[solved] merge-usr: Special files are not supported

[edward_scott]

When I run

[pjp]

My guess would be character special devices or block special devices and the file system not supporting them, or because they have been intentionally disabled with the "nodev" mount option (see man mount).

I would not have expected the listed file to be a character or block device.

You can use the command "file" to see if it can identify the listed file.
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[logrusx]

It looks like you have or had some very old and perhaps unsupported spalsh screen utilities. Find out which package this file belongs to and if it doesn't check the directory. If it still does not link to any package, I would just delete it. This is a directory that should be managed by portage and if it does not know anything about some files in it, chances are they are remains of something that' not anymore.

EDIT: here's what I found and it's exactly what I suspected - something very old: https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-313994-highlight-cachedir.html

Best Regards,
Georgi

[Banana]

It was removed long time ago: https://bugs.gentoo.org/417439
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PFL - Portage file list - find which package a file or command belongs to.

[edward_scott]

Yup it appears it was very old (files dated 2011) and not needed any longer. I removed them and that resolved the issue. Thank you, this community is so helpful.

I guess that the rule for merge-usr is that special files should not be in the directories it operates on in the first place, and if they are they should be removed.

[logrusx]