Hi Philip, Did you get to the bottom of this problem ?
It seems to me some dependencies got muddled up and you've ended up with Qt5 as a dependency of Plasma-KDE plus Qt6, stepping over each other's toes.
I'm guessing something in either /var/lib/portage/world
or /etc/portage/package.accept_keywords/ kept Qt5 behind.
I've run into this before, eg re sound, but not so severely.
It's a defect in Portage, which no-one seems to want to acknowledge :
it will happily update a pkg without including its vital requirements.
I was able to solve the problem with the help of 'pkg.ref',
my own invention long ago (I've been using Gentoo since 2003).
Here is an extract, listing all 'media-libs' pkgs which are installed :
230717 media-libs/a52dec-0.7.4-r8 [for vlc]
250427 media-libs/alsa-lib-1.2.13-r3 [for FF]
230717 media-libs/alsa-topology-conf-1.2.5.1 [for alsa-lib]
On 7/27/25 6:46 AM, Philip Webb wrote:
I've run into this before, eg re sound, but not so severely.I think that shouldn't be able to happen except when using --oneshot,
It's a defect in Portage, which no-one seems to want to acknowledge :
it will happily update a pkg without including its vital requirements.
or at least all the times I can recall seeing this were in such a case, because Portage allows uninstalling or upgrading a package
to break another installed package
iff that other package is eligible for --depclean.
But that is why you're advised to regularly do a full world update
followed by depclean.
I was able to solve the problem with the help of 'pkg.ref',
my own invention long ago (I've been using Gentoo since 2003).
Here is an extract, listing all 'media-libs' pkgs which are installed :
230717 media-libs/a52dec-0.7.4-r8 [for vlc]
250427 media-libs/alsa-lib-1.2.13-r3 [for FF]
230717 media-libs/alsa-topology-conf-1.2.5.1 [for alsa-lib]
Is this manually maintained ?
What happens when a package is installed due to multiple other packages ?
For top level packages I like to use /etc/portage/sets/* ,
which supports comments describing why each package should be in @world.
250729 Eli Schwartz wrote:
On 7/27/25 6:46 AM, Philip Webb wrote:
I've run into this before, eg re sound, but not so severely.
It's a defect in Portage, which no-one seems to want to acknowledge :
it will happily update a pkg without including its vital requirements.
I think that shouldn't be able to happen except when using --oneshot,
or at least all the times I can recall seeing this were in such a case, because Portage allows uninstalling or upgrading a package
to break another installed package
iff that other package is eligible for --depclean.
But that is why you're advised to regularly do a full world update
followed by depclean.
I regularly use '-1' when emerging, but have never been aware
that that caused significantly different behaviour in itself.
in this case, 'clementine' is in my 'world' file.
As I see it, Portage allowed 'clementine' to be updated,
while failing to insist that some other pkg(s) were updated to match :
it's that simple & Portage shouldn't behave like that.
I was able to solve the problem with the help of 'pkg.ref',
my own invention long ago (I've been using Gentoo since 2003).
Here is an extract, listing all 'media-libs' pkgs which are installed :
230717 media-libs/a52dec-0.7.4-r8 [for vlc]
250427 media-libs/alsa-lib-1.2.13-r3 [for FF]
230717 media-libs/alsa-topology-conf-1.2.5.1 [for alsa-lib]
Is this manually maintained ?
Yes : I carefully update it whenever I emerge anything.
Pkgs in 'world' are marked 'W' & in 'system' 'S' ;
also, pkgs with special USE needs are marked 'USE'
& there is a list of such pkgs + flags towards the end of 'pkg.ref'.
What happens when a package is installed due to multiple other packages ?
The '[for ...]' note lists them all.
For top level packages I like to use /etc/portage/sets/* ,
which supports comments describing why each package should be in @world.
I have several such files in the 'sets' dir, eg 'dev-qt',
which allows me to remove & re-install multiple pkgs easily.
I don't know how anyone can manage a Gentoo system without such a file.
You mentioned using sets. I tried using sets. All it did was create
more work. If I have something installed here, I use it, sometimes a
LOT. Therefore, I want them all to be as up to date as is available. I found that even when I did have sets, the sets were in the world file
and being updated anyway. No real point in that when just putting for example, kicad-meta, in the world file and skipping the sets. Some may
like it. I've read of people using and liking how it works. For me
tho, it was just more work. So, some of us long term users do just fine without sets. :-D
... I tried using sets. All it did was create
more work. If I have something installed here, I use it, sometimes a
LOT. Therefore, I want them all to be as up to date as is available. I found that even when I did have sets, the sets were in the world file
and being updated anyway. No real point in that when just putting for example, kicad-meta, in the world file and skipping the sets. Some may
like it. I've read of people using and liking how it works. For me
tho, it was just more work. So, some of us long term users do just fine without sets. :-D
Peter Humphrey wrote:
On Wednesday, 30 July 2025 14:55:55 British Summer Time Dale wrote:
... I tried using sets. All it did was create
more work. If I have something installed here, I use it, sometimes a
LOT. Therefore, I want them all to be as up to date as is available. I >> found that even when I did have sets, the sets were in the world file
and being updated anyway. No real point in that when just putting for
example, kicad-meta, in the world file and skipping the sets. Some may
like it. I've read of people using and liking how it works. For me
tho, it was just more work. So, some of us long term users do just fine >> without sets. :-D
On the other hand, I find life easier with everything in sets. I passed through a phase when I was reinstalling systems rather too often, and rather than sit here for hours doing piecemeal installations, it was much easier to start a set emerging and go and do something else while it got
on with it.
I sometimes install something to see if I like it, and it goes into
@world. If I decide to keep it, it comes out of world and into a suitable set; otherwise I uninstall it. My world file is therefore usually empty, but now you've prompted me to check it and I see a few things in there
that I thought I'd uninstalled. So, thanks for the reminder!
Of course, now that my system is stable, more-or-less, I could revert to the usual way of working, but then I'd have some work to do. It could be done in a few commands; the harder part would be my having to mend my
ways. :-)
In case anyone's interested, this is my standard set of sets, in order of installation:
$ ls -1 /etc/portage/sets # arranged by hand
core
base
apps
xorg
plasma
utils
@core includes linux-firmware and gentoo-sources, which several @base packages require to have been installed.
Many other schemes could be used, I'm sure, but mine is here for
historical reasons; not hysterical, these days :-)
This is like a lot of other things in life. Sometimes it depends on the situation. You take the devs that are always making changes to ebuilds, testing, making more changes and testing some more before it hits the
tree. I'm sure they have a lot of unique ways of testing, updating and likely even installing packages. I suspect some use sets, some may
not. Some may have one process while others are completely different.
They do things in a way that works for them and gives them the best
results.
For me and my simplistic and consistent way of updating, sets just makes
more work and doesn't gain me anything. If sets work for you, and
others, by all means use them. It just doesn't work for me. When I
sync and do my updates, I want emerge to update everything at once if possible. I run one update command and it's done.
I'm also sure for some, including me, we do things the way we do because that's how we have done it for a long time. If it's working, don't mess
with it.
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