Thanks again Alan, No I don't have genlop installed but I will try that.
In /var/log/portage, I didn't actually compare the contents of the duplicates so maybe there is nothing wrong there. The elog/ directories on all three Gentoo installs are empty. Once I review the messages and take necessary action, I remove those entries. You say I am using unstable python and stable portage. I am just running what ~amd64 wants to emerge. So I think you are suggesting I unmask unstable portage so it can be installed. If so, I will put that on my list of things to try. I am beginning to wonder whether anything is actually wrong here. Usually, when I run in to some issue I find through the mailing lists, the forums, gentoo bugs or just google searches that someone else is experiencing the same thing. So far, I have not seen anything about this. Perhaps my lack of elog/ messages over the last few weeks is just the result that none of the emerged packages contain any messages that would be logged. Thanks for you kind help. Please don't spend any more time with this . I'll play around with this including your suggestions. If the situation persists, I will re-post. I don't rely on these installs for daily use anyway so I don't mind if I break something. I use Gentoo because I want to experiment with it and learn from the experience. Your help is much appreciated. billyd
