report skipping the update of this package. The documentation link you wrote is useful, but I don't know how I would have found it without witing a bug report - which is not a good way to get to the documentation. And it only answers the problem with xorg-x11, not the one with f2py and numpy. I guess the solution is not just unmerging and emerging some packages. I think emerge should name which package needs f2py, and a few lines what I can do. If it is complicated (more than a few lines) a link to the documentation should be named which describes how to solve such problems.
(In reply to comment #2) > I think emerge should name which package needs f2py, and a few lines what I can > do. If it is complicated (more than a few lines) a link to the documentation > should be named which describes how to solve such problems. Please, read the changelog. *f2py-2.45.241.1926 (17 Jul 2006) 17 Jul 2006; Alastair Tse <liquidx@gentoo.org> -f2py-2.32.225.1419.ebuild, f2py-2.39.235.1693.ebuild, +f2py-2.45.241.1926.ebuild: version bump. add block to dev-python/numpy because it also provides f2py. no packages depend directly on f2py. Portage is a package manager, it does not replace documentation, changelogs etc. etc. If you want, file a documentation bug. Portage tells you what's wrong, not how to handle it.
Thank you for pointing my attention to the f2py changelog. I read `emerge --help', `emerge --help world' and `man emerge' to see if the problems 1) "masked or don't exist" and 2) the "X is blocking Y" are explained there. 1) The first one in NOT explained. I insist that emerge has to tell if the message it is displaying is an error blocking compilation or a warning only. 2) The blocking problem is covered shortly only in the manpage: > [blocks B ] app-text/dos2unix (from pkg app-text/hd2u-0.8.0) > Dos2unix is Blocking hd2u from being emerged. Blockers are > defined when two packages will clobber each others files, or > otherwise cause some form of breakage in your system. However, > blockers usually do not need to be simultaneously emerged > because they usually provide the same functionality. I am happy to know that one of the packages I have is unnecessary. Probably one of them is numpy. But I don't know which the other package is. The other package is not f2py, because it is not in my world file; f2py is a dependency of something. Emerge does build the dependency tree so it must know which entry of the world file pulls in f2py. I think this information is available and essential to go on, so emerge has to print it. The above are not documentation errors, these involve the code of portage. You are right, by the way, that the documentation is insufficient, too, because the help and man pages should tell what to do or where to read on. I will consider writing a documentation bug as well. (The documentation should suggest reading the changelogs, mention the xorg partitioning and describe the general way of handling blockers.) This bug is about emerge itself.
(In reply to comment #4) > 1) The first one in NOT explained. I insist that emerge has to tell if the > message it is displaying is an error blocking compilation or a warning > only. What's not explained? There's no error, otherwise you'd get some block from it. Please, read the package.mask file. $ grep -C2 hpoj /usr/portage/profiles/package.mask # Stefan Schweizer <genstef@gentoo.org> (06 Feb 2006) # deprecated - please use net-print/hplip now net-print/hpoj > I am happy to know that one of the packages I have is unnecessary. Probably > one of them is numpy. But I don't know which the other package is. > The other package is not f2py, because it is not in my world file; f2py is > a dependency of something. It's not a dependency of anything. Unmerge it. And it tells you _exactly_ what's wrong, read the message. > dev-python/f2py (is blocking dev-python/numpy-0.9.8) > Emerge does build the dependency tree so it must know which entry of the > world file pulls in f2py. None. And you've misread the message as well - it's numpy that gets pulled in, not f2py. Sorry, portage error messages are really not a proper place to teach you how to work w/ portage.
I compiled the above mentioned documentation bug: bug#142225.
(In reply to comment #6) > I compiled the above mentioned documentation bug: bug#142225. Thanks. ;)