[SOLVED] Metalog pulled in despite of syslog-ng installed

[amk]

Hi,

Using Gentoo for years I am installing a new system, first time amd64.
Selected syslog-ng at the relevant stage of install guide, as usual.
After the long task of 'emerge gnome' I powered the system off,
and got surprised seeing error when /etc/init.d/metalog stop complained
that the service is not running.

Now I can certainly unmerge metalog, but would like to understand what
happened. Browsing the docs, forums, lists for 2 days already, nearest
match I found at http://www.mail-archive.com/gentoo-amd6 ... 12245.html
but that does not make me much wiser. There are also some similar reports
at http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-494443.html
or http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-605306.html
but they are more than 4 years old and happened after user switched
loggers, not during new install.

Code: Select all

hrk2 ~ # equery d metalog
[ Searching for packages depending on metalog... ]
net-fs/samba-3.4.9 (syslog? virtual/logger)

hrk2 ~ # eix  virtual/logger
[I] app-admin/metalog
     Available versions:  1 {unicode}
     Installed versions:  1(23:13:39 02/16/11)(unicode)
     Homepage:            http://metalog.sourceforge.net/
     Description:         A highly configurable replacement for syslogd/klogd

* app-admin/rsyslog
     Available versions:  3.20.4 3.22.0!t ~3.22.1!t ~5.6.3!t {dbi debug doc extras gnutls kerberos logrotate mysql oracle postgres relp snmp static-libs zlib}
     Homepage:            http://www.rsyslog.com/
     Description:         An enhanced multi-threaded syslogd with database support and more.

* app-admin/socklog
     Available versions:  ~2.0.2 ~2.0.2-r1 {static}
     Homepage:            http://smarden.org/socklog/
     Description:         small secure replacement for syslogd with automatic log rotation

* app-admin/sysklogd
     Available versions:  1.4.2_pre20061230-r2!t ~1.5!t ~1.5-r1!t
     Homepage:            http://www.infodrom.org/projects/sysklogd/
     Description:         Standard log daemons

[U] app-admin/syslog-ng
     Available versions:  3.0.8!t 3.0.9!t 3.0.10!t 3.1.2!t 3.1.3!t 3.1.4!t [M]~3.2.2!t {caps hardened ipv6 +pcre selinux spoof-source sql ssl static tcpd}
     Installed versions:  3.1.3!t(11:46:12 02/17/11)(ipv6 pcre ssl tcpd -caps -hardened -selinux -spoof-source -sql -static)
     Homepage:            http://www.balabit.com/products/syslog_ng/
     Description:         syslog replacement with advanced filtering features

* app-admin/syslogread
     Available versions:  ~*0.92
     Homepage:            http://untroubled.org/syslogread/
     Description:         Syslog message handling tools

* sys-freebsd/freebsd-usbin
     Available versions:  ~*7.2 ~*8.0 {acpi atm audit bluetooth build floppy ipv6 isdn minimal netware nis pam profile ssl tcpd usb}
     Homepage:            http://www.freebsd.org/
     Description:         FreeBSD /usr/sbin tools

hrk2 ~ # grep PROVIDE /usr/portage/app-admin/syslog-ng/syslog-ng-3.1.3.ebuild
PROVIDE="virtual/logger"

hrk2 ~ # egrep 'DEPEND|syslog' /usr/portage/net-fs/samba/samba-3.5.6.ebuild 
	syslog winbind "
DEPEND="dev-libs/popt
	syslog? ( virtual/logger )"
RDEPEND="${DEPEND}"
		$(use_with syslog) \

I feel there may be a bug but not really sure. In any case I did not expect
metalog to be emerged. Where does emerge check whether a virtual provider
is installed? Could it be because newer version of syslog-ng was
added to portage after my initial install?

Appreciate any hint. Thanks.

[Hu]

With the information provided, I would guess that you installed net-fs/samba early, causing app-admin/metalog to be merged. Later, you merged app-admin/syslog-ng explicitly. You could confirm or deny this by checking /var/log/emerge.log.

[amk]

With the information provided, ... , you merged app-admin/syslog-ng explicitly. .

Thanks for your post. I am^H^Hwas 100% sure I installed syslog-ng as the very first emerge,
I do it always this way:
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/h ... t=1&chap=9

emerge.log confirms that was mistaken.
samba got pulled with cups and took metalog with it because I wanted to save
time and let emerge openoffice in chrooted environment after configured USE.
It nicely compiled during a break before I moved on with the handbook.

I am very sorry for the noise.