My /etc/portage/package.mask: nelchael ~ # cat /etc/portage/package.mask >=dev-java/sun-jdk-1.6.0.0_beta91 =dev-java/maven-bin-2.0.5* nelchael ~ # I want to test jabberd-1*, so I mask jabberd-2*: nelchael ~ # echo '=net-im/jabberd-2*' >> /etc/portage/package.mask And try it out: nelchael ~ # emerge -pv '=net-im/jabberd-2*' These are the packages that would be merged, in order: Calculating dependencies !!! All ebuilds that could satisfy "=net-im/jabberd-2*" have been masked. !!! One of the following masked packages is required to complete your request: - net-im/jabberd-2.0.11 (masked by: package.mask) # Joshua Nichols <nichoj@gentoo.org (23 Aug 2006) # Masked since, it's VERY early in development - net-im/jabberd-2.0.11-r1 (masked by: package.mask) For more information, see MASKED PACKAGES section in the emerge man page or refer to the Gentoo Handbook. nelchael ~ # Portage displays some weird reason for it being masked. That message is from Java overlay: # Joshua Nichols <nichoj@gentoo.org (23 Aug 2006) # Masked since, it's VERY early in development =dev-java/sun-jdk-1.7* url: http://overlays.gentoo.org/proj/java/browser/migrated-java-experimental-overlay/profiles/package.mask Additionally my emerge --info: nelchael ~ # emerge --info Portage 2.1.2_pre3 (default-linux/x86/2006.1, gcc-4.1.1, glibc-2.5-r0, 2.6.18-ck1 i686) ================================================================= System uname: 2.6.18-ck1 i686 Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.73GHz Gentoo Base System version 1.12.5 Last Sync: Sat, 14 Oct 2006 10:20:01 +0000 ccache version 2.4 [enabled] app-admin/eselect-compiler: [Not Present] dev-java/java-config: 1.3.7, 2.0.30 dev-lang/python: 2.4.3-r4 dev-python/pycrypto: 2.0.1-r5 dev-util/ccache: 2.4-r6 dev-util/confcache: [Not Present] sys-apps/sandbox: 1.2.18.1 sys-devel/autoconf: 2.13, 2.60 sys-devel/automake: 1.4_p6, 1.7.9-r1, 1.9.6-r2 sys-devel/binutils: 2.17 sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.3.13-r4 sys-devel/libtool: 1.5.22 virtual/os-headers: 2.6.17-r1 ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86 ~x86" AUTOCLEAN="yes" CBUILD="i686-pc-linux-gnu" CFLAGS="-march=pentium-m -O2 -pipe" CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/kde/3.5/env /usr/kde/3.5/share/config /usr/kde/3.5/shutdown /usr/share/X11/xkb /usr/share/config" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/env.d /etc/env.d/java/ /etc/gconf /etc/java-config/vms/ /etc/revdep-rebuild /etc/terminfo /etc/texmf/web2c" CXXFLAGS="-march=pentium-m -O2 -pipe" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" FEATURES="autoconfig ccache cvs distlocks java-strict metadata-transfer noinfo sandbox sfperms sign" GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://gentoo.prz.rzeszow.pl/ http://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/gentoo/ http://osmirrors.cerias.purdue.edu/pub/gentoo/ http://distfiles.gentoo.org/" INSTALL_MASK="/usr/share/gtk-doc" MAKEOPTS="-j2" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --delete-after --stats --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" PORTDIR_OVERLAY="/home/nelchael/overlays/nelchael /home/nelchael/overlays/java/migrated-java-experimental-overlay /home/nelchael/overlays/java/java-experimental-overlay /home/nelchael/overlays/silvermedia /home/nelchael/overlays/java/java-virtuals" SYNC="rsync://rsync.europe.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage" USE="x86 X alsa bash-completion berkdb bitmap-fonts branding bzip2 cairo cli crypt cups dlloader dri elibc_glibc firefox fortran gdbm input_devices_keyboard input_devices_mouse input_devices_synaptics ipv6 isdnlog java5 jpeg kde kdeenablefinal kdehiddenvisibility kernel_linux libg++ logrotate mmx mmxext mp3 musepack ncurses nls nptl nptlonly nsplugin offensive opengl pam pcre png ppds pppd readline reflection session source spl sse sse2 ssl svg syslog truetype truetype-fonts type1-fonts udev unicode userland_GNU video_cards_i810 vorbis xinerama xml xml2 xorg xscreensaver zlib" Unset: CTARGET, EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS, LANG, LC_ALL, LDFLAGS, LINGUAS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS
This is fixed in svn r5428.
This has been released in 2.1.2_rc4-r4.
