After syncing, I noticed there was a new portage and did what it tells me to do, update portage before doing anything else, and a huge list of blockers came up preventing the update. Adding -D to the options I give portage allows the update to occur, but only if I give a few packages the python_targets_python3_7 useflag: # required by net-misc/streamlink-1.3.1-r1::gentoo[python_single_target_python3_7] # required by @selected # required by @world (argument) >=dev-python/setuptools-50.3.0 python_targets_python3_7 # required by dev-python/requests-2.25.0::gentoo # required by net-misc/streamlink-1.3.1-r1::gentoo[python_single_target_python3_7] # required by @selected # required by @world (argument) >=dev-python/certifi-10001-r1 python_targets_python3_7 # required by dev-python/setuptools-50.3.0::gentoo # required by dev-python/cython-0.29.21-r1::gentoo # required by dev-python/lxml-4.6.2::gentoo # required by sys-apps/systemd-247.1::gentoo # required by virtual/tmpfiles-0-r1::gentoo # required by sys-apps/portage-3.0.11::gentoo # required by portage (argument) >=dev-python/setuptools_scm-4.1.2-r1 python_targets_python3_7 # required by dev-util/itstool-2.0.6-r1::gentoo[python_single_target_python3_7] # required by gnome-extra/zenity-3.32.0::gentoo # required by app-emulation/winetricks-20200412::gentoo[gtk] # required by @selected # required by @world (argument) >=dev-libs/libxml2-2.9.10-r4 python_targets_python3_7 Now of course I can just enable these useflags and get on with it, but I want to make sure that this was intended, since I wouldn't expect portage to need packages built for older pythons (in particular, it looks like this portage update only wants to build for python 3.8). I checked my configuration, and at no point do I modify PYTHON_TARGETS or PYTHON_SINGLE_TARGET, even on a per-package basis, so those variables are set to the profile's default (as seen in the --info). Reproducible: Always Portage 3.0.11 (python 3.7.9-final-0, default/linux/amd64/17.1/desktop/plasma/systemd, gcc-10.2.0, glibc-2.32-r3, 5.8.14-gentoo x86_64) ================================================================= System uname: Linux-5.8.14-gentoo-x86_64-AMD_Ryzen_7_3700X_8-Core_Processor-with-gentoo-2.7 KiB Mem: 8137016 total, 175640 free KiB Swap: 15999996 total, 10521776 free Timestamp of repository gentoo: Sat, 05 Dec 2020 09:00:01 +0000 Head commit of repository gentoo: 2ae008e5083dc21267dcf83f906d44dbe8a9f2bd Timestamp of repository kde: Fri, 04 Dec 2020 02:35:33 +0000 Head commit of repository kde: a96e742febcb46263e27c0f01330b4d6e3da2d84 Timestamp of repository qt: Sun, 29 Nov 2020 21:35:27 +0000 Head commit of repository qt: aa472864d5feedf358528c7f081ab38f2dc69799 sh bash 5.0_p18 ld GNU ld (Gentoo 2.35.1 p2) 2.35.1 app-shells/bash: 5.0_p18::gentoo dev-java/java-config: 2.3.1::gentoo dev-lang/perl: 5.30.3-r1::gentoo dev-lang/python: 2.7.18-r4::gentoo, 3.7.9::gentoo, 3.8.6::gentoo, 3.9.0::gentoo dev-util/cmake: 3.19.1::gentoo sys-apps/baselayout: 2.7-r1::gentoo sys-apps/sandbox: 2.20::gentoo sys-devel/autoconf: 2.13-r1::gentoo, 2.69-r5::gentoo sys-devel/automake: 1.16.3-r1::gentoo sys-devel/binutils: 2.35.1-r1::gentoo sys-devel/gcc: 10.2.0-r3::gentoo sys-devel/gcc-config: 2.3.2-r1::gentoo sys-devel/libtool: 2.4.6-r6::gentoo sys-devel/make: 4.3::gentoo sys-kernel/linux-headers: 5.9::gentoo (virtual/os-headers) sys-libs/glibc: 2.32-r3::gentoo Repositories: gentoo location: /var/db/repos/gentoo sync-type: rsync sync-uri: rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage priority: -1000 sync-rsync-verify-jobs: 1 sync-rsync-verify-metamanifest: yes sync-rsync-verify-max-age: 24 sync-rsync-extra-opts: kde location: /var/db/repos/kde sync-type: git sync-uri: https://github.com/gentoo-mirror/kde.git masters: gentoo qt location: /var/db/repos/qt sync-type: git sync-uri: https://github.com/gentoo-mirror/qt.git masters: gentoo testbed location: /var/db/repos/testbed masters: gentoo crossdev location: /var/db/repos/crossdev masters: gentoo priority: 10 ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64 ~amd64" ACCEPT_LICENSE="* -@EULA" CBUILD="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" CFLAGS="-march=native -O2 -pipe" CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/lib64/libreoffice/program/sofficerc /usr/share/config /usr/share/gnupg/qualified.txt" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/ca-certificates.conf /etc/dconf /etc/env.d /etc/fonts/fonts.conf /etc/gconf /etc/gentoo-release /etc/revdep-rebuild /etc/sandbox.d /etc/terminfo" CXXFLAGS="-march=native -O2 -pipe" DISTDIR="/var/cache/distfiles" ENV_UNSET="CARGO_HOME DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS DISPLAY GOBIN GOPATH PERL5LIB PERL5OPT PERLPREFIX PERL_CORE PERL_MB_OPT PERL_MM_OPT XAUTHORITY XDG_CACHE_HOME XDG_CONFIG_HOME XDG_DATA_HOME XDG_RUNTIME_DIR" FCFLAGS="-march=native -O2 -pipe" FEATURES="assume-digests binpkg-docompress binpkg-dostrip binpkg-logs config-protect-if-modified distlocks ebuild-locks fixlafiles ipc-sandbox merge-sync multilib-strict network-sandbox news parallel-fetch pid-sandbox preserve-libs protect-owned qa-unresolved-soname-deps sandbox sfperms strict unknown-features-warn unmerge-logs unmerge-orphans userfetch userpriv usersandbox usersync xattr" FFLAGS="-march=native -O2 -pipe" GENTOO_MIRRORS="https://gentoo.osuosl.org/ https://mirrors.rit.edu/gentoo/" LANG="en_US.utf8" LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1 -Wl,--as-needed" MAKEOPTS="-j9" PKGDIR="/var/cache/binpkgs" PORTAGE_CONFIGROOT="/" PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --omit-dir-times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --stats --human-readable --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages --exclude=/.git" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" USE="X a52 aac acl acpi activities alsa amd64 berkdb bluetooth branding bzip2 cairo cdda cdr cli crypt cups dbus declarative dri dts dvd dvdr emboss encode exif flac fortran gdbm gif gpm gtk gui ibus iconv icu ipv6 jpeg kde kipi kwallet lcms libglvnd libnotify libtirpc mad mng mp3 mp4 mpeg multilib ncurses nls nptl ogg opengl openmp pam pango pcre pdf phonon plasma png policykit ppds pulseaudio qml qt5 readline sdl seccomp semantic-desktop spell split-usr ssl startup-notification svg systemd tcpd tiff truetype udev udisks unicode upower usb vorbis widgets wxwidgets x264 xattr xcb xml xv xvid zlib" ABI_X86="64" ADA_TARGET="gnat_2018" ALSA_CARDS="ali5451 als4000 atiixp atiixp-modem bt87x ca0106 cmipci emu10k1x ens1370 ens1371 es1938 es1968 fm801 hda-intel intel8x0 intel8x0m maestro3 trident usb-audio via82xx via82xx-modem ymfpci" APACHE2_MODULES="authn_core authz_core socache_shmcb unixd actions alias auth_basic authn_alias authn_anon authn_dbm authn_default authn_file authz_dbm authz_default authz_groupfile authz_host authz_owner authz_user autoindex cache cgi cgid dav dav_fs dav_lock deflate dir disk_cache env expires ext_filter file_cache filter headers include info log_config logio mem_cache mime mime_magic negotiation rewrite setenvif speling status unique_id userdir usertrack vhost_alias" CALLIGRA_FEATURES="karbon sheets words" COLLECTD_PLUGINS="df interface irq load memory rrdtool swap syslog" CPU_FLAGS_X86="aes avx avx2 f16c fma3 mmx mmxext pclmul popcnt rdrand sha sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3" ELIBC="glibc" GPSD_PROTOCOLS="ashtech aivdm earthmate evermore fv18 garmin garmintxt gpsclock greis isync itrax mtk3301 nmea ntrip navcom oceanserver oldstyle oncore rtcm104v2 rtcm104v3 sirf skytraq superstar2 timing tsip tripmate tnt ublox ubx" INPUT_DEVICES="libinput" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" LIBREOFFICE_EXTENSIONS="presenter-console presenter-minimizer" LUA_SINGLE_TARGET="lua5-1" LUA_TARGETS="lua5-1" OFFICE_IMPLEMENTATION="libreoffice" PHP_TARGETS="php7-2 php7-3 php7-4" POSTGRES_TARGETS="postgres10 postgres11" PYTHON_SINGLE_TARGET="python3_8" PYTHON_TARGETS="python2_7 python3_8" RUBY_TARGETS="ruby25 ruby27" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="amdgpu radeonsi" 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: CC, CPPFLAGS, CTARGET, CXX, EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS, INSTALL_MASK, LC_ALL, LINGUAS, PORTAGE_BINHOST, PORTAGE_BUNZIP2_COMMAND, PORTAGE_COMPRESS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS
See bug #722748, the recommendation can be ignored at times like this. So, do a normal world update that at least includes -UD or -ND, like `emerge -uUDav @world`, or see older python upgrade news items for reference (there wasn't one for 3.8 this time). If you have no packages that lack 3.8 support nor any stale python_* USE then it should go smoothly and portage will be upgraded at same time. If other issues then try the forums or IRC, me or others will be happy to help.
*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 722748 ***
python_targets_python3_7 is no longer enabled by default since this change: https://gitweb.gentoo.org/repo/gentoo.git/commit/?id=a9845b9cd3f74ee6a7ef7de70a282ec246c492f1 In order to ease the transition, you can temporarily add python_targets_python3_7 to USE in /etc/portage/make.conf. Then you can remove it when you're sure that you won't need it anymore.
