Interesting Portage Anomaly while Updating Portage

Message

Post by **John R. Graham** » Mon Feb 16, 2026 3:13 pm

This morning's "emerge --sync" produced a familiar message:

* An update to portage is available. It is _highly_ recommended
 * that you update portage now, before any other packages are updated.

 * To update portage, run 'emerge --oneshot sys-apps/portage' now.

which caused me to perform a familiar task:

Code: Select all

jrg-dev-vm-1 ~ # emerge -1va portage

These are the packages that would be merged, in reverse order:

Calculating dependencies... done!
Dependency resolution took 2.50 s (backtrack: 0/200).


Total: 0 packages, Size of downloads: 0 KiB

Nothing to merge; quitting.

What?!? I've never seen --oneshot not build what it was asked to build. I'm morally certain it's not supposed to behave that way.

The installed version of Portage at the time of this anomalous result was "sys-apps/portage-3.0.72-r1". I eventually got the upgrade to go through by explicitly naming the updated version:

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jrg-dev-vm-1 ~ # emerge --oneshot =sys-apps/portage-3.0.77-r1:0

These are the packages that would be merged, in reverse order:

Calculating dependencies... done!
Dependency resolution took 4.18 s (backtrack: 0/200).

[ebuild     U  ] sys-apps/portage-3.0.77-r1 [3.0.72-r1]

>>> Verifying ebuild manifests
>>> Running pre-merge checks for sys-apps/portage-3.0.77-r1
...

but the issue persisted after the upgrade.

Anyone else seeing this?

- John

ruby_R53 · Post by **ruby_R53** » Mon Feb 16, 2026 4:39 pm

not me, i've never had a portage update fail
however, could it be that the command you're running to update it now breaks something in the process? i always do emerge -1 portage like it tells me to

flexibeast · Post by **flexibeast** » Tue Feb 17, 2026 12:22 am

ruby_R53 wrote:not me, i've never had a portage update fail
however, could it be that the command you're running to update it now breaks something in the process? i always do emerge -1 portage like it tells me to

The `va` arguments in addition to `1` are simply the short forms of `--verbose` and `--ask`, neither of which i would expect to influence what gets queued up for install.

i've never encountered anything like this either. It's odd indeed. Very interested to know what's going on.

Post by **sam_** » Tue Feb 17, 2026 2:51 am

Please share emerge --info. EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS may matter especially.

ruby_R53 · Post by **ruby_R53** » Tue Feb 17, 2026 3:21 am

The `va` arguments in addition to `1` are simply the short forms of `--verbose` and `--ask`, neither of which i would expect to influence what gets queued up for install.

i know, i use those all the time, but still thought they could somehow be affecting the process
but yeah coming to think of it sam_'s answer is smarter after all

logrusx · Post by **logrusx** » Tue Feb 17, 2026 7:27 am

What does a full world update say?

Best Regards,
Georgi

Post by **John R. Graham** » Tue Feb 17, 2026 6:06 pm

sam_ wrote:Please share emerge --info. EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS may matter especially.

Sure thing. Here you go:

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jrg-dev-vm-1 ~ # emerge --info
Portage 3.0.77 (python 3.13.11-final-0, default/linux/amd64/23.0/split-usr/desktop/plasma, gcc-15, glibc-2.42-r5, 6.12.68-gentoo-dist x86_64)
=================================================================
System uname: Linux-6.12.68-gentoo-dist-x86_64-13th_Gen_Intel-R-_Core-TM-_i7-13850HX-with-glibc2.42
KiB Mem:    15083712 total,    246940 free
KiB Swap:   33554428 total,  33408004 free
Timestamp of repository gentoo: Mon, 16 Feb 2026 09:30:56 +0000
Head commit of repository gentoo: 46e42fc2592434e678f3eb56382aa2d1c169bb0d

