----- Original Message ---- > From: Dale <rdalek1...@gmail.com> > > On 02/27/2010 04:15 AM, BRM wrote: > >>> From: Neil BothwickTo: > >>> (PST), BRM wrote: > >>>> Aside from that, I'm not sure I have ever really run "emerge > >>>> --depclean", but I also rarely uninstall anything, but don't > >>>> install things left or right to try out either, so typically > >>>> upgrades are all I need to do. > >>> You should still run --depclean as dependencies change and you > >>> could still have plenty of no longer needed ones installed. > >> Okay - so I ran "emerge --depclean -a" and got the below. I tried > >> running "emerge world -vuDNa" as specified, but that didn't resolve > >> it either. > >> I tried looking in the world file (/var/lib/portage/world) but didn't > >> find any entries that felt safe to remove. > > "Safe" as to what? If something is in the world file that you didn't > explicitly request, then it doesn't belong there. For example, if you have > "x11-libs/qt-gui" in world, you should delete it. The world file should not > contain dependencies, it should only contain the stuff you emerged directly.
Okay...that kind of makes more sense now. >From what I've read in the past, modifying 'world' would be a big no-no, and >very risky - so I never touched it - also why I never really ran 'emerge >--depclean', which is reporting some 400 packages to remove now that I've got >that cleaned up. > > To give an example, if you emerge "media-video/smplayer", then that one > > will > end up in the world file. But smplayer will also pull-in qt and mplayer. > Those > do not go in the world file. When you unmerge smplayer again, qt and mplayer > will not be unmerged unless you run "emerge --depclean". However, if qt and > mplayer end up being in the world file anyway, it means you made a mistake at > some point; like emerging something that is a dependency but forgot to > specify > the "-1" (or "--oneshot") option to emerge. > > So if you see something in the world file that you know don't need directly > (and I doubt you need qt directly; KDE for example needs it, you, as a > person, > don't) it's safe to remove. > > Of course always make a backup first :P > If I edit the world file and I am not sure, I always run -p --depclean. That > should tell you if you are about to make a boo boo. The package you removed > will > be cleaned out but so will other things. If it starts to remove something > that > you know you want to keep, then you need to figure out why that entry was > there > and what can be put in the world file to keep the things you do want. > The example Nikos used is a good one. If you decide you don't want smplayer > but > want to use mplayer, then you would need to add mplayer to the world file so > that it will stay but --depclean will remove smplayer when you run --depclean. > Nikos is correct on the -1 option tho. That is the same as --oneshot by the > way. That is the biggest reason that something ends up in the world file > that > shouldn't be there. I would just about bet that we have all forgot the -1 > option more than once. It doesn't matter how long a person has used Gentoo, > it > just happens. True. I never really understood the --oneshot thing before, but now that makes sense. I did it when directions said to, but not really otherwise. Well, now I know... TIA, Ben
