I thought I had reported this a while back, but couldn't find it in a search. In a nutshell, every time I run emerge and there is a package that needs an upgrade, it insists on rebuilding (flags "rR") youtube-dl and setuptools. (The only time I don't see it seems to be when the named package does not need an upgrade; i.e., when the only flag is "R".) As an example, just an hour or two ago I rebuilt setuptools (rR), which also rebuilt youtube-dl (rU). Now, running emerge will rebuild them both: $ emerge -pvt firefox These are the packages that would be merged, in reverse order: Calculating dependencies... done! [ebuild rR ] net-misc/youtube-dl-2013.12.09.4 USE="-offensive {-test}" PYTHON_SINGLE_TARGET="python2_7 -python2_6 -python3_3" PYTHON_TARGETS="python2_7 python3_3 -python2_6" 0 kB [ebuild U ] www-client/firefox-25.0.1 [17.0.9] USE="alsa bindist dbus jit minimal startup-notification system-sqlite -custom-cflags -custom-optimization -debug -gstreamer -libnotify (-pgo) -pulseaudio% (-selinux) -system-cairo% -system-icu% -system-jpeg% -wifi" LINGUAS="-af -ak -ar -as -ast -be -bg -bn_BD -bn_IN -br -bs -ca -cs -csb -cy -da -de -el -en_GB -en_ZA -eo -es_AR -es_CL -es_ES -es_MX -et -eu -fa -fi -fr -fy_NL -ga_IE -gd -gl -gu_IN -he -hi_IN -hr -hu -hy_AM -id -is -it -ja -kk -km -kn -ko -ku -lg -lt -lv -mai -mk -ml -mr -nb_NO -nl -nn_NO -nso -or -pa_IN -pl -pt_BR -pt_PT -rm -ro -ru -si -sk -sl -son -sq -sr -sv_SE -ta -ta_LK -te -th -tr -uk -vi -zh_CN -zh_TW -zu" 124,547 kB [ebuild rR ] dev-python/setuptools-1.1.6 PYTHON_TARGETS="python2_7 python3_2 python3_3 -pypy2_0 -python2_6" 0 kB [ebuild U ] dev-libs/nss-3.15.3 [3.15.1-r1] USE="-utils" 6,167 kB [ebuild U ] dev-libs/nspr-4.10.2 [4.10] USE="-debug" 1,078 kB Total: 5 packages (3 upgrades, 2 reinstalls), Size of downloads: 131,790 kB $ emerge -pvt nspr These are the packages that would be merged, in reverse order: Calculating dependencies... done! [ebuild rR ] net-misc/youtube-dl-2013.12.09.4 USE="-offensive {-test}" PYTHON_SINGLE_TARGET="python2_7 -python2_6 -python3_3" PYTHON_TARGETS="python2_7 python3_3 -python2_6" 0 kB [ebuild U ] dev-libs/nspr-4.10.2 [4.10] USE="-debug" 1,078 kB [ebuild rR ] dev-python/setuptools-1.1.6 PYTHON_TARGETS="python2_7 python3_2 python3_3 -pypy2_0 -python2_6" 0 kB Total: 3 packages (1 upgrade, 2 reinstalls), Size of downloads: 1,078 kB $ emerge --info Portage 2.1.12.2 (default/linux/amd64/13.0, gcc-4.7.3, glibc-2.17, 3.9.11-gentoo-r1 x86_64) ================================================================= System uname: Linux-3.9.11-gentoo-r1-x86_64-Intel-R-_Core-TM-_i7-3930K_CPU_@_3.20GHz-with-gentoo-2.2 KiB Mem: 16363556 total, 867568 free KiB Swap: 0 total, 0 free Timestamp of tree: Tue, 10 Dec 2013 13:00:01 +0000 ld GNU ld (GNU Binutils) 2.23.1 ccache version 3.1.9 [enabled] app-shells/bash: 4.2_p45 dev-java/java-config: 2.2.0 dev-lang/python: 2.7.5-r4, 3.2.5-r3, 3.3.2-r2 dev-util/ccache: 3.1.9 dev-util/cmake: 2.8.9-r1 dev-util/pkgconfig: 0.27.1 sys-apps/baselayout: 2.2 sys-apps/openrc: 0.12 sys-apps/sandbox: 2.6-r1 sys-devel/autoconf: 2.13, 2.69 sys-devel/automake: 1.11.6, 1.12.6, 1.13.1 sys-devel/binutils: 2.23.1 sys-devel/gcc: 4.5.4, 4.7.3 sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.8 sys-devel/libtool: 2.4.2 sys-devel/make: 3.82-r4 sys-kernel/linux-headers: 3.9 (virtual/os-headers) sys-libs/glibc: 2.17 Repositories: gentoo ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64 ~amd64" ACCEPT_LICENSE="* -@EULA" CBUILD="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" CFLAGS="-O2 -march=core2 -pipe" CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/share/gnupg/qualified.txt" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="${EPREFIX}/etc/gconf /etc/ca-certificates.conf /etc/dconf /etc/env.d /etc/fonts/fonts.conf /etc/gconf /etc/gentoo-release /etc/php/apache2-php5.5/ext-active/ /etc/php/cgi-php5.5/ext-active/ /etc/php/cli-php5.5/ext-active/ /etc/revdep-rebuild /etc/sandbox.d /etc/terminfo" CXXFLAGS="-O2 -march=core2 -pipe" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS="--quiet-build=n" FCFLAGS="-O2 -pipe" FEATURES="assume-digests binpkg-logs buildpkg ccache collision-protect config-protect-if-modified distlocks ebuild-locks fixlafiles merge-sync news parallel-fetch preserve-libs protect-owned sandbox sfperms strict unknown-features-warn unmerge-logs