I've been seeing this message since a few days ago while I try to emerge --pretend or emerge something: These are the packages that would be merged, in order: Calculating dependencies Parse Error reading PROVIDE and USE in '/var/db/pkg/x11-base/xorg-x11-6.8.2-r6' Possibly Invalid: 'virtual/x11 opengl? virtual/opengl opengl? virtual/glu virtual/xft' Exception: Conditional without parenthesis: 'opengl?' Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. emerge <any_package> optionally include the --pretend option 2. 3. gentoo ~ # emerge --info Parse Error reading PROVIDE and USE in '/var/db/pkg/x11-base/xorg-x11-6.8.2-r6' Possibly Invalid: 'virtual/x11 opengl? virtual/opengl opengl? virtual/glu virtual/xft' Exception: Conditional without parenthesis: 'opengl?' Portage 2.1.2.2 (default-linux/x86/2006.1, gcc-3.3.5-20050130, glibc-2.3.4.20041102-r1, 2.6.15-gentoo-r1 i686) ================================================================= System uname: 2.6.15-gentoo-r1 i686 Pentium III (Coppermine) Gentoo Base System version 1.6.12 Timestamp of tree: Mon, 12 Mar 2007 07:50:01 +0000 dev-lang/python: 2.3.5 dev-python/pycrypto: 2.0.1-r5 sys-apps/sandbox: 1.2.17 sys-devel/autoconf: 2.13, 2.61 sys-devel/automake: 1.4_p6, 1.5, 1.6.3, 1.7.9-r1, 1.8.5-r3, 1.9.6-r1, 1.10 sys-devel/binutils: 2.15.92.0.2-r10 sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.3.11-r4 sys-devel/libtool: 1.5.22 virtual/os-headers: 2.6.11-r2 ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86" AUTOCLEAN="yes" CBUILD="i686-pc-linux-gnu" CFLAGS="-O2 -march=pentium3" CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/lib/X11/xkb /usr/share/texmf/dvipdfm/config/ /usr/share/texmf/dvips/config/ /usr/share/texmf/tex/generic/config/ /usr/share/texmf/tex/platex/config/ /usr/share/texmf/xdvi/ /var/qmail/alias /var/qmail/control /var/vpopmail/domains /var/vpopmail/etc" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/env.d /etc/gconf /etc/terminfo" CXXFLAGS="-O2 -march=pentium3" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" FEATURES="autoconfig distlocks metadata-transfer sandbox sfperms strict" GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://gentoo.ngi.it ftp://ftp.unina.it/pub/linux/distributions/gentoo" LANG="it_IT@euro" LC_ALL="it_IT@euro" LINGUAS="it en" 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 --filter=H_**/files/digest-*" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" SYNC="rsync://rsync.europe.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage" USE="berkdb bitmap-fonts cli cracklib crypt cups dri fortran gdbm gpm iconv ipv6 isdnlog libg++ midi ncurses nls nptl nptlonly pam pcre perl ppds pppd python readline reflection session spl ssl tcpd truetype-fonts type1-fonts unicode x86 xorg zlib" ALSA_CARDS="ali5451 als4000 atiixp atiixp-modem bt87x ca0106 cmipci emu10k1 emu10k1x ens1370 ens1371 es1938 es1968 fm801 hda-intel intel8x0 intel8x0m maestro3 trident usb-audio via82xx via82xx-modem ymfpci" ALSA_PCM_PLUGINS="adpcm alaw asym copy dmix dshare dsnoop empty extplug file hooks iec958 ioplug ladspa lfloat linear meter mulaw multi null plug rate route share shm softvol" ELIBC="glibc" INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse evdev" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" LINGUAS="it en" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="apm ark ati chips cirrus cyrix dummy fbdev glint i128 i740 i810 imstt mga neomagic nsc nv rendition s3 s3virge savage siliconmotion sis sisusb tdfx tga trident tseng v4l vesa vga via vmware voodoo" Unset: CTARGET, EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS, INSTALL_MASK, LDFLAGS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS, PORTDIR_OVERLAY
No such version in the tree, you'll need to fix your VDB yourself or just unmerge it.
In case anyone encouters this problem, this is how I fixed it: I patched the following file: /var/db/pkg/x11-base/xorg-x11-6.8.2-r6/PROVIDE adding a couple of parentheses: gentoo ~ # diff -Bub PROVIDE.orig PROVIDE --- PROVIDE.orig 2007-03-16 08:07:30.000000000 +0100 +++ PROVIDE 2007-03-16 08:07:09.000000000 +0100 @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@ virtual/x11 - opengl? virtual/opengl - opengl? virtual/glu + opengl? (virtual/opengl) + opengl? (virtual/glu) virtual/xft