Head commit of repository dilfridge: bb4297aa00ec80fb61f590c1d7c256359eaae12a

Head commit of repository gentoo-zh: 4f0d118f59539585eb22f3ab3cd0b023b7c96f68

Head commit of repository hyperv: c742193b29804ed86fadf8814b56eaa23b526267

sh bash 5.3_p9
ld GNU ld (Gentoo 2.45.1 p1) 2.45.1
app-misc/pax-utils:        1.3.8::gentoo
app-shells/bash:           5.3_p9::gentoo
dev-build/autoconf:        2.72-r6::gentoo
dev-build/automake:        1.18.1::gentoo
dev-build/cmake:           4.1.4::gentoo
dev-build/libtool:         2.5.4::gentoo
dev-build/make:            4.4.1-r102::gentoo
dev-build/meson:           1.9.2::gentoo
dev-lang/perl:             5.42.0-r1::gentoo
dev-lang/python:           3.13.11::gentoo, 3.14.0_p1::gentoo
dev-lang/rust-bin:         1.92.0::gentoo
llvm-core/clang:           21.1.8::gentoo
llvm-core/lld:             21.1.8::gentoo
llvm-core/llvm:            21.1.8::gentoo
sys-apps/baselayout:       2.18::gentoo
sys-apps/openrc:           0.62.10::gentoo
sys-apps/sandbox:          2.46::gentoo
sys-devel/binutils:        2.45.1::gentoo
sys-devel/binutils-config: 5.6::gentoo
sys-devel/gcc:             15.2.1_p20251122::gentoo
sys-devel/gcc-config:      2.12.2::gentoo
sys-kernel/linux-headers:  6.18::gentoo (virtual/os-headers)
sys-libs/glibc:            2.42-r5::gentoo
Repositories:

gentoo
    location: /var/db/repos/gentoo
    sync-type: git
    sync-uri: https://github.com/gentoo-mirror/gentoo.git
    priority: -1000
    volatile: False
    sync-git-verify-commit-signature: true

dilfridge
    location: /var/db/repos/dilfridge
    sync-type: git
    sync-uri: https://anongit.gentoo.org/git/dev/dilfridge.git
    masters: gentoo
    volatile: False

gentoo-zh
    location: /var/db/repos/gentoo-zh
    sync-type: git
    sync-uri: https://github.com/microcai/gentoo-zh.git
    masters: gentoo
    volatile: False

hyperv
    location: /var/db/repos/hyperv
    sync-type: git
    sync-uri: https://github.com/drwilly/gentoo-hyperv.git
    masters: gentoo
    volatile: False

ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64"
ACCEPT_LICENSE="@FREE linux-fw-redistributable GPL-2.0 typora Microsoft-vscode"
CBUILD="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"
CFLAGS="-O2 -march=native -mtune=native -pipe"
CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"
CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/lib64/libreoffice/program/sofficerc /usr/share/config /var/bind"
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="-O2 -march=native -mtune=native -pipe"
DISTDIR="/var/cache/distfiles"
EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS="--alphabetical --tree --quiet-build=y --backtrack=200 --reinstall=changed-use"
ENV_UNSET="CARGO_HOME DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS DISPLAY GDK_PIXBUF_MODULE_FILE 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 XDG_STATE_HOME"
FCFLAGS="-O2 -march=native -mtune=native -pipe"
FEATURES="assume-digests binpkg-docompress binpkg-dostrip binpkg-logs binpkg-multi-instance buildpkg-live compress-index config-protect-if-modified distlocks ebuild-locks fixlafiles ipc-sandbox merge-sync merge-wait multilib-strict network-sandbox news parallel-fetch pid-sandbox pkgdir-index-trusted preserve-libs protect-owned qa-unresolved-soname-deps sandbox strict unknown-features-warn unmerge-logs unmerge-orphans userfetch userpriv usersandbox usersync xattr"
FFLAGS="-O2 -march=native -mtune=native -pipe"
GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://distfiles.gentoo.org"
LANG="C.UTF-8"
LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1 -Wl,--as-needed -Wl,-z,pack-relative-relocs"
LEX="flex"
MAKEOPTS="--jobs=8"
PKGDIR="/var/cache/binpkgs"
PORTAGE_COMPRESS="bzip2"
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"
RUSTFLAGS=" -C target-cpu=native"
SHELL="/bin/bash"
USE="X a52 aac acl acpi activities alsa amd64 avif bluetooth branding bzip2 cairo cdda cdr cet crypt cups dbus declarative dist-kernel dracut dri dts dvd dvdr elogind encode exif flac gdbm gif gpm grub gtk gui iconv icu ipv6 jpeg jpegxl kde kwallet lcms libnotify libtirpc mad mng mp3 mp4 mpeg multilib ncurses nls ogg opengl openmp pam pango pcre pdf pipewire plasma png policykit postproc ppds pulseaudio qml qt6 readline screencast sdl seccomp semantic-desktop sound spell split-usr ssl startup-notification svg test-rust tiff truetype udev udisks unicode upower usb vorbis vulkan wayland webp widgets wxwidgets x264 xattr xcb xft xml xv xvid zlib" ABI_X86="64" ADA_TARGET="gcc_15" APACHE2_MODULES="authn_core authz_core socache_shmcb unixd actions alias auth_basic authn_anon authn_dbm authn_file authz_dbm authz_groupfile authz_host authz_owner authz_user autoindex cache cgi cgid dav dav_fs dav_lock deflate dir env expires ext_filter file_cache filter headers include info log_config logio 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="mmx mmxext sse sse2 aes avx avx2 avx_vnni bmi1 bmi2 f16c fma3 pclmul popcnt rdrand sha sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vpclmulqdq" ELIBC="glibc" GPSD_PROTOCOLS="ashtech aivdm earthmate evermore fv18 garmin garmintxt gpsclock greis isync itrax navcom oncore skytraq superstar2 tsip tripmate tnt" GRUB_PLATFORMS="efi-64" GUILE_SINGLE_TARGET="3-0" GUILE_TARGETS="3-0" INPUT_DEVICES="libinput" KERNEL="linux" L10N="en-GB" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb text" LLVM_TARGETS="X86" LUA_SINGLE_TARGET="lua5-1" LUA_TARGETS="lua5-1" OFFICE_IMPLEMENTATION="libreoffice" PHP_TARGETS="php8-3" POSTGRES_TARGETS="postgres17" PYTHON_SINGLE_TARGET="python3_13" PYTHON_TARGETS="python3_13" RUBY_TARGETS="ruby32 ruby33" VIDEO_CARDS="vesa" XTABLES_ADDONS="quota2 psd pknock lscan length2 ipv4options ipp2p iface geoip fuzzy condition tarpit sysrq proto logmark ipmark dhcpmac delude chaos account"
Unset:  ADDR2LINE, AR, ARFLAGS, AS, ASFLAGS, CC, CCLD, CONFIG_SHELL, CPP, CPPFLAGS, CTARGET, CXX, CXXFILT, ELFEDIT, EXTRA_ECONF, F77FLAGS, FC, GCOV, GPROF, INSTALL_MASK, LC_ALL, LD, LFLAGS, LIBTOOL, LINGUAS, MAKE, MAKEFLAGS, NM, OBJCOPY, OBJDUMP, PORTAGE_BINHOST, PORTAGE_BUNZIP2_COMMAND, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS, PYTHONPATH, RANLIB, READELF, SIZE, STRINGS, STRIP, YACC, YFLAGS

- John

Post by **John R. Graham** » Tue Feb 17, 2026 6:12 pm

logrusx wrote:What does a full world update say?
...

World updates appear to behave normally as far as I've been able to tell. (But the anomaly worries me.) The issue is still with me after today's --sync.

- John

Post by **pietinger** » Tue Feb 17, 2026 8:47 pm

John,

what happens if you comment out this line:

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EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS="--alphabetical --tree --quiet-build=y --backtrack=200 --reinstall=changed-use"

So, we immediately see if this line has an effect or not. (If so, we can still ask the developers which option is bad here.)

Post by **John R. Graham** » Tue Feb 17, 2026 8:57 pm

pietinger,

It's worth a try, even though by the man page description of those options, none of those should cause a problem. I wen a bit further and found the offending option. So, yeah, without the "--reinstall=changed-use" option, Portage behaves as it always has. It appears that it's interacting badly with "--oneshot" but behaves just fine with "--update".

Good on ya!

- John

b11n · Post by **b11n** » Tue Feb 17, 2026 9:09 pm

I'm having a read over the manual, and it seems --reinstall=changed-use (aka --changed-use, aka -U) implies --selective, which says:

man emerge wrote:--selective [ y | n ]
This is identical to the --noreplace option. Some options, such as --update, imply --selective. Use --selective=n if you want to forcefully disable
--selective, regardless of options like --changed-use, --newuse, --noreplace, or --update.

my take is you probably don't want --changed-use in your default opts

Post by **John R. Graham** » Tue Feb 17, 2026 9:44 pm

Argh. No. Thank you. Sorry for the noise.

- John