Updating an old profile: Phyton, Portage and Eselect BLOCKED

[BoBoeBoe]

I am trying to update an older Gentoo installation (previous 2008.0 profile), but I jump in the following blocked packages.

Code: Select all

emerge -p portage

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

Calculating dependencies... done!
[ebuild  N    ] app-arch/xz-utils-5.0.3  USE="nls threads -static-libs" 
[ebuild  N    ] dev-libs/libffi-3.0.10  USE="-debug -static-libs -test" 
[ebuild     U ] sys-devel/autoconf-wrapper-10-r1 [4-r3]
[ebuild     U ] app-misc/pax-utils-0.2.3 [0.1.17]
[ebuild  N    ] virtual/libffi-0 
[ebuild     U ] sys-devel/autoconf-2.68 [2.61-r1]
[ebuild     U ] sys-apps/sandbox-2.5 [1.2.18.1-r2] USE="(-multilib)" 
[ebuild     U ] app-admin/eselect-1.2.15 [1.0.11-r1]
[ebuild  N    ] app-admin/eselect-python-20100321 
[ebuild  NS   ] dev-lang/python-2.7.2-r3 [2.4.4-r13] USE="gdbm ipv6 ncurses readline ssl threads (wide-unicode) xml -berkdb -build -doc -examples -sqlite -tk -wininst" 
[ebuild     U ] sys-apps/portage-2.1.10.11 [2.1.6.11] USE="(ipc%*) less%* -python2% -python3%" 
[blocks B     ] <sys-apps/portage-2.1.9 ("<sys-apps/portage-2.1.9" is blocking dev-lang/python-2.7.2-r3)
[blocks B     ] app-admin/eselect-news ("app-admin/eselect-news" is blocking app-admin/eselect-1.2.15)

 * Error: The above package list contains packages which cannot be
 * installed at the same time on the same system.

  ('ebuild', '/', 'dev-lang/python-2.7.2-r3', 'merge') pulled in by
    dev-lang/python:2.7 required by ('ebuild', '/', 'sys-apps/portage-2.1.10.11', 'merge')

  ('ebuild', '/', 'app-admin/eselect-1.2.15', 'merge') pulled in by
    >=app-admin/eselect-1.2 required by ('ebuild', '/', 'sys-apps/portage-2.1.10.11', 'merge')
    >=app-admin/eselect-1.2.3 required by ('ebuild', '/', 'app-admin/eselect-python-20100321', 'merge')


For more information about Blocked Packages, please refer to the following
section of the Gentoo Linux x86 Handbook (architecture is irrelevant):

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?full=1#blocked


!!! The following installed packages are masked:
- dev-lang/perl-5.8.8-r5 (masked by: package.mask)
/usr/portage/profiles/package.mask:
# Torsten Veller <tove@gentoo.org> (06 Jan 2011)
# Next step to remove old perl and libperl versions.
.............

It looks like there is no easy way out, but since it is running on one of the Alix boxes a complete reinstall from scratch doesn't look very attractive.

Is there no way to upgrade the machine in a "decent" way?

[the_mgt]

Whoa, your python really is outdated -> dev-lang/python-2.7.2-r3 [2.4.4-r13]
You could try to merge a python 2.6 version as a temporary solution. Maybe this will satsify some of the packages now screaming for a 2.7 version.

Note that the following advices might lead to a non-working system, read up on portage's functions and maybe quickpkg your whole system set so you could reinstall some packages by just untaring them later, if portage really fails. (This is an ugly method, but since you are on a remote system, you might feel desperate later on.)

Comment out the USE flags you have in make.conf and /etc/portage/package.use. Check your mask/unmask/keyword files, maybe switch to the least demanding of all profiles available. This will decrease the amount of deps and strange loops your system has to handle while updating. Circular dependencies and other oddities might happen in such a huge update.

Start with system updates instead of a world update. You can also update some packages directly, instead of doing system/world updates. Like "emerge portage -uva". Finally, there is --nodeps option, which will emerge just the package without any dependencies. But this might lead to trouble if you force a new version of portage which then won't work due to missing deps

[ultraincognito]

It looks like, different versions of python require different versions of eselect.
Exactly, you must install app-admin/eselect-python-20100321 and app-admin/eselect-1.2.15. If some programs need older version of eselect you can delete their with older eselect.

[Trog Dog]

[topic=856878]There's a whole sticky topic on how to update old systems[/topic] - could be a worthwhile read for you

[BoBoeBoe]

Do I need to do something special to update phyton?

I did do an emerge of phyhton like ultraincognito suggested but ....:

Code: Select all

emerge -p app-admin/eselect-python-20100321
!!! 'app-admin/eselect-python-20100321' is not a valid package atom.
!!! Please check ebuild(5) for full details.

[ultraincognito]

In general I suggest do the full reinstallation Gentoo but if not then you can install paludis and remove portage. In my opinion this is a good way for to outflank dependence from python. Furthermore paludis is a very good package manager.
Also I have yet another idea. Emerge portage with "python3" and without "python2".

[Trog Dog]

Do I need to do something special to update phyton?

I did do an emerge of phyhton like ultraincognito suggested but ....:

Code: Select all

emerge -p app-admin/eselect-python-20100321
!!! 'app-admin/eselect-python-20100321' is not a valid package atom.
!!! Please check ebuild(5) for full details.

if your going to specify a version you need to use =
emerge -p =app-admin/eselect-python-20100321
.................^


Edit: can't get bold tag to work