unmerge-orphans" FFLAGS="-O2 -pipe" GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://mirror.usu.edu/mirrors/gentoo/ http://distfiles.gentoo.org/" LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1 -Wl,--as-needed" MAKEOPTS="-j12" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_CONFIGROOT="/" PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --stats --human-readable --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" PORTDIR_OVERLAY="" SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage" USE="X a52 aac acl additions aiglx alsa amd64 ao apache2 audacious audiofile bash-completion bcmath berkdb branding bzip2 bzlib calendar cdinstall cli cracklib crypt curl cxx dbase dbx dedicated device-mapper dga divx doc dot dovecot-sasl dri dv efiemu expat faac fame fbcon ffmpeg fftw flac flatfile fluidsynth font-server fontconfig fontforge gd gecko-sdk gif gimpprint ginac glitz glut gnuplot gnutls gpgme gs gstreamer gtk guidexml hardenedphp hddtemp highlight hou iconv id3tag imagemagick imlib inifile inotify jack jpeg jpeg2k keyscrub lame lastfmradio latin1 lcms libmms libsamplerate lm_sensors logrotate logwatch lzma mbox memlimit mikmod mime mmap mmx modplug modules mount mp3 mp4 mpm-prefork mudflap multilib mysql ncurses no-suexec nocardbus nocd nodrm nomotif nowin nptl nsplugin ofx ogg opengl pam pcntl pcre pda php pie plotutils png posix ppds quotes readline realmedia rtsp sasl server session shared sharedmem simplexml skins smpeg smtp sndfile sockets sou sse sse2 ssl ssse3 startup-notification subtitles system-sqlite sysvipc tagwriting tcl tcpd theora threads tidy tiff timidity tk truetype ups usb usbhost userlocales vhosts videos vim-syntax vorbis wma wmp wv wxgtk1 wxwidgets wxwindows xcb xine xml xpm xprint xscreensaver xvid zlib" ABI_X86="64" ALSA_CARDS="ice1712" APACHE2_MODULES="actions alias auth_basic auth_digest authn_anon authn_core authn_dbd authn_dbm authn_default authn_file authz_core authz_dbm authz_default authz_groupfile authz_host authz_owner authz_user autoindex cache cgi cgid dav dav_fs dav_lock dbd deflate dir disk_cache env expires ext_filter file_cache filter headers ident imagemap include info log_config logio mem_cache mime mime_magic negotiation proxy proxy_ajp proxy_balancer proxy_connect proxy_http rewrite setenvif so socache_shmcb speling status unique_id unixd userdir usertrack vhost_alias" CALLIGRA_FEATURES="kexi words flow plan sheets stage tables krita karbon braindump author" CAMERAS="ptp2" COLLECTD_PLUGINS="df interface irq load memory rrdtool swap syslog" ELIBC="glibc" GPSD_PROTOCOLS="ashtech aivdm earthmate evermore fv18 garmin garmintxt gpsclock itrax mtk3301 nmea ntrip navcom oceanserver oldstyle oncore rtcm104v2 rtcm104v3 sirf superstar2 timing tsip tripmate tnt ublox ubx" GRUB_PLATFORMS="efi-64 pc" INPUT_DEVICES="evdev" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" LIBREOFFICE_EXTENSIONS="presenter-console presenter-minimizer" LINGUAS="en" OFFICE_IMPLEMENTATION="libreoffice" PHP_TARGETS="php5-5" PYTHON_SINGLE_TARGET="python2_7" PYTHON_TARGETS="python2_7 python3_2 python3_3" QEMU_SOFTMMU_TARGETS="i386" QEMU_USER_TARGETS="i386" RUBY_TARGETS="ruby19 ruby18" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="vga nvidia" XTABLES_ADDONS="quota2 psd pknock lscan length2 ipv4options ipset ipp2p iface geoip fuzzy condition tee tarpit sysrq steal rawnat logmark ipmark dhcpmac delude chaos account" Unset: CPPFLAGS, CTARGET, INSTALL_MASK, LANG, LC_ALL, PORTAGE_BUNZIP2_COMMAND, PORTAGE_COMPRESS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS, USE_PYTHON
Bug 486580 has endless rebuilds for some package for many users until they upgrade to dev-lang/python-exec-2.0 and rebuild the packages one final time. Please try running emerge -1 dev-lang/python-exec:0 dev-lang/python-exec:2 then see if the rebuilds stop after you rebuild the packages one more time.
(In reply to eroen from comment #1) > Please try running > emerge -1 dev-lang/python-exec:0 dev-lang/python-exec:2 > then see if the rebuilds stop after you rebuild the packages one more time. I had another bug open regarding conflicts that wound up being resolved by setting PYTHON_TARGETS; somewhere in testing on that one, this appears to have gotten resolved as well. I didn't actually get a chance to try the above command to see if it would have fixed this problem.